Great article, that every American should read; thanks for sharing this Michael!
On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 8:04 AM, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > > *Why Can’t We Party Like It’s 1905? > *Paul Rosenberg > Jul 16th, 2013 > > When writing historical things, I try to include perspective from people > who actually lived through the events. And for money issues in the US, I’m > able to do that back to about 1905. > > So, do you think life was nasty, brutish, and short in 1905? That there > were poor and starving people falling dead on every street corner? > > Hardly. > > The Wright brothers were flying for 30 minutes at a crack; Einstein was > upgrading the laws of physics; telephones and electric lights were being > installed all across America; Henry Ford was getting the final pieces in > place for his moving assembly line and Model T; radio was being developed; art > was flourishing <http://www.freemansperspective.com/liberty-art/>; and > the world was more or less at peace. > > Sure, we have far more tech and better medicine now, but mostly because > the people of earlier times (like the 1905 era) gifted it to us. > > People in 1905 lived in heated homes, refrigerated their food, had access > to professional physicians, traveled the > world<http://www.freemansperspective.com/why-you-should-run-away/>(mostly on > trains and ships), read daily newspapers (there were many more > of them in those days), watched movies, and ate just about the same foods > we eat. > > So, was it really that bad a time? > > No, it wasn’t. In fact, it was better in important ways. > > > *The Facts Don’t Lie*Consider this: > > *The working person of 1905 kept his or her money. They ended up saving > somewhere between a quarter and a half of everything they made – afterliving > expenses. > > *It’s hard to be completely precise when reconstructing the budgets of > average people in 1905 (records are hard to find), but we do have enough > for a good, close guess. > > Here’s how finance worked for a working family man of 1905: > > Annual income: $700.00 > Annual expenses: ($350.00) > Annual savings: $350.00 > > If you’re thinking that I’m taking liberties with these numbers, let me > assure you that I’m not – I’m being conservative. For example: > > - The income figure should probably be higher. I’ve found figures of > well over $800 for construction workers. > - As for expenses, I rounded *up* from a New York Times article, dated > 29 September, 1907. It specified $325 per year. > - Added to that is the fact that many people grew their own food > during that time, which would skew the figures further. > - As noted initially, I compared these numbers with stories I heard > from relatives who lived through the time. My uncle Dave, for example, used > to tell me how he got a job paying $390 per year sweeping floors as an > unskilled immigrant (who spoke almost no English) in 1903. > > > The next time you drive through an old part of town and see the grand old > houses, remember that people were able to build and buy them because their > paychecks weren’t stripped bare. There were no income taxes in 1905, no > sales taxes, no state taxes, and not much in the way of property taxes. > > There was also no such thing as a military-industrial complex in those > days, and – miracle of miracles – *the rest of the world survived! > > > **And Now…*Today, the situation is much, much > different<http://www.freemansperspective.com/why-so-hard-to-save-money/>. > The average working family pays about half their income in combined > taxes<http://www.freemansperspective.com/taxes-price-of-civilization/>: > income taxes (to the state and the Feds), payroll taxes, property taxes, > gas taxes, utility bill taxes, sales tax, local taxes, and on and on. > > So, figuring an average income of just over $50,000 (the 2011 figure). And > combined taxes of about $25,000, the average American family is left to pay > bills like these: > > Mortgage 11,000 > Car payments 6,000 > Gas, repairs, etc. 2,500 > Property taxes 2,500 > Food 3,000 > Total $25,000 > > That leaves people zeroed-out. And again, I’m being conservative, and I > haven’t included a number of smaller expenses. > > And if you think I’m going overboard, look at this graph of the savings > rate from between 1947 (as far back as I could find) and 2009. This graph > covers more than families, but it paints a clear enough picture: > > [image: money issues in the US] > > > *Great Grandpa Did It, So Why Not Us?*Your great grandfathers faced very > few of the taxes that we face. (The government survived on tariffs.) There > was no social security either, and – believe it or not – the streets were > never full of starving old people. Families were able to take care of their > own – *it’s not that hard when you’re saving half of your income! > > *We have forgotten that it was once possible for an average person to > accumulate money. The truth is that productive > people<http://www.freemansperspective.com/productive-class/>should be > comfortable. > *Well-off,* as they used to say. > > So, *why can’t we party like it’s 1905? > > *You might want to think about that question. Here’s a thought that may > be useful: > > *You can complain about abusers all you like, but the people who obey the > abusers are also to > blame<http://www.freemansperspective.com/collapse-of-capitalism/> > . > > * http://www.freemansperspective.com/money-issues-in-the-us/ > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
