HOUSING, ATLANTIC CITY AND OTHER SIGNS THAT THE US IS BECOMING A THIRD WORLD NATION

If you listened to the MSM and unnamed economists, everything is coming up roses and happy days are here again. However, if you talk to the average person of any race and is not in the 1%, you get the feeling Armageddon is right around the corner. Facts are, this country is falling apart and our Congress and Obama seem incapable of doing anything to fix this major problem. The Republicans want to eviscerate the safety nets and give all that money to rich people, which will NEVER work, as it never has ever in human history, while the Democrats and Obama twiddle their thumbs and look the other way.

Obama has been out to lunch lately with his unbelievable statement that the administration has no plans for Ukraine or Isis, which seems stupid beyond words. Yes, there are no good options, but you better have some sort of plan because fate will intervene if you won't. Think JFK here, not W. Just a suggestion.

I have been telling my regular readers that there are three cities currently falling behind on the housing market, Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco. Well all three are red lining right now as even the highest priced houses are slowing down, with an almost total collapse occurring in SF. The Northeast, Mid-west and Western states all saw double digit declines with only the South rising by about 8%, most likely due to lower cost of living expenses in these states. If housing starts to sink soon, and all indicators are that it will, the stock market will follow.

Atlantic City sure isn't seeing that so-called economic recovery as their newest casino, Revel, is closing after two years of operations. That's $2.4 billion wasted and thousands of jobs lost. Awesome. It joins Showboat in extinction, which closed earlier this year, and Trump Casino that closes in a few weeks. What happened?

Well first off, casino revenue is down everywhere, from Vegas to CT. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun both dropped nearly 10% from last year, suggesting that the "recovery" is an illusion as people have cut back immensely on entertainment this past year. Movies died in the box office, golf is down as much as 74% in some places, restaurants are seeing huge declines and gambling now is dropping as well. If people do not have disposable money, and we don't as salaries are dropping, things like this go first. America needs a raise and no one seems to be fighting for it, unless you are Market Basket employees who deserve a big round of applause for being the first US citizens to finally take a stand against corporate greed. Where are the rest of you?

As for Revel, they made every idiotic decision one can make. They started building during the Great Recession, ran out of money and had to borrow a billion dollars to finish it. Then they banned smoking, had NO buffet, offered no bus trips from other cities to the venue, stunningly had no Players Club to establish loyal return customers and had sky high prices on rooms and food. Shockingly, they never made a profit. Even the design of the place was confusing and not well planned. This was ineptitude at its finest.

Atlantic City itself has struggled for years as the only thing worthwhile is the Boardwalk but step one block off the strip and its crack whores, pimps and other lowlifes. The fact that no one ever tried to clean this area up, like San Antonio or Baltimore did much better, cemented this city to failure. I've been to AC and to casinos like Showboat, which were very nice. But when no one has any money, gambling becomes a luxury no one can afford.

The Brookings Institute came up with a new study that shows the US has now officially entered third world status. Around 5% of the population now survives on less than $2 dollars a day, or worse than places like Vietnam, India or even Bangladesh. How is that possible. Here more from that study:

Slightly more than one American household with children in every 25 is surviving on less than $2 per day of income from all sources. One quarter of that 4.3% (that’s 1% of all Americans with children) receive less than $1.25 per day. One third (that’s about 1.33% of all Americans) receive between $1.25 and $2. Another third of that 4.3% receive enough government benefits to be living on between $1.25 and $2 a day. A tiny 0.1% of that 4.3% are even surviving somehow on “Negative income & benefits.”

It would be wrong to conclude that the U.S. safety net is strong, or even adequate, when the number and proportion of households with children surviving on less than $2 per day has risen so dramatically over the past 15 years, even after accounting for means-tested transfers. 

The Republicans want to take even more from the poorest and give that same money to rich people. Obama has signaled in the past his willingness to go along with cutting SS and Medicare, only to have the GOP say that's not enough. Democrats may be scum sucking money whores, but a majority of them at least do NOT want to cut the safety nets, and some like Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders, want to increase the amount. If any idiot votes for some one wanting to cut these necessary programs, they are voting the country away they supposedly love so much. There are only two choices to vote for right now and the GOP is a vote for guaranteed fascism. Give the democrats all the power they can handle and demand more from them. Or vote for the right and watch your money disappear. Your choice America.