“Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today. But if you ask for a rise it’s no surprise that they’re giving none away (Away, away, awayyy…)” -Pink Floyd
If you are confused why and how the world has gone to hell, I suggest you get on the social media platform, TikTok and watch some of the short videos there until you find some contributors who resonate with you. Find people who are like you, who have the time and energy to do their homework. Their findings might shock you. But be sure to fact check because they usually make mistakes. These are just ordinary people.
For starters, here are two videos I watched today that opened my eyes to both the dystopian level inequality in our society, and also the power we the people have to fix the problem, or at least hide from it.
The Great Depression (1929-1941) is believed by most everybody to be the worst financial period in American History. As I learned recently, this is not true. It’s today. We are living in the worst financial times in American History today. Or so it seems.
And here is the statistic to prove it. The man in the video below will tell you all about it. (If you are unable to watch, skip down to the final paragraph for the key takeaway). I ran the numbers myself and I offer a significant correction to his findings. Which I will share after.
Now, important – The 2023 figure he shows (the line graph) is ($31,133). He says this is average, but it’s not. Look at the graph. This is MEDIAN (50th percentile) not AVERAGE income. Big difference. An egregious oversight on his part, honestly. The Average income for 2023 is closer to $75,000-80,000 USD. (the super rich outliers inflate this number, but they inflated the 1930 average also, so it’s a fair comparison) Even so, we’re still worse off, since the 1930 equivalent purchasing power (adjusted for inflation) was $88,000 USD.
So, what this all means is purchasing power for the American people today in 2023 is about 10-15% less than it was for American people in 1930 – the supposed worst financial year in American history. Looks like things are worse today. Someone tell me otherwise.
E.F.
P.S. – Here is the $4,887 figure on IRS.GOV (Official U.S. taxation website, transparent to the public) I took a screenshot so you could see.
(Below) My screenshot from IRS.GOV confirming average income for 1930:
Experience Film 
Good job at already finding one giant factual error.
Let’s dig out our knives and carve this thing up some more. Let’s see, back in 1930, if your income was in the $4,000 range, your income tax rate was only 3%. Today, if your income is the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $80,000, your tax rate is about 24% for a single filer. Also in 1930, there were no payroll taxes. So 7.65% of your wages weren’t being confiscated, along with your employer being required to match that. And sales taxes had only just begun in 1930, with the state of Mississippi.
Employer-provided health-insurance benefits didn’t begin until after World War II. These days they are quite common for those making $80,000 annually. And the health care today is arguably much better than in 1930.
Nonetheless, wages were still good in 1930, if you had a job. The unemployment rate was 8.7%. That jumped to 16% in 1931, and peaked at 25% in 1933. It remained in the teens and 20’s until WWII broke out. If you had a job, great! But if not, you were in a soup line. And most families in those days had only one earner–the husband. Women rarely worked, so there was no backup for many men who lost their jobs. My grandmother lost a sibling who starved to death, as there were few safety nets in place in those days for those down on their luck. Many starved during the Great Depression. Where are the starving people today?
As for the second video, which basically advocated joining a commune and engaging in subsistence farming–I’m not against that. But I wouldn’t prescribe it for everyone. To each their own, I say. I tried living on a shoestring in my own little cabin once. It was okay for a few years, but then I tired of it and returned to modern civilization. But be wary about giving up all you own to join a commune. You may find your personal freedoms severely limited, and at the whims of some cult leader. Think of the Manson Family. Or Jim Jones. Communes were a big thing back in the 1960s and 70s, but I think the horror stories that came out of them contributed to their loss in popularity.
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Those knives look and sound sharp, Tippy! Great of you to lend us your skills (And experience!) to carve up this juicy rib-eye.
“If you HAD a job, you were doing good.” <– That def seems to be the real kicker to all this. And that, in most families in 1930, the man was the sole bread winner. So he got paid more.
It seems like the system is set up today, or has worked itself to be this way, however you wanna look at it, so that people are more likely to fail financially. But there are more fail-safes, and safety nets in place to catch people when they fall. For example, social security, food banks (So that people don't actually starve).
Yeah, a commune is not something I myself am eager to be a part of. I've read about some of the horror stories. And plus, I prefer to be a lone wolf. I AM going to have to get creative though soon though. I would like to work towards getting off the grid – perhaps investing in a mobile home of some sort. That's really interesting that you tried living in a cabin on your own! And then returned. I lived out of my car for 3 months in St. Pete Florida in 2017. It was great for the first month, and then kinda mehh…
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I’m guessing you’ve had a tough time finding a decent paying job, and I’ll bet you sometimes feel frustrated and discouraged. It can be a cruel and ruthless world out there. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. 👍
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I’m a true American horror story, Tippy. 3 degrees. Summa cum laude undergrad (psych and business) Burned out my first year as a social worker of behavioral health. 12 jobs I’ve worked. Not a one that pays or doesn’t put me in the hospital. My dad could just ring my neck…
Thank you!🙂
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Sounds like you might be under a lot of pressure from your family. That can make it difficult to think clearly and figure out what you really want. I’ll bet your dad loves you though.
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They are def supportive. It’s just I don’t think they can begin to fathom how I could possibly be poor at 32, given all the opportunities I’ve had. But we have love, and my dad has lightened up over the years. After all, it’s not like I would tank my life on purpose.
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That’s great that they’re supportive.
I struggled for many years. It wasn’t until I turned 40 that I got a decent paying job that I stuck with. I worked my ass of at that job, and it nearly exhausted me. But somehow I stuck it out, and now have a nice retirement.
My job, as a letter carrier, had nothing to do with subjects I majored at in college, which were Broadcasting, Psychology, and Sociology. But I was able to make use of what I learned to help me succeed at the job. So the college was not for naught.
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Letter Carrier, No way!! Much respect. My last job was delivery driver for Amazon. I waved to every mail carrier I saw out there on my routes. I wanted to bow like Mike Myers and Dana Carvey upon meeting Alice Cooper. Seriously. That was kinda my recent dream job, but I failed the personality screening my previous try for, a couple years ago. Amazon was a major settle.
That is a tough work! And I bet that took an enormous toll on your body. You must tell, for I am not ruling mail carrier out for my future. How the hell did you survive it?
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I don’t recall a personality test to get hired. But there were some pretty tough memory tests.
Management was always on my ass to work faster. Finally I became a union steward and got them to back off (somewhat). I represented a lot of carriers, filing grievances on their behalf, also. Which is where the Psychology and Sociology came in handy. Helped me to better understand and empathize with their various situations.
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My Hero!!! We didn’t have a union at Amazon. Management chewed through us like we were French soldiers at The Somme. Average turnover on my team (~40 drivers) was around 3 months. I survived a year before I ended up in The ER with chest pain. Could not have physically gone 1 more day. I left 2 months ago and my body is still sore as all get out. That’s great that you could use your education to empathize with your co-workers and help them in various capacities. I should try to do something similar. Thanks for sharing!
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Delivering only packages has to be a lot harder than mixing it up with letter delivery. I always felt sorry for Amazon, FedEx and UPS drivers. They always seemed to be in a hurry, dismounting and running to doors. That you lasted a year is remarkable.
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great write up EF! i very much enjoy this type of read.
I can’t really contribute anything that hasn’t been said. the sad fact is we are in a perfect storm of both bad domestic and economic policies coming to roost.
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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. The younger generations are particularly vulnerable to the effects of these bad policies. You strike me as a survivor. You seem good with money. Keep honing those skills. Get your cut of the Big Apple pie. There is plenty to go around. They just aren’t passing it around any more.
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I appreciate your compliments and think the same of you.
the sad thing is, we could have fiscally survived the Iraq/Afghanistan situation and everyone would have recovered albeit slowly. But it was the law that was passed in 2010 that is killing everyone and everything as we speak and will create massive inflationary pressures moving forward. and you know what that law was. there will come a time soon when no one will want to work for the apple pie slice and everyone will slit each other’s throats for whatever little pieces can be had.
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Healthcare spending is totally out of control. Obamacare is radical policy that is hurting every tax payer. And hospitals and drug companies are charging way too much money. It’s robbery all around.
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bingo!
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it’s a real problem, the inequity of wealth distribution; things are bad in Oz too in spite of our l good social welfare system; families are doing it tough; something has to give; heads of companies and those on the second tier are scandalously wealthy; there should be a film made about it; perhaps there has ?
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The Big Short (2015) was a good movie made (based on the book) about the 2008 Housing Bubble Burst in America. And the Biggest Banks like Goldman Sachs that went bankrupt… And then got rescued by The bailout paid for by the U.S. Taxpayers… Opened everybody’s eyes to a very depressing reality that there are multiple financial entities which are simply “Too big to fail”
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it’s about time for a sequel; things got to change —
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Yes they do, for all’s sake!
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That’s pretty sobering…
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Well done, buddy! I fully concur with your assessment. The documentation is exceptionally comprehensive. Thank you very much. 🤙🖖👍
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I fear a big economic shift is about to occur. The U.S. dollar is losing value rapidly, and cost of living for Americans is rising very very quickly. A bubble is about to burst!
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And it definitely has an impact on the whole world! 🙄🤯
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