Having said that, what Bernie seems to be tapping into is a sense that America should be more prosperous, that our parents and grandparents worked less than we did, and enjoyed considerably more economic security. In my view, this is unquestionably true.
On a superficial level, of course, we have much more stuff. We have mePhones, larger houses, bigger cars, take more vacations, eat out more, etc. On a slightly deeper level, we see that the average debt for most Americans has exploded since the inflation (caused by the Fed) of the late 70’s. What was once fiscal prudence becomes stupidity when money is steadily losing its value.
But to ultimately solve this problem, that of individual economic productivity per capita skyrocketing, while actual purchasing power remains stagnant or even declines, one must reference the devaluation of our currency. The overall money supply has increased roughly 5-fold since the Fed got rid of the last fetters limiting its freedom of action around 1980.
Can any sane human being question the connection? If more proof were needed, look at the increase in the holdings of the world’s largest banks: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/super-rich-offshore-havens_n_1692608.html
In the time I am allocating to this, this is the best link I can find, but it seems obvious that pari passu with the increase of M2 I think we will find an increase in the net holdings of the world’s banks.
I have tried to explain this many different ways, but I continue to fail. It seems both horribly obvious, and extraordinarily significant, but I am surrounded by imbeciles. Yes, that was a minor concession to self pity.
I will keep on keeping on. It’s what I do.
It’s funny: I did my own astrological chart some time ago, and somewhere in there–obviously in different parts of the chart–I was compared both to Leonidas, and to Cassandra. I feel that.