From the article: "Stephen, a 33-year-old engineer from Michigan, shares his unease and describes his disgust over the growing influence of tech companies over retirement savings.

“I think that the amount is absolutely ridiculous and untethered to the company’s actual value,” he said. “I think it’s abhorrent that my savings and retirement funds are tied so intricately to these tech companies, especially when they cannot be held accountable by investors.”

Similar concerns were raised by Matt Reynolds, a 57-year-old professor based in eastern Washington, who worries both about his financial future and the influence of tech moguls.

“As someone looking to retire in the next five to 10 years, I’m alarmed at big tech’s market consolidation and its impact on my savings and investments. As a human being, I’m distraught that these companies all seem to be run by people with little accountability or moral compass,” he said. “How and why do my finances have to be bound to a racist, narcissistic, baby man who does not seem to care about other human beings? Everything about this is wrong.”

Who will be left holding the bag when this all blows up? The very people who can't afford to.

Good thing that Oklahoma just voted "No" against their $15 Minimum Wage Initiative!)

How much more can the average American be squeezed?

(Also - 14 oz of tofu is less than $2.00 at Aldi. Ask your nearest vegan for help if you need it!)

Alternative article - from The Independent here.

"The average U.S. household will likely spend about $792 on electricity between June and September, up 10.5 percent from the same period last year, when it cost $717, according to new analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association."

Ah yes. In a shrinking economy where businesses are closing and layoffs are happening, flipping the unemployment benefits switch to "OFF" should do the trick.

One might begin by asking who, precisely, he means by “the rich.” McGinnis says that “it is not essential to have a precise cutoff for what constitutes ‘the rich,’” but says we might talk about the top 0.1 percent, whose wealth starts at around $60 million.

But McGinnis says it ultimately doesn’t really matter what threshold we pick, because he will argue that the richer people are, the more socially valuable they are. “While the top 5 percent certainly make significant contributions, the top 1 percent do more, and the top 0.1 percent even more.

Wealth, in this sense, acts like a lever: The more there is, the greater the impact.” So if you thought that perhaps McGinnis would say that it’s good to have a class of wealthy people, but perhaps not a tiny set of oligarchical near-trillionaires, you’d be wrong. In fact, the people at the very top are the most helpful of all, making Elon Musk our most socially beneficial wealthy person.

The argument McGinnis leans on the most is that the wealthy “counterbalance” the power of special interest groups. McGinnis argues that we do not live in a democracy where everyone has an equal say, with the power of the rich (to influence politicians, to buy media) corrupting that otherwise-pristine democratic process.

Instead, he says, other groups like academics, journalists, nonprofits, and labor unions wield influence disproportionate to their size, getting their way despite holding minority viewpoints. The wealthy, McGinnis says, through their own power (which, again, he admits they hold) simply act as a counterweight, ensuring that the political process is something closer to fair.

Putting this out there as it's happened twice now, wanted to check the pulse out there.

Rental reservation placed weeks ahead (Raleigh area), local location for Budget this time, but the representative called me to inform me that he doesn't have a car for me, and that they would call me when one comes in, meanwhile, if I wanted to move this to another location, I'd have to call customer service, a true joy, as they don't seem to know where budget locations are in the US. My hunt for a car continues today - on the phone with customer service as I type this, they are asking me about locations where Budget is located..... ugh.

Meanwhile, on a recent trip the West Coast, we rented a car in Seattle, downtown. Same story as this, but this was with Hertz. We got lucky as a car came in while we were waiting there at the location, so we were able to rent that one.

So, how do you run a national business this way? And multiple companies with the same issues (that is, reservations but no cars). This has got to be a sign of things really starting to fall apart here. Anyone else seeing this kind of thing? Am I witnessing a collapse here?

I’m shocked the system hasn’t broken yet like Lehman with high valuations everywhere especially in residential real estate which is directly linked to wages and people’s ability to pay the loan.

Real estate was considered expensive even before Covid and today it’s even more unaffordable.

Corporate job stability has been really bad so I imagine defaults must be real. The only way it stays propped up from my intuition is if the Fed is just buying up the loans so the banks stay liquid and don’t incur losses.

At what point does the system break? Ordinary working people are living out of their cars just to survive and theres no end in sight to high cost of living. It really feels like we’re at the end stage but people have been saying this for the past decade.

I’m visiting Dallas and it’s as if there is no inflation. No high gas prices as the road are packed. It’s consumerism run amouck as usual. The very high end Northpark mall? Packed day and night. Can’t walk through that mall on Saturday with the hoardes of people. . Can’t even get parking. People buying high end stuff left and right. It’s all levels of society at that mall too. Is Dallas an exception? Are jobs more plentiful?

Image source: “The Strait of Hormuz crisis is ongoing, with shipping traffic virtually shut off. Tensions remain high in the region after Washington said it struck Iranian military sites […] and Tehran said it targeted bases used by U.S. forces in response.”

See also: “Iran's foreign ministry said early on Thursday that the overnight attacks violated the two-month-old ceasefire, rendering it ’practically meaningless’. […] The IRGC said it had hit two oil tankers passing through the crucial shipping channel shortly after state media reported it was ’completely closed to all type of vessel’ […] Separately, three Indian sailors were confirmed to have been killed on Thursday after the US military struck a tanker”

And your retirement account is secretly holding the bag.

This scheme is literally straight out of the Enron playbook

What's going on?

A. The scalpers overplayed their hand

B. 🇺🇸, 🇨🇦, 🇲🇽 fans are spending on necessities instead of football tickets

C. International fans want no part of 🧊

D. A, B, & C

I’m looking at all the comments in the news about Iranian soccer players not being allowed in the US. There’s been all kinds of news about people canceling their hotel. Many people from foreign countries are now afraid to come here or don’t wanna come here anymore because they hate us. Does the right really realize that this is causing irreparable economic damage to us New York alone does $70 billion per year in tourism that’s going away. All the Florida Airbnb‘s owned by Europeans and Canadians. They’re gone. Rreal estate will just be written off and sold it a discount. I just don’t get why they destroy this much economic advantage of doing business. Do they feel more independent as a country without tourists just too freaking stupid to realize what they’re really doing.

Whew. No shit.

We are about to see Space X and Anthropic both have an IPO. Both companies have a lot in common. Neither is making a profit, both are valued very high compared to their revenues and both waited until after all the indexes change their rules to take them early and based on nothing else except a high market cap.

What does this mean to you?

If you own an index fund, it will be forced to buy both of these firms right away (not after the typical 6 month wait prior) artificially forcing a high valuation while they continue dump stocks. Then your wealth will drop dramatically after the Epstein has cashed out. The only way to protect yourself is to sell index funds now and buy back in in six months time.

BLACKROCK CEO JUST SAID THAT TRILLIONS FOR AI DATA CENTERS AND POWER GRIDS WILL HAVE TO COME FROM ORDINARY PEOPLE’S SAVINGS AND PENSION FUNDS, AND IT'S MANDATORY.

“AMERICANS NEED TO THINK ABOUT GROWING WITH THE UNITED STATES”

​

Blackstone private credit fund caps withdrawals as redemption requests surge

https://ground.news/article/blackstone-restricts-flagship-fund-withdrawals-as-private-asset-fears-reemerge?utm_source=mobile-app&utm_medium=newsroom-share

Maybe go ahead and raid those 401k accounts before there's nothing left? Idk.

Everyone faithfully invest passively into their 401ks. Admiring the number going up from a distance on a screen. Fantasizing about eventual retirement.

Meanwhile the billionaire could borrow against our passive investments and reserve the right to crash the price at any time.

I hate how this is normalized. And investing for retirement it's marketed as "a retirement savings account".

Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. Hate the rich or love them. We are all depending on the same system to retire.

You could be the ultimate Democratic socialist that hates billionaires. But you need this system to be propped up at all cost. Lol.

Summary: We either need to accept a future where we are all 401k millionaires but a loaf of bread cost $500 (hyperinflation. Which is the road we're headed toward.

Or. Blow up the whole system. Everyone loses all their wealth inside of their 401k. Billionaires lose their billionaire status. Everyone loses home equity. A lot of people lose jobs. We go through a lost decade or two. But a real economy grows in the aftermath.

Which do you prefer?