Fake growth produces high asset prices, increased sales and profits, and raises debt levels. It distorts the economy...uses up precious time and resources (capital!)...and actually makes us poorer.
"Without large-scale immigration high growth rates are almost impossible. "
I am sick of this lie!
The line should read: Without full participation in the economy by all segments of society, high rates of growth are impossible. What have we done? We have put half of our potential labor force on welfare (as a means of securing their votes), and we have imported cheaper "immigrant" labor to replace them. No matter how much it seems to work, (but it doesn't, as proven by our $37 trillion of acknowledged debt), the result is destruction of the culture. By the end of the 50s, in 1960, America, with a population of 150,000,000, and a society that was 90% white, and two political parties that agreed on the basic premise of the country as outlined in the Constitution, the country experienced high growth rates, and did it, WHILE SUPPLYING ITS OWN LABOR. How? People either worked or had truly dreadful existences. The idea that a country of today's 330,000,000 has a labor shortage is not only offensive to common sense, but it is patently false. We have no labor shortage. What we have is a contrived situation where the government disincentivizes work, productivity and personal accountability, and we all see the dreadful result. Best always. PM
WOW. You are right on target. Our welfare system is disgraceful. It is one of the main reasons many legal and illegal immigrants come to the U.S. we are a generous nation and much of the time our government doesn’t check for need. As you explained because they get their votes.
Mr. Porter, I'm reminded of Prof. Milton Friedman's famous statement about a first-world country with a generous welfare system can't remain so for very long with an open border. I might add to this that Pres. Reagan's one admittedly huge blunder was to provide a mass amnesty. It took a little time, but it has turned CA into a one-party, far-left state, resulting in many middle-class residents fleeing, and being replaced with even more third-world peasants. Thus rich, fewer middle-class, and considerably more poor. Classic third-world.
And Bill has been predicting doom and gloom for Japan for a few decades now because of their tight immigration policy, homogeneous population, and aging population. (But he doesn't mention how safe it is there; and, their ability to innovate and mechanize. Of course not.) But nothing from Bill about Communist China, which has the very same tight immigration policy. If mass immigration is so great, why does he not demand that China open its border and allow tens of millions of third-world peasants to pour in? Show the U.S. and the world how it's done.
And I notice folks like Bill want more "immigration," but won't address the matter of amnesty. Or maybe Bill will go for full amnesty. We shall see. But if not, then is he embracing a policy like Kuwait's policy of bringing in a massive number of slave laborers (from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, etc.), and creating two classes of residents? One class is a predominately Muslim group with full rights and the ability to vote as citizens; and another with limited rights and never provided amnesty so they can never become citizens and vote. (And if given amnesty, they would most certainly vote themselves unlimited amounts of govt. aid aka free stuff, knowing how much oil wealth Kuwait has.)
Frank-you hit the nail perfectly on the head. I grew up under the Peron regime in Argentina. The Peronistas did not want to work ‘much’. They enjoyed their welfare, tango and food. Look where it has been for the last 50 years. America is heading in the direction of Cuba and Argentina of past (hopefully Milei can change things). AP
The age group 25 to 54 have a participation rate of 83%. In 1950 the participation rate was 59% for all ages. In 2019-2020 the maximum participation rate ever recorded (for all ages) was 67.3%. The numbers don't back your assertions.
Get people off welfare and let them work. Not only does this help the economy, it builds the self-esteem of the workers and gives them skin in the game and a chance at upward mobility. Instead, today, what do we have among the largely idle working class? Drugs, dependence, social degeneracy, and governmental control. Best always. PM
Very true Paul down right appalling. Another overlooked truth was shutting down the economy and what was the criminal organizations answer to their problem which meant an exodus or simply dropped out, open the borders !
Welfare was never designed to get recipients off. Small changes in income means you get booted from subsidized housing and other benefits. There are people who are generational welfare recipients (before the government there was the church).
There was a program called workfare started in Bordentown (circa 1970s), New Jersey. The city provided transportation, daycare, job training, public jobs to welfare recipients as a condition to be on their program. A small fraction of the total number of recipients refused and no longer eligible. The thing everyone seems to forget is that it cost money to work (e.g. transportation, daycare, etc). The buses and daycare were staffed by recipients.
Hopefully they finish their term limit and someone of the same character gets elected. It is a dream because our large number of people on welfare will vote for freebies not the person.
...that's exactly my point, if a politico were to enact the prudent legislation, he/she surely would not get re-elected... this is likely one of the main reasons nothing good comes from politico's.
I get it, we just sit around and buy gold, until they come to confiscate it. This is about as depressing as it gets. And like every other government solution, they will start at the bottom and work their way up. People need to wise up. Somebody (Satan) is running the greatest psychological study that was ever created pitting citizen against citizen over issues that don't even matter. The path to being the greatest country in the 21st Century involves only two steps, eliminate debt and fear God.
These are the REAL facts--readily observable for all to digest. Now we'll just wait for the avalanche of blind denials and non-sequitur statements of the ideologues.
Ed, here's some real facts: we had high growth rates in this country long before we put vast numbers of our working class on welfare (for the purpose of creating dependence and securing their vote) and imported cheap immigrant labor. I know, because I was alive when it happened. Best always. PM
I agree and experienced that. I blame on one hand corporate management (for poor planning on how to compete internationally and for failing to modernize production) and unions (for grabbing every dollar today with no thought of the future consequences). The car industry is a classic case of total disregard by both parties so that now US automakers have zero chance of competing. The 5 million US buyers will be paying $30-50,000 more for each car than Chinese or Mexican buyers. That’s a quarter trillion dollar hit against the US economy and hundreds of thousands of the companies, their potential employees and their millions of potential customers had they not been ripped off by shortsighted US car companies and their greedy unions. It also illustrates the value of subjecting oneself to competition. There is zero chance of that major industry being able to compete so the only question is how long and how much do we (as a nation, as workers and as consumers of cars) have to lose before these two sacred cows throw in the towel. This situation illustrates how we inflate our GNP numbers compared to to #2, China, which is really #1. There are no sacred cows in business, just dozens of car manufacturers and millions of workers forced to innovate and adapt to every new technology or look for another job or become a businessperson. When we grew up we and the people around us understood FREE enterprise. Now we’re surrounded by smooth talkers and bullies.
"Again, the conclusion: All the growth in stock prices over the last 100 years has come from inflation!" To add insult to injury, us Plebs are then required to pay a capital gains tax on this phantom/inflation income. Think about how different things would be if every child that graduated high school understood how this disgusting system has been deliberately rigged to keep them them in Serfdom :-)
Austin, TX keeps rewriting the monetary rulebook. House Bill 1056, cleared by both chambers in late May, designates properly marked gold and silver “specie” as legal tender in the Lone Star State starting September 1, 2026. A second phase—launching no later than May 1, 2027—authorizes an electronic payment rail fully backed by bullion stored in the Texas Bullion Depository. While Federal Reserve notes remain king for now, the measure lays fresh track for Texans who prefer metal over paper or pixel money.
Ladies and gentlemen, patriots and pensioners, please exhale. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about. The modern economic fundamentals are sound. Sure, we’re hurtling toward the fiscal event horizon, the Fed’s playing god with interest rates like it’s a toddler with a blowtorch, and the American consumer is maxed out harder than a junior trader on a Monday margin call, trying to Venmo rent while still holding onto $17,000 in GameStop options “for the culture.”
Who better to steward the United States of America, the largest most indebted asset-inflated corporation in world history than President Trump. The man who has filed Chapter 11 more times than most Fortune 500 CFOs have filed expense reports?
This guy didn’t just dabble in bankruptcy court, he turned it into a revenue stream. Six corporate bankruptcies. Six. That’s not a red flag, that’s a Harvard Business School case study titled “Aggressive Leverage and the Performance Art of Default.” And now, the man who walked away from Atlantic City while the rubble was still smoldering is back, this time with nuclear codes and a Treasury Secretary.
America, Inc. is his magnum opus. GDP is a hallucination, real wages are flatter than a Yale cap table, and we’re staring down $37 trillion in federal debt like it’s a rounding error. But no stress, because when Donnie tanks the whole operation, he’s got the blueprint, just file a global Chapter 11, restructure planetary debt, and emerge with naming rights to the IMF. By 2030, don’t be surprised if the dollar is backed not by gold, nor oil, but by the Trump Global Reorganization Fund, ticker symbol: FAKE.
So pour a glass of something expensive, smile into the abyss, and remember, in the modern economy, reality is optional, bankruptcy is strategic, and the yield curve is more inverted than Hunter S. Thompson at a Vegas bender.
Na! Bankruptcy isn’t it. Trump won’t last that long. The socialists will get control and turn the jack boots around and instead of rounding up illegals, they’ll be rounding up all the conservatives for all the crimes that they are unaware of committing and confiscate their assets. All in the name of protecting National Security.
Bill , your statement above proved my point I made yesterday. Which is if we have a fake economy with fake asset prices , fake sales and fake profits and excessive debt to support the whole mess then why do you think we have a lack of workers and need immigrants. It is exactly the opposite. If you had a real economy which you profess to want then we probably have too many workers for the amount of real jobs that can be supported by a non fake economy.
I have been a faithful subsciber for several years, but I resent having to be re-directed (read in app) to substack which I am well aware of. I barley have time to read your letter and security does not allow me to add the APP SUBSTACK as I cannot justify why I need it with all its various
subject titles. So it has been blocked on my stystem to avoid unwanted viruses. So I cannopt read your article between Bonner and his guest included in your July 8 newsletter.
Obviously, we are poorer. We were, in the 40’s, the world’s most powerful industrial, self sufficient nation. Both Japan and Germany knew they would lose the war when the US entered. Look at the production numbers from those years and the innovation in aviation, most from private individuals like the Wright Brothers and Curtis, individual entrepreneurs imbued with an all encompassing passion.
The environment that produced such Americans has been destroyed. The American economy is a sham.
I am sick of the lie… and profuse lies; just like Brother Paul.
Lies breed chaos; we have chaos.
One thing the government, by lost men, produces is chaos.
Bill adds to the chaos, it’s woe and more woe and hate Trump without solutions.
“With faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.”
"Without large-scale immigration high growth rates are almost impossible. "
I am sick of this lie!
The line should read: Without full participation in the economy by all segments of society, high rates of growth are impossible. What have we done? We have put half of our potential labor force on welfare (as a means of securing their votes), and we have imported cheaper "immigrant" labor to replace them. No matter how much it seems to work, (but it doesn't, as proven by our $37 trillion of acknowledged debt), the result is destruction of the culture. By the end of the 50s, in 1960, America, with a population of 150,000,000, and a society that was 90% white, and two political parties that agreed on the basic premise of the country as outlined in the Constitution, the country experienced high growth rates, and did it, WHILE SUPPLYING ITS OWN LABOR. How? People either worked or had truly dreadful existences. The idea that a country of today's 330,000,000 has a labor shortage is not only offensive to common sense, but it is patently false. We have no labor shortage. What we have is a contrived situation where the government disincentivizes work, productivity and personal accountability, and we all see the dreadful result. Best always. PM
WOW. You are right on target. Our welfare system is disgraceful. It is one of the main reasons many legal and illegal immigrants come to the U.S. we are a generous nation and much of the time our government doesn’t check for need. As you explained because they get their votes.
Mr. Porter, I'm reminded of Prof. Milton Friedman's famous statement about a first-world country with a generous welfare system can't remain so for very long with an open border. I might add to this that Pres. Reagan's one admittedly huge blunder was to provide a mass amnesty. It took a little time, but it has turned CA into a one-party, far-left state, resulting in many middle-class residents fleeing, and being replaced with even more third-world peasants. Thus rich, fewer middle-class, and considerably more poor. Classic third-world.
And Bill has been predicting doom and gloom for Japan for a few decades now because of their tight immigration policy, homogeneous population, and aging population. (But he doesn't mention how safe it is there; and, their ability to innovate and mechanize. Of course not.) But nothing from Bill about Communist China, which has the very same tight immigration policy. If mass immigration is so great, why does he not demand that China open its border and allow tens of millions of third-world peasants to pour in? Show the U.S. and the world how it's done.
And I notice folks like Bill want more "immigration," but won't address the matter of amnesty. Or maybe Bill will go for full amnesty. We shall see. But if not, then is he embracing a policy like Kuwait's policy of bringing in a massive number of slave laborers (from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, etc.), and creating two classes of residents? One class is a predominately Muslim group with full rights and the ability to vote as citizens; and another with limited rights and never provided amnesty so they can never become citizens and vote. (And if given amnesty, they would most certainly vote themselves unlimited amounts of govt. aid aka free stuff, knowing how much oil wealth Kuwait has.)
Its a quagmire
Frank-you hit the nail perfectly on the head. I grew up under the Peron regime in Argentina. The Peronistas did not want to work ‘much’. They enjoyed their welfare, tango and food. Look where it has been for the last 50 years. America is heading in the direction of Cuba and Argentina of past (hopefully Milei can change things). AP
The age group 25 to 54 have a participation rate of 83%. In 1950 the participation rate was 59% for all ages. In 2019-2020 the maximum participation rate ever recorded (for all ages) was 67.3%. The numbers don't back your assertions.
So true, Bill. As a scholar of economics ? How do we fix this. The only solution I can think of is:
1. Cut all department budgets by 10% including military
2. Have term limits so the vultures can’t do too much damage
3. No lifetime pensions
4. Get rid of departments that are worthless or duplicative. I.e. education and energy.
5. Get rid of the federal reserve and let the economy function without interference.
6. Have a 10% tax rate for everyone
7. Change the immigration policy to let more in legitimately.
I’m sure your readers can add to this list. Although it is wishful thinking. One can dream, right.
Get people off welfare and let them work. Not only does this help the economy, it builds the self-esteem of the workers and gives them skin in the game and a chance at upward mobility. Instead, today, what do we have among the largely idle working class? Drugs, dependence, social degeneracy, and governmental control. Best always. PM
Very true Paul down right appalling. Another overlooked truth was shutting down the economy and what was the criminal organizations answer to their problem which meant an exodus or simply dropped out, open the borders !
Welfare was never designed to get recipients off. Small changes in income means you get booted from subsidized housing and other benefits. There are people who are generational welfare recipients (before the government there was the church).
There was a program called workfare started in Bordentown (circa 1970s), New Jersey. The city provided transportation, daycare, job training, public jobs to welfare recipients as a condition to be on their program. A small fraction of the total number of recipients refused and no longer eligible. The thing everyone seems to forget is that it cost money to work (e.g. transportation, daycare, etc). The buses and daycare were staffed by recipients.
...no one can argue your solutions except, how the hell would the politico that enacts all your remedies get re-elected?
Hopefully they finish their term limit and someone of the same character gets elected. It is a dream because our large number of people on welfare will vote for freebies not the person.
...that's exactly my point, if a politico were to enact the prudent legislation, he/she surely would not get re-elected... this is likely one of the main reasons nothing good comes from politico's.
I get it, we just sit around and buy gold, until they come to confiscate it. This is about as depressing as it gets. And like every other government solution, they will start at the bottom and work their way up. People need to wise up. Somebody (Satan) is running the greatest psychological study that was ever created pitting citizen against citizen over issues that don't even matter. The path to being the greatest country in the 21st Century involves only two steps, eliminate debt and fear God.
These are the REAL facts--readily observable for all to digest. Now we'll just wait for the avalanche of blind denials and non-sequitur statements of the ideologues.
Ed, here's some real facts: we had high growth rates in this country long before we put vast numbers of our working class on welfare (for the purpose of creating dependence and securing their vote) and imported cheap immigrant labor. I know, because I was alive when it happened. Best always. PM
I agree and experienced that. I blame on one hand corporate management (for poor planning on how to compete internationally and for failing to modernize production) and unions (for grabbing every dollar today with no thought of the future consequences). The car industry is a classic case of total disregard by both parties so that now US automakers have zero chance of competing. The 5 million US buyers will be paying $30-50,000 more for each car than Chinese or Mexican buyers. That’s a quarter trillion dollar hit against the US economy and hundreds of thousands of the companies, their potential employees and their millions of potential customers had they not been ripped off by shortsighted US car companies and their greedy unions. It also illustrates the value of subjecting oneself to competition. There is zero chance of that major industry being able to compete so the only question is how long and how much do we (as a nation, as workers and as consumers of cars) have to lose before these two sacred cows throw in the towel. This situation illustrates how we inflate our GNP numbers compared to to #2, China, which is really #1. There are no sacred cows in business, just dozens of car manufacturers and millions of workers forced to innovate and adapt to every new technology or look for another job or become a businessperson. When we grew up we and the people around us understood FREE enterprise. Now we’re surrounded by smooth talkers and bullies.
"Again, the conclusion: All the growth in stock prices over the last 100 years has come from inflation!" To add insult to injury, us Plebs are then required to pay a capital gains tax on this phantom/inflation income. Think about how different things would be if every child that graduated high school understood how this disgusting system has been deliberately rigged to keep them them in Serfdom :-)
To paraphrase Henry Ford: If the populace knew how the USA financial system works
there would be revolution by morning.
One more comment. I just checked that 25% of our 330,000,000 people are on welfare. That is disgraceful. We should have work for welfare.
Wow ! Big number I dont even want to venture the CAD number.
...but... we do have work for welfare!
Remember?
All those illegal immigrants that keep America running?
It is beyond disgraceful; it's damnation!
On the bright side guys this just in.
Texas Greenlights Gold and Silver as Legal Tender
Austin, TX keeps rewriting the monetary rulebook. House Bill 1056, cleared by both chambers in late May, designates properly marked gold and silver “specie” as legal tender in the Lone Star State starting September 1, 2026. A second phase—launching no later than May 1, 2027—authorizes an electronic payment rail fully backed by bullion stored in the Texas Bullion Depository. While Federal Reserve notes remain king for now, the measure lays fresh track for Texans who prefer metal over paper or pixel money.
(Schiff Gold)
Level of T.D.S. detected....MINOR! Not too bad today, Bill. Some useful information that's good to hear OVER and Over and over.
Ladies and gentlemen, patriots and pensioners, please exhale. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about. The modern economic fundamentals are sound. Sure, we’re hurtling toward the fiscal event horizon, the Fed’s playing god with interest rates like it’s a toddler with a blowtorch, and the American consumer is maxed out harder than a junior trader on a Monday margin call, trying to Venmo rent while still holding onto $17,000 in GameStop options “for the culture.”
Who better to steward the United States of America, the largest most indebted asset-inflated corporation in world history than President Trump. The man who has filed Chapter 11 more times than most Fortune 500 CFOs have filed expense reports?
This guy didn’t just dabble in bankruptcy court, he turned it into a revenue stream. Six corporate bankruptcies. Six. That’s not a red flag, that’s a Harvard Business School case study titled “Aggressive Leverage and the Performance Art of Default.” And now, the man who walked away from Atlantic City while the rubble was still smoldering is back, this time with nuclear codes and a Treasury Secretary.
America, Inc. is his magnum opus. GDP is a hallucination, real wages are flatter than a Yale cap table, and we’re staring down $37 trillion in federal debt like it’s a rounding error. But no stress, because when Donnie tanks the whole operation, he’s got the blueprint, just file a global Chapter 11, restructure planetary debt, and emerge with naming rights to the IMF. By 2030, don’t be surprised if the dollar is backed not by gold, nor oil, but by the Trump Global Reorganization Fund, ticker symbol: FAKE.
So pour a glass of something expensive, smile into the abyss, and remember, in the modern economy, reality is optional, bankruptcy is strategic, and the yield curve is more inverted than Hunter S. Thompson at a Vegas bender.
Na! Bankruptcy isn’t it. Trump won’t last that long. The socialists will get control and turn the jack boots around and instead of rounding up illegals, they’ll be rounding up all the conservatives for all the crimes that they are unaware of committing and confiscate their assets. All in the name of protecting National Security.
I appreciate it!
Yes, true the aforementioned facts are accurate ABOUT what is happening.
But, no mention on how to fix the problems.
Just more Karen’s complaining!
Some of these people have Masters or Doctorate Degrees and they still have NO SOLUTIONS.
Just more bitching!
Also not any solutions, but no explanations of how it worked before, and how/why we got to this point. Sheesh. Best always. PM
Wheel Spinning as an art!
Bill , your statement above proved my point I made yesterday. Which is if we have a fake economy with fake asset prices , fake sales and fake profits and excessive debt to support the whole mess then why do you think we have a lack of workers and need immigrants. It is exactly the opposite. If you had a real economy which you profess to want then we probably have too many workers for the amount of real jobs that can be supported by a non fake economy.
Still pining for the steer promised for Sat/Sun. Might Argentine silver help us bear what's due, maybe even thrive?!
I’m not selling, but $3000 gold seems too high to me. Mining margins are at extremely high levels. I would not be surprised to see gold drop to $2000.
If it does I'll buy it. : )
I have been a faithful subsciber for several years, but I resent having to be re-directed (read in app) to substack which I am well aware of. I barley have time to read your letter and security does not allow me to add the APP SUBSTACK as I cannot justify why I need it with all its various
subject titles. So it has been blocked on my stystem to avoid unwanted viruses. So I cannopt read your article between Bonner and his guest included in your July 8 newsletter.
If it continues I will have to drop your service.
Thank you,
FMCM
Obviously, we are poorer. We were, in the 40’s, the world’s most powerful industrial, self sufficient nation. Both Japan and Germany knew they would lose the war when the US entered. Look at the production numbers from those years and the innovation in aviation, most from private individuals like the Wright Brothers and Curtis, individual entrepreneurs imbued with an all encompassing passion.
The environment that produced such Americans has been destroyed. The American economy is a sham.
I am sick of the lie… and profuse lies; just like Brother Paul.
Lies breed chaos; we have chaos.
One thing the government, by lost men, produces is chaos.
Bill adds to the chaos, it’s woe and more woe and hate Trump without solutions.
“With faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.”