Is Economic Collapse Already Here?

[xjustintimex]

For the first time we have actually seen restaurant sales passing grocery sales... Interesting times

I had a Citibank card cancelled on me about 12 years ago for that exact reason. Never had a late payment or any fees. No matter, plenty of other companies willing to take my business for the 1-2% net merchant fees they get to keep.



I can see most of this except the food industry growth. It's not my professional field, but what I read is that restaurant traffic is declining and has been for years, and that the grocery business is even more fractional-percent-margin cutthroat than it always has been. What part of the food industry is growing?

[Moose-Knuckle]

Wow. Two years ago I bought a 2800 sq ft home on 7.5 acres with a spring fed creek, a barn and fenced for $240k.

That sounds like a dream, congrats!

Love TN, beautiful country but the New Madrid Seismic Zone keeps me from wanting to live there.

[RetroRevolver77]

This was an excellent summary of what I feel is wrong.

When the guy running the hospital makes more than the highest paid surgeon, something is amiss.

To many folks are charged with making employment and salary decisions using other people's money.

What is not sustainable is having people on Welfare using the hospital emergency room as a doctors office and turning over what is essentially an emergency room charge visit over to the tax payers. If you really want to save this country you cut all welfare for the able bodied- all of it.

[ralph]

What is not sustainable is having people on Welfare using the hospital emergency room as a doctors office and turning over what is essentially an emergency room charge visit over to the tax payers. If you really want to save this country you cut all welfare for the able bodied- all of it.

While I agree with you, cutting welfare will never happen as long as fiat money is still accepted as a tangible form of payment. Welfare was one of LBJ's greatest achievements, guaranteeing a solid, reliable block of democratic voters.. for as long as the money keeps rolling in..The "war on poverty" was lost decades ago, but the war on our wallets to pay for this ponzi scheme is still being fought, and in many cases being won.. With literally half the country on some form of entitlement, it's impossible to take it away, the only way that's going to happen is through a economic collaspe, followed by a sensible reconstruction of our monetary system, and, our goverment. Getting rid of the Fed would be a good place to start, as well as term limits on members of congress.

[26 Inf]

What is not sustainable is having people on Welfare using the hospital emergency room as a doctors office and turning over what is essentially an emergency room charge visit over to the tax payers. If you really want to save this country you cut all welfare for the able bodied- all of it.

While I tend to agree for the most part, there are a lot more problems with our current situation.

If medical costs were reined in, we would be better able to sustain the cost of Medicaide for those for whom it is the only option.

Go to the ER with no insurance. Look at your bill. Look at a Medicaide bill for the same services. Look at the BCBS bill for the same services. Yours will be higher. Forty years ago, it would have been just the opposite.

Why is that considering that most folks, yep you heard it here, most folks have insurance? According to Gallup '11.7% of Americans were uninsured as of the second quarter of this year (2017).'

Seems to me the system is getting by OK on insurance payments. So why do they charge the uninsured more? Greed. Pure unadulterated greed.

Go to your local healthcare center pull the books, look at the profit margin.

They are raping us all.

So, yeah, we need to get the able minded and bodied of Medicaide, but IMHO, a far bigger problem is a system that allows/rewards such greed.

As I said, when the paper shuffler, who has nothing to do with patient care, makes more than the surgeon, something is screwy.

When a hospital has more billing clerks than hospital beds, something is screwy - Duke University Hospital has 900 hospital beds and 1,300 billing clerks - 30% of your hospital bill is consumed by administrative costs. https://www.singlecare.com/blog/30-m...trative-costs/

That, my friend, is bullshit. Your barking at the wrong car.

[ramairthree]

There are some elements correct by all.

Medical repeat offenders are a huge cost to the taxpayer. They pump out kids they don’t support, do drugs, have heart attacks, go on disability, end up on dialysis, etc. a large part of the population getting medical care is an anchor around the neck of productive citizens.

Yes, hospital administration has increased about 2400% since the 1970s. There is a huge amount of money going into it.

Legal costs are not insignificant either.

There are a lot of ways costs could be trimmed.

But at the end of the day,
When you kid has a brain tumor,
Millions of dollars worth of equipment will be used in their care by some very high quality and high performing individuals.
There are real costs associated with healthcare that are significant. Those will not go away. And costs also increasing due to “feels” oriented implementations.

Health care, is, like roads, bridges, etc. a real cost.

And just like building a road or bridge has political bribes, and a ton of other stuff increasing costs beyond its true expense so does medicine.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Average house in Denver just passed $500k. Not too many bad areas left, but it isn't like this is some kind elite community. Denver is now the craziest housing market outside of the coasts. I get the 'small house' movement. It was kind of cool, until you realize it is just trailer homes. I really thought that the crash of 2008 was going to lead to more rationale housing. And here we are back, closing in on full-stupid again. These little houses, for most people, are a symptom of that- and a consequence a generation that had a lot of people fail to launch because of the macro economic problems.

[RetroRevolver77]

Average house in Denver just passed $500k. Not too many bad areas left, but it isn't like this is some kind elite community. Denver is now the craziest housing market outside of the coasts. I get the 'small house' movement. It was kind of cool, until you realize it is just trailer homes. I really thought that the crash of 2008 was going to lead to more rationale housing. And here we are back, closing in on full-stupid again. These little houses, for most people, are a symptom of that- and a consequence a generation that had a lot of people fail to launch because of the macro economic problems.

I could tell you about a magical place with high paying jobs, nice balance of life, and low cost housing but once word got out- it'd ruin it all for us lowly flyover country people.