Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015 14:05 -0400
Martin Armstrong
Submitted by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,
We have to look closely at how wealth is even measured. This is not cash in the bank, but market value of assets. In other words, unrealized gains. It was this way of thinking that destroyed the independent farmers. The land values soared and estate taxes came into play, the government valued the land at levels as if it was stripped mined for housing. Farmers had to sell off land to pay the taxes.
This standard of measuring wealth is really dangerous for it amounts to unrealized gains, not cash. I donated my time trying to save Social Security by transforming it into a real investment account back in the 90s. The money should have been invested in equities. The Dow Jones Industrials would have been about 3500. The rich get richer from investments – not salary. I was trying to transform Social Security into an investment fund. I gave up because politicians could not agree on who the managers would be because they effectively wanted kickbacks. Social Security is now broke; the 99% paid into the fund and now its gone. Had the money been invested in equities rather than pretend U.S. government debt, they would have made almost 500%. There would have been real assets for individual retirement.
The 99% cannot get richer because government robs them every day. What should have been put into savings and investments, was squandered as usual by politicians. So is it the fault of those who actually invest on their own? The socialists want to blame the rich and rob them, handing more and more assets to the political class who waste it on themselves.
The 99% need to wake up. It ain’t the 1% – It is those who pretend to be on your side who deprive you of your real right to economic freedom.
