Some Signposts On The Way To Collapse

“It’s a growth economy, Gus. We’ve already made like, 500 rupee.” – Psych

What’s worse than rushing to the liquor store five minutes before it closes?  Getting there thirty minutes before it opens.

For the most part, I like to have my posts be about a bigger, underlying principle.  In my life, I have found the first thing I enjoy is making people think about life in a different way and examine new possibilities.  The second thing is a never-ending stream of jokes.  To be clear, I never tell jokes to amuse others; I tell jokes because they amuse me.  They maybe Dad jokes, that’s why I save them in a Dadabase.

Tonight, however, I’m going to just enjoy our current economy, and just give some milestones on the current descent into whatever economic future that we’re creating in a relatively short post.

First up, is the idea that $100,000 isn’t a lot of money anymore:

How many Zoomers does it take to change a lightbulb?  100,000.  One to change it, and 99,999 to throw the parade.

I kid, a bit.  Zoomers certainly are the most fragile generation that we’ve ever produced, since when I was growing up trigger warnings was what Pa Wilder gave me if he saw my finger head towards one when I wasn’t planning on shooting.  A safe space?  That was the place that Pa had a safe.

As much as I’d like to bag on the Zoomers, it really is a rough world that they’re coming into, economically and otherwise.  Most of the jobs are in the cities, and the housing costs there are ludicrous.  I’d rent in the cities for longer than two months, but I only can afford to give up one kidney.

A policy of unpoliced and encouraged illegal immigration for decades has consequences?  Perish the thought!

It’s not just housing which has become more unaffordable than at any time in history (at least in the cities).  Cars have recently gone to silly levels – the latest average monthly payment for a new car is $716 for an average of 69 (hehe) months.  The average loan amount is $41,445.  The last three cars I bought (all used) totaled $45,000 or so.

To be clear, people don’t have to buy a new car.  I haven’t bought a new car since 1997, all of mine have been used.  The average used car goes for nearly $28,000, with a monthly payment of $526 at an interest rate of over 10%.  Ouch!

I wonder if this app is the biggest cause of suicide for Tesla® owners?

While the next two items are from Canada, I wonder how far behind the United States is.

For those who aren’t used to metric, a kilogram is roughly two pounds, and a Canadian dollar is roughly a handful of rounded pebbles that you might collect at the bottom of a stream – I think it’s called a metric dollar.

It’s pretty bad in Canada.  They could have had it all:  America’s sense of freedom, British literature, and French cuisine.  Instead?  They got French immigration policy, Britain’s love of pointless bureaucracy, and American economic policy.  And they’re paying for it, literally.

Thankfully, some folks are doing well in the economy.  I heard a rumor that one person was taking dollars to buy diesel fuel from a European source, but instead bought it from a Russian source.  Amazingly, when you make smart decisions like that, you can save a lot of money.

Me?  I’ve seen corruption, bribery, blackmail, jealousy, theft, fraud, and deception firsthand.  I’m never playing Monopoly with The Mrs. again.

To be fair, I will share that Russia has a new technological innovation that I can share, to at least partially offset all those leaked documents.  The Russians have apparently developed a new technology that allows them to see with the vision of one of the most ruthless killers on Earth:

Remember when Putin said he didn’t have any plans to invade the Ukraine?  I think he was telling the truth.

Again, this post is just is a different one, just a signpost on road that we’re on.  I’d offer $100,000 for your thoughts, but it would be that Canadian metric money.  What’s it called?  A rupee?

Author: John

Nobel-Prize Winning, MacArthur Genius Grant Near Recipient writing to you regularly about Fitness, Wealth, and Wisdom - How to be happy and how to be healthy. Oh, and rich.

21 thoughts on “Some Signposts On The Way To Collapse”

  1. One of my earliest jobs in financial services was in a call center for 401k plan participants. I used to also travel around the country and do little seminars to tell people to save more for retirement. Most people looked at me like I was crazy and based on how little people were saving back then, they were right. We are heading for a new “normal” where people will never be able to afford to retire in any sense of the word. Maybe a decent percentage of my fellow Gen Xers but after that? It will be McJobs working until you drop dead.

    I wonder how people have historically responded to that sort of economic instability. Hint, his birthday is tomorrow.

    1. Yeah, Wal-Mart even stopped hiring old folks as greeters. The reaction to our current situation is happening now, and certainly rhymes.

  2. As for the lightbulb joke, it reminds me of one my daughter told me from back in the late 90s during her Tuscaloosa days, as follows:

    Q: How many people does it take to arrange a frat/sorority mixer?
    A: 10. 1 from each to work out the plans and 8 to design the T-Shirt.

    EH, zoot alors!!! Le noir et blanc chat!!! I’m in agreement on that. Enough forearm scratches and finger bites during my married life. And, I can remember when a million $$$ was real money.

    1. Ah, the joke on Canada needs even more link descriptions to tell it right, so here ya go:

      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-iran-plan-gold-backed-100000752.html

      https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Gold-And-A-New-Crude-Benchmark-A-New-Dawn-For-The-Petroyuan.html

      https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ghana-working-plan-buy-oil-with-gold-rather-than-usd-vp-2022-11-24/

      And finally,

      https://www.usfunds.com/resource/is-this-the-end-of-the-petrodollar/ ?????????????????????

      Yes. Yes, it is.

      1. Of course, even the rise of the gold-backed petroyuan and the death of the paper-backed petrodollar is not the end of possible coming Canadian hilarity. Canada mines plenty of gold every year, it’s just exported to places besides the empty-since-2016 Central Bank of Canda bullion vault.

        https://www.statista.com/statistics/947362/gold-production-canada/

        If gold becomes needed to buy oil instead of dollars, all Canada gotta do is nationalize their gold mining operations and stop exports, straight outta the socialist banana republic playbook. Trudeau would NEVER take such a radical step that would cause worldwide gold prices to skyrocket, would he? Would he?

  5. Zoomers wanted the egalitarian workers utopia of mediocre equality and I’m a firm believer in give the people what they want.
    Give it to them nice and hard without any lube.
    After Taiwan CCP is going to want ROI on the Yenan Way whorehouse Chiquitastan.
    There won’t be any blunts, stunts, or hip hop under the new workers utopia management.

    1. It would be funny to watch the Antifa types work the mines. But the only problem is? They’re gonna lose, badly.

  7. John, I just say yesterday that VW is coming out with a new EV that is $38,000. Who will be able to afford such things in this brave new world we now live in (let alone the cost of charging the vehicle on a regular basis).

    I honestly do feel bad for Gen Z. They have been sold a bill of goods by individuals who should have known better, and now they are about to find out exact how much they were sold. The disillusionment will be monumental.

    1. I’ve been reading up on the VW ID.4 electric car. The $38K is the stripped-down “Standard” version of its five available models – the “Pro S Plus” version is $54K. The $38K Standard model has a single electric motor with 201 HP, 58 KWh battery with 209 miles range, and 8 to 12 hours to recharge at home with a 220 V Level 2 charger which costs about $2000 to install in your garage. For a 110V Level 1 charger, fuggetaboutit. On a road trip, you get 24-36 miles of range per hour at a charging station.

      Oh, and it doesn’t fly. This sure ain’t the Jetson’s future.

    2. $38,000 is more than I’m planning on spending on cars for the rest of my life.

      Yeah, it’s gonna be bad. Their kids will be the Hard Men that bring Good Times.

  8. 100K? Sounds like a good food budget figure. 200K, get a used car plus a bit of petrol
    300K? Pay for an efficiency apt. in a city. All of this before taxes though…300K becomes
    100K in a hurry. Live in your used car.

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