All medical procedures are unpleasant in one way or another.
As to saving - I only use credit cards so that I can pay a bill close to a certain date, which helps me balance things as to when I receive payments.

I am old-school like that. Unfortunately, I am
hundreds of dollars in debt.(At least, it's not tens
of thousands). But it's not for car payments, house
payments. It's for a medical exam/procecure (no,
it was not an abortion,but it concerns an unpleas
ant matter), and utilities.
Long ago, I saved up for a piano, and then I
went to the store and bought the piano. With
cash. (Later, I had to sell it). But things are get-
ting so rotten now.

I'm so ancient that we were in business before the advent of credit cards. People used to save up and buy for cash. An ancient practice, apparently rarely practiced today. It meant that when buying a big product, one would actually need to (wait for it) Save! Of course, you're right, no one is making enough to save, but they don't want to give up their standards. Eventually, it will cause mass bankruptcies and then...well, I'm not going to think about it. I'm taking my granddaughter to lunch.

All you are missing is being able to create the legal tender credit from nothing and giving that ability to your evil twin.

I just see that the middle class no,longer has any disposable income at all. My perception is that they have kept their standard of living by using credit. an example of how things have changed is that many middle class parents can no longer afford braces for their children. I don't take Medicaid, but those kids are getting their braces! It's insane.

I haven't owned a business for 20 years, or so. I worked at a couple of retirement jobs when my body finally told me to hang it up. It took me a few months to get busy in retirement, but I sure know what it's like to be in a small biz. Gotta be tougher than it was 20 years ago.

Power-luster's paradise. Now, that's poetic.

Not quite through? Herb, I own a small business, and what I see is that people have realized that things aren't getting better, so they are spending more instead of waiting, but I see no signs of recovery.

Hear, hear!!

It's beyond time to stop giving these bastards the benefit of the doubt, asserting that they didn't really mean to screw up the economy. In fact, that IS their intention, and asserting otherwise (being PC) is only abetting their crimes.

"The intentions of the New Deal were noble and
praiseworthy."-- Excuse me, I take leave to doubt that statement. In Galt's speech, he mentions,"The truth is worth than the obscene excuse you have allowed them, [this is a quote from memory] that their horrors are the means to a happier end. The truth is that those horrors are their ends." I think that this was meant to
refer to concentration and labor camps, etc., but
it could refer to this also; that the welfare state
was intended to be a power-luster's paradise.
And what kind of people profit from it? And what kind of people get those bureaucratic jobs
and get their kicks by ordering people around?

Hello Mamaemma,
It should have read: "The intentions of the New Deal were ignoble and damnable." Of course, to an altruist, my words would ring the same.
Respectfully,
O.A.

Hello freedomforall,

History repeats... we see, but, WE know. Unfortunately the same sort that did not know then, still live on in abundance and cheer at Sanders and Clinton gatherings. Not that the GOP is blameless, or without their failures... It has been said that the only difference between the Ds and The Rs is that the Rs feel guilty about their profligate spending. Who is John Galt?

Great Morganthou quote; here is a bit more.
“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises… I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started… And an enormous debt to boot!” – Henry Morganthau, FDR’s Treasury Secretary, May 1939

Meh.. what's a few trillion? Wait... what comes after a trillion?

Respectfully,
O.A.

Each and every 5 year plan failed.
That Stalin, he was quite an economist.

Greetings jetgraphics,
Veritas.
Respectfully,
O.A.

Hello Herb7734,
Last night I listened to the Democrat town-hall...
Hillary described her plans for what amounts to FDR's failed PWA (aka. CWA) programs... just more federal promises destined to, waste, more centralized power and potential graft.
The statists never learn; local is always better. Reminds me of Stalin's 5 year plans...
Regards,
O.A.

FDR created the USA involvement in WW2. When he couldn't work up public support for jumping into the bloodbath he found a way to get the country involved. He knew in January, 1941 of Japan's plan to attack Pearl Harbor. It was their hope that once that occurred America would negotiate a treaty allowing Japan greater access to America's raw materials. Instead of doing a first strike, of which the Pacific Fleet was capable, or arming Pearl in preparedness for an attack, he left it naked and vulnerable. Thousands died, but Roosevelt, the dime icon, was able to declare war. This revered president was in reality what we kids of the Detroit inner city called, "a rat bastard."

One of the first of the basics one learns as an Objectivist. "By their deed shall you know them."
Rand & the bible? Who would've thunk it?

Hell, I'm lucky. I won't be here.

The.USA.went.communist.in.1933.

Proof?
Before 1933, private property ownership was a SACRED RIGHT.

" Personal liberty, or the Right to enjoyment of life and liberty, is one of the fundamental or natural Rights, which has been protected by its inclusion as a guarantee in the various constitutions, which is not derived from, or dependent on, the U.S. Constitution, which may not be submitted to a vote and may not depend on the outcome of an election. It is one of the most sacred and valuable Rights, as SACRED AS THE RIGHT TO PRIVATE PROPERTY...and is regarded as inalienable."
- - - 16 Corpus Juris Secundum, Constitutional Law, Sect.202, p.987.

Few Americans can remember what private property was, since it has been 83 years.

"PRIVATE PROPERTY - As protected from being taken for public uses, is such property as belongs absolutely to an individual, and of which he has the exclusive right of disposition. Property of a specific, fixed and tangible nature, capable of being in possession and transmitted to another, such as houses, lands, and chattels."
- - - Black's Law dictionary, sixth ed., p.1217.

"OWNERSHIP - ... Ownership of property is either absolute or qualified. The ownership of property is absolute when a single person has the absolute dominion over it... The ownership is qualified when it is shared with one or more persons, when the time of enjoyment is deferred or limited, or when the use is restricted. "
- - -Black's Law dictionary, sixth ed., p. 1106

“... nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
- - - FIFTH AMENDMENT

Clear enough? Absolute ownership of lands, houses, and chattels by an individual is a SACRED RIGHT, secured by government, in harmony with the Declaration of Independence.
....

Ready for it?
Sitting down?
Comfortable?

http://bestamericangold.com/confiscat...

"The private ownership of gold is a privilege, not a right. Congress revoked the privilege of private ownership in 1933 and restored it in 1974. Congress could easily revoke the privilege again. In fact, at no time during this century has the U.S. government recognized the right of private gold ownership. The Trading With The Enemy Act, which President Roosevelt invoked in 1933 to restrict private gold transactions, remains law. The government could reactivate the machinery, which The Trading With The Enemy Act established, to implement gold confiscation."
- - - Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 297, 320 (1982)

Congress and FDR declared that private ownership of gold was a privilege, not a right.

“The ultimate ownership of all property is in the State; individual so-called “ownership” is only by virtue of government, i.e. law, amounting to mere user; and user must be in accordance with law and subordinate to the necessities of the State.”
— Senate Document No. 43, 73D Congress, 1st Session, entitled: “Contracts Payable in Gold”, by George Cyrus Thorpe, submitted to the senate: April 17, 1933

......
Is that clear enough? Not just gold but ALL property.

The STATE abolished private property (absolute ownership by individuals).
.......

From the Communist manifesto: "In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx...
Abolition occurred in 1933.
......
STATE OF EMERGENCY

Senate Report 93-549
War and Emergency Powers Acts
"A majority of the people of the United States have lived all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years (as of the report 1933-1973), freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of national emergency."

... ABRIDGED BY LAWS ... UNDER EMERGENCY RULE ...
... COMMUNIST RULE ...

Constitutional U.S.A. (1787 - 1933) R.I.P.