How the system is rigged against even the high earners

People who lie about stuff with statistics call it:
ALICE.
Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) represents households earning above the Federal Poverty Level but less than the cost of living (housing, food, childcare, healthcare, technology). These working families, often called the "missing middle," frequently earn too much for public assistance but cannot afford basic necessities.

The System isn't rigged against those people, those people are rigged against those people.
They confuse "Basic Necessities" with luxury items.
Assets: CARS are not 'assets.' Neither is ANYTHING ELSE you have to make payments on except maybe for a house and a retirement fund. You may 'have to' make car payments a few times in your youth but if you're still doing it in your 50's?
YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!
You can buy a burner phone for $50 - trust me. I know of a bunch of kids in my daughter's school that have them because they're 'grounded' from their parent-provided $100 a month i-phone.
Assets become Limited when you use your Income to provide for other people's Assets.

Income: The best, and for most of us the ONLY way to build wealth is through income - but most people who become "income constrained" do so because they are unwilling to change the circumstances that constrain their income.
Many of my co-workers are struggling to pay for their children's education. One of my friends instead offered to set his son up in an independent HVAC business if he completed a programme at our local JUCO.
That kid (still in his early 20s) is already knocking down six figures, and knows the REAL SYSTEM and has the ability to retire wealthy in his 50's Another friend's son graduated high school and moved to a city where they build ships for the USN. He's on a fast track to middle level management and already into some fairly high income.
Another one 'makes the polar bears cry' by working in a refinery - starting out on the unloading docks.

The "system" has not changed very much at all over the last 2,000 years, and one of its better examples still applies right here in the Land of the Free!
Or?
If you're in the Hate America First crowd - look to Asia. Different systema maybe but they DO REWARD hard work and a little perseverance.

ALICE has one Truth:
EMPLOYED.

Disclosure:
I didn't watch the above YooTube video because I absolutely DO NOT want it in my 'history.'

 

The system (tax code, pacs, congressional grifters) is and always has been rigged for the wealthy, but you have to keep enough people happy to prevent revolution.
Are we reaching a tipping point, idk, and neither does anyone else

 

Yes... It's finally time! Gas prices are the tipping point and Israel is bat sh*t crazy and the US president is too stupid to have more control over the situation than an Israel who thinks they need to destroy as many of their neighbors as possible while the US is effectively leaderless.

I remember selling candy bars for little league baseball to people waiting in the long gas lines in the '70's as the US President was clearly a doomed leader of the country for failing to get ahead of the energy crisis.

Here we are a 1/2 century later and same thing is happening. Except this time instead of selling candy bars for Little League I'm going to sell spare Prius.

 

Funny how knowing the truth of how the Americas were stolen by way of genocide and the economy was built on a foundation of slavery isn't actually a truth to you flag waivers, but just "opinions" of people who "hate america." Lol... You have the mindset of a 5 year old who doesn't understand long term consequences of behaving badly.

 

Did you sell candy bars in 2022?

 

Didn't those "Peak Oil" books predict that we would've pumped the well dry by around 2010??

 

that was before Toyota invented Prius

 

Peak oil estimates were before the advancement of hydraulic fracking and side-ways drilling technology, which interestingly enough was first developed via CIA and Dick Chenny's Haliburton in Kuwait where they drilled sidewise into Iraq's oil fields in order to provoke them into invading Kuwait so they US could justify Persian Gulf One in 1991. Everything about the oil business is 100% pure evil!

 

If that were at all true then it backfired spectacularly this time, since there ARE no long lines for gas nor are there even-odd gas buying days this time around.
No shortages at all, in fact - in the US.
I've said frequently that if the US ever experienced another significant energy disruption then all of the protesters (who DROVE CARS to the protest!) would change their minds before their "NO WAR FOR OIL" signs had a chance to flutter to the ground.

Keeping the Northern Arabian Gulf open IS globally important.
Keeping the IRGC from becoming a nucular armed traffic cop in the straits is MORE important.

 

Even if that were true (and it's NOT by the way!) oil is a global commodity.
Refineries in Louisiana and Texas process oil from shale formations in the Permian Basin (TX/NM) and the Bakken formation in the Dakotas.
This (in part) is WHY the US has been the largest oil producer over the last 8 years.

CURIOSITY is supposed to be fundamental to learning.
Think about this a little bit, and ask yourself a few questions about oil.

What historically have been the top oil disruptions?
Largest Historical Oil Disruptions

• Iran War/Strait of Hormuz Closure (2026): Triggered by conflict in the Middle East, the restriction of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global oil traverses, resulted in a severe supply shock, with estimations of up to 20 million barrels a day being disrupted.
• Arab Oil Embargo (1973-1974): Initiated by OAPEC during the Yom Kippur War, it caused a 7% disruption in global supply, leading to massive shortages and price spikes.
• Iranian Revolution (1978-1979): Political upheaval removed roughly 4.8 million barrels per day (about 7% of global supply) from the market.
• Gulf War (1990-1991): The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and subsequent embargoes removed approximately 4.3 million barrels per day, impacting 9% of global supply.
• Russia-Ukraine War (2022): European efforts to curb dependence on Russian oil triggered a significant supply crisis, though not as physically disruptive to overall production as the 2026 Middle East crisis.
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005): These storms caused severe, albeit shorter-term, disruptions to U.S. Gulf Coast production, peaking at over 1.5 million barrels per day of lost production

The one at the top of the list is the current 20 megabarrel disruption, but I submit that number may be revised sharply
downward fairly soon.
THIS is because The top three producers are the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
Russia has been exporting oil like crazy to pay for the war against the Ukies. We've been pretending that we can embargo this oil while the world's most populous nation (which is NOT China!) and the second most populous nation have been buying it.
The US oil is expensive to produce and refine, but above about $70 a barrel it becomes much more profitable.

That leaves the Haus of Saud.
Ever wonder WHY they were never smart enough to just build a pipeline to the RED SEA and avoid all of the Persian Gulf Drama?
(spoiler alert: They ARE smart enough and they DID.)
Ever wonder WHY the Iranians attacked the Saudi ARAMCO oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais.......in 2019?
Ever wonder why they haven't done it again?
(They actually MIGHT - but the net result would be the same.)
What is the NORAML outflow at Yanbu and what COULD IT BE?
What is it now?

While the U.S. is the top producer, Saudi Arabia and Russia and the OPEC+ partners influence global prices through coordinated production.
See also:
The De Beers Cartel.

Don't be a chump.
I could almost forgive the conspiracy theorists if they were imaginative enough to accuse the current admin of profiteering and saying that this may be the biggest "pump and dump" in history, if you will forgive the double entendre.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the gifts of a walk-off midterm election homer and soon-to-be cheap oil.

 

Meanwhile......
Oil flows again through controversial California pipeline after Trump order | California | The Guardian

 

The US also takes in crude and exports the finished products.

 

That's actually a net-benefit if you're part of the Climate Industrial Complex.

Making polar bears cry is an energy intensive and messy process.
WHERE SHOULD we be refining oil if not in the US?

 

Old white men protecting their turf