A couple of times over the past few days, I have had the misfortune to get sidelined by this Suze Orman or whatever the hell her name is. This morning I was able to change the channel before I had to listen to her speak, but I was not so lucky the other night when she was hawking her line of products on PBS. The encounter lasted only 2 minutes, but it was enough to raise my hackles, and it even triggered a visceral response in my 15-year-old son who happened to be in the room.
An Eight-Month Emergency Fund, a Fully-Funded 401k, No Credit Card Debt, Own Your Vehicle...All very nice ideas in and of themselves. Collectively, nearly impossible. Particularly now. I am sure there are pockets in the country of populations that live this little pipe dream. Certainly not here in the ghost-state of Ohio. (You've heard of ghost-towns? Well Ohio is a ghost-state...Anyway.)
This mornings encounter would have been a segment called "The New American Dream," where the financial guru would have further lectured me on all of the things that I am doing wrong in life. When I saw the title of the segment and then a close-up of her psychopathic smile, I nearly lost my mind. It certainly triggered a violent exterior monologue.
The American Dream is dead. There is no New American Dream.
Now, to be fair, I have to admit that I have a natural pessimism. Always have. This fact makes me and other like me more sensitive to having smoke blown up our asses. Ms. Orman and others of her ilk are profiting not from some innate superiority of their ideas, but from the fear people have when faced with the prospect of financial ruin....
***Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has just signed the Bill that will limit collective bargaining 'rights' for public sector Unions***
We are all faced with financial ruin thanks to decades of abusive Government and Entitlement culture, the we for whatever reason have tolerated over and over and over. And Ms. Orman wants us to continue living this lie that we have been sold for the last 60 or so years. Be a cog in a wheel in this broken machine. Fund that 401k that the Federal Government will take at least 30% of...Put back 8 months of salary to support you when the Government passes some sort of mandate that causes your company to downsize or shut down altogether. Oh! And the 8 months' emergency fund will get you through about 2 months because the U.S. Dollar will be damned-near worthless. Pay off your cars and credit cards so that your God Almighty Credit Score can actually DROP because you have no debt...Then go try and get a loan for a house!
I support Capitalism, but I have no interest in being a part of this system anymore. Not that I ever really did. Unfortunately, prior generations and the structure of society now prevent anyone from really getting out. It is ironic that a country founded on Freedom and Individuality progressed to support nothing but conformity. We have all picked our boxes, or been forced into them. Now we wait. Trapped, gasping, grasping, foundering, slowly dying. Watching the futures we were sold evaporate. The facade lifts to show the void behind. Regrets for what world we brought our children into plague us daily.
We have real fears, stifled, for fresh water, food supplies, fuel, heat, clothing, shelter. We have real fears of working until the day we die because we were trapped in a system that forced us to work a good portion of our lives to pay for people that were content to live off the government teat. We could not and cannot withdraw into a more self-sufficient state...I have a real fear that the only way a self-sufficient state will be possible is in the rebuilding after the Collapse occurs.
Our reality is dire. Our future is dire. And fully funding my 401k...amassing an 8-month Emergency Fund...that is NOT OUR REALITY.
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