What structural changes in society led American from a wealthy nation to a nation in debt?
The main change consists of the banking industry convincing people that a
mortgaged home was the same as 'owning their own home.' I believe that
the so-calle American Dream of home ownership was also a put-up job.
After this, they were convinced that they owned consumer items when paid
for with debt. Of course, in most cases all of these consumables (even
houses are consumables and not really assets) have a cash value which is
only 20% or less of the debt created to purchase them--so if you cannot
pay, you end up losing 'your' things AND still in debt.
These changes ensure that your support group (ultimately family/clan)
consists of as few people as possible--the less support you have and the
more debt you carry, the tighter you are tied to your job, regardless
of pay rate. In a quick calc, a 3 generation family with 2 elders 2
couples and 4 children would own their house as an extended family,
free and clear, saves on all routine expenditures, requires fewer
vehicles and will likely raise more balanced children and more durable
relationships while having surplus income to invest. They can also
survive on one working adult's income rather than at least 3 if they
occupied 4 separate dwellings. Effectively, 1-3 adults can be working
and having their entire take-home pay invested.
Along with this housing scam, the offered abilities to mortgage the farm
led inevitably to huge corporate farms and families dependent upon them
for food...no one can afford to stay home and watch kids and garden
with everyone mortgaged and in debt for everything from cars to baby
toys.
In a great many places in the US the 'neighborhood agreements' specify
that vegetable gardens are either confined or banned--while mowed grass
is required for at least the front yard--taking productive land out of
production and making it an expense instead if an asset.
Today we're reaching the end, and end in which the vast majority own
nothing, including a place to stand, air to breath and water to drink
while the bankers hold all the real property, the rest are left with
worthless paper or nothing at all except debts.
If I need $2,000 every month to pay my mortgage and debts, I am far less
likely to tell my boss to shove it when turned down for a deserved
raise.
The "War on Drugs" as it is played, is primarily a way to keep people in
their current job--most people are tested only when hired, not while
they are employed...you have to "get clean" to find a new job. At the
same time, debt levels make survival "in the manner to which TV has
accustomed us" impossible on a single income--adding stress, which is
one of the main reasons people use any recreational drug.
Over the past 2 decades the US tax law has made being self-employed
harder and harder, requiring more paperwork and fees at the same time
eliminating things like averaged income for tax purposes (any creative
independent has a very lumpy cash-flow...as do most other small
businesses. Few businesses generate steady income streams--with the
exception of lending money.
Effectively, money today is created out of thin air only when debt is
created. It's backed by the faith that it can actually be used to
purchase things, but the fact is that today the average American HAS NO
MONEY only debt, and that debt exceeds the value of the assets that it
is backed by...effective slavery.
With a negative savings rate, every penny an American spends is borrowed
money worth more for debt payment than for the purchased items.
The kids I know roaming the world living off the land and the dumpsters
with nothing in their pockets except maybe a couple of dollars, have more money than most people living in $500,000 homes.
One of the major disadvantages of nuclear families is that the
generational wisdom is unavailable--when you have 3 generations, at
least one has lived through a recession and knows in their gut that it
happens. It is around the dinner table that people learn about (or fail
to learn about) money. Since the nuclear family dates back to the
mid-40's, we have 3 generations raised with the idea that debt is normal
and desirable. Prior to that, people avoided debt like plague, properly
understanding that unless the borrowed money was going to generate MORE
in income than it cost, it was evil.
The high divorce rate and bankruptcy rates devolve from the idea that
you own something paid for with borrowed money and the nuclear family.
Humans are social animals which thrive in groups which help each other. Individual humans are weak and helpless.
Divide, conquer and own everything produced has worked quite well, while
the slaves feel that they are 'free' because the chains are intangible.
The development of Kindergarten from the failures of the Germany
mercenary efforts of the 1800's--created precisely to indoctrinate the
population into following orders--when adopted in America was also used
to provide purchasing demand. Lack of school uniforms is one of the
mechanisms used, since this allows everyone to compare their 'stuff' to
everyone else--encouraging class distinction and decreasing
egalitarianism. Some inevitably become 'more equal' than others.
At the same time, while not as strongly as uniformed schools, early
education in age cohorts promotes "me to"edness and group
identification. In our current society, children are separated into
cohorts in infancy and kept with their cohort until they become nearly
fully-developed humans. They learn little or nothing from other age
groups, develop a much smaller age spread of friends and in general are
isolated from most of their society.
Today, I'd estimate that the 'average American' works 3 month for
necessities, 3 months of the year for the government (about the same
percentage as always) and the other 6 to pay the banks, ending each year
just a bit further in debt.
