re: #166 Killgore Trout

When I bought my house the neighborhood was blue collar, Next door neighbors were sheet metal workers. One of their boys married a girl whose family owned one of those home equity loan business. They took out loans for boats and new pick up trucks to haul them. Then bigger boats and bigger trucks. RV’s, ATV’s. Their toys became a problem by taking up all the street parking. They lost their house about 4 years before the meltdown. the only thing the kept was the RV which they moved into. Very sad.

This country has maintained the illusion of prosperity by shifting to a debt-focused economy. The only reason the peasantry (for that’s what the average American worker is now, make no mistake) haven’t revolted is because they are deluded into believing they are well-off by the illusion of ownership that debt provides. They are encouraged to by things on credit or loan, and make payments in perpetuity. If the average American family lived without debt, purchasing only that which they could afford cash-in-hand, the social relations in this country would look vastly different, and the wealth gap would never have been allowed to grow to the obscene degree that it has.