Everyone sees the problems, but solutions are few and far between. Brandon Smith of alt-market.com thinks we shouldn’t give up yet. He cuts through the hand-wringing and proposes a radical plan to put the U.S. economy back on track…
From Brandon Smith
Alternative economists have been predicting a list of specific instabilities in the U.S. economy for some time. We have been proven right in the last few years on most of those predictions and, as usual, corporate media economists are now scrambling to pretend as if they “saw the danger coming” all along. And of course, they all have their own arguments on how to fix the very problems they used to call “conspiracy theories.”
My point is, you can’t trust someone to offer you a valid solution if they’re too dense to understand the source of the threat.
You also can’t trust someone to give you valid solutions on the economy if their job is to lie to you about how great things are.
Inertia, discomfort and the disinformation problem
The alternative media’s honesty about our nation’s dire circumstances puts us in a position to be right, but that’s only the first step.
There will always be online disinformation agents, propagandists and apparatchiks seeking to undermine truth-tellers by claiming they serve no purpose because they aren’t actively fixing the problems that they warn about.
Frankly, that’s not our job. However, it is true that our movement tends to focus on diagnosis rather than prevention or treatment.
And that’s strange! I have noticed that whenever I write about solutions, I get far attention and engagement on those columns.
Maybe it’s because people just don’t care?
Or, maybe it’s because solutions are hard and require vast coordination of people and resources to become possible?
Real solutions require millions of Americans get off their couches, go outside and risk going outside their personal comfort zones. This is why human beings in general tend to adapt to the worst conditions – temporarily ,at least. Until the situation decays to the point that society itself snaps. Generally, we grit our teeth and endure, until we can’t stand it any longer, and then, finally, we must take action.
That’s rarely been more relevant than it is today.
I believe Americans today are close to the breaking point financially. Stagflation is grinding away at the middle class and crushing the impoverished even deeper into despair. The future is looking bleak.
- Housing costs have already spiked beyond affordability for 99% of American families
- All necessities including food and utilities have seen a 30%-50% price increase since 2020
- What the WSJ calls “big, fixed costs that are tough to avoid” like childcare, rent and insurance have risen as much as 40%
- Inflation has destroyed 20%+ of the dollar’s purchasing power – so we’re trapped between rising prices and declining purchasing power
- Wage increases have trailed inflation for years now
- It’s no wonder Americans are saving less than three cents from every dollar they earn
- And, in desperation, Americans are taking on second jobs at a record rate
BREAKING: The number of people working MULTIPLE jobs in the US hit 8.66 million in September, a new record.
This is ~300,000 above the peak seen before the pandemic and ~600,000 above the 2008 peak.
Furthermore, the number of part-time jobs has jumped by ~3 million over the… pic.twitter.com/znOOEMR6Ln
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 8, 2024
The combination of rising prices and waning purchasing power means profit margins for employers are shrinking, too (yet another reason wages are stagnant). I predict the jobs market will see major cuts in the near-term.
By the end of 2025 and under current policies, I suspect we will be witnessing a combination of a serious economic stagnation and inflationary crisis events simultaneously.
A crash in employment and GDP, combined with incessant price spikes on goods and services.
An economic event for the history books.
Let’s not forget, this crash has been decades in the making and might be unavoidable.
That said, I do believe there is a way out, but it requires dramatic changes in the ways our government and society operate. These measures are a kind of fiscal time machine: A way to turn back the clock on utter economic collapse.
But can the average American, addled by its exposure to big government, dependent on socialist programs, even handle such a shift?
It’s hard to say.
If people are desperate enough, they’ll accept any solution that they truly believe will work to make things better.
For now, only the elites who created the crisis in the first place are offering a “way out” – which is really nothing more than a return to Klaus Schwab’s You will own nothing and you will be happy vision of a hopeless, socialist serfdom.
We need a different plan – one that doesn’t require us to sacrifice our freedom in exchange for survival.
A radical plan to rejuvenate the American economy
Now, if I was king for year), here’s how I would save the American economy – and by extension the American family – before the end of 2025.
Eliminate income tax for the 99%
My very first step would be to end income taxes for individuals and small business owners who aren’t in the top 1% of earners (in other words, those who make more than $800,000 per year).
Why? Well, the permanent income tax was never supposed to exist.
It started in 1913 as a tiny 1% rate on net personal incomes over $3,000, and a 6% surtax on incomes over $500,000 – that’s the equivalent of $16 million a year in today’s dollars.
Over the last century, income tax metastasized into a 15%-20% cancer that’s killing the middle class. And it feeds government, which grows and wastes money and encroaches on personal liberty. Essentially, when we pay our taxes, we’re also giving up freedom.
There is no reason for income tax to exist – except to enslave the average to the Federal Reserve Bank.
Ending income tax would immediately alleviate financial pressures on working families.
Getting rid of the IRS would save vast amounts of money — and shrink the federal government substantially.
But how would the government pay for social services and national security?
Well, right now they print most of that money from thin air anyway. Before 1913, tariffs on foreign trade were e the main source of income for the government.
That worked then – why wouldn’t it work now?
Eliminate property taxes on single-family homes
Property taxes were intended to fund local infrastructure development and local social services.
They’re also meant to dissuade major buyers from hoarding homes and cornering regional markets. The problem is, they are doing the opposite of that. High property taxes effectively prevent average families from ever owning a home – while corporate buyers snatch up distressed properties and drive up rents.
A continuation of “business as usual” will create mass homelessness, mark my words. It’s already starting in some areas of the country.
Absurdly high home prices are bad enough, but with high interest rates on mortgages and high property taxes on top of that? A home is a luxury the middle class can no longer afford.
Setting interest rates and resetting home prices are complex, multi-faceted challenges. But property taxes could be ended tomorrow. And charging high property taxes on corporate buyers might force them to release some of their holdings back onto the market – which would lessen the ongoing housing shortage and lower prices, too.
Deport all illegal immigrants
The illegals need to go, there’s no way around it. All the data shows they are a drain on national resources and welfare programs, but worst of all, they receive subsidies from the government that allow them to snap up housing. In some cases, landlords are enticed to rent to illegals over native born citizens because they get more money (or tax breaks) for renting to migrants instead.
Estimates from 2023 indicate there are at least 16.8 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. costing us $150 billion per year.
And millions of homes taken off the market by people who should not be in the country.
Removing illegals could be accomplished in a single year and would immediately solve housing shortages while bringing prices down.
Beyond housing, the money spent on migrant welfare could be better utilized for American citizens, including better disaster response for those that lose their homes during natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.
Incentives for married couples with children
The western world has a population decline problem that is likely to hit us hard in the next decade. The elites claim that’s why we need mass immigration, but fixing our population problem with cultural replacement from the third-world is not the answer.
A major factor is the decline in stable relationships (marriage). This same lack of family stability is causing unprecedented social issues. Single mother homes are statistically more likely to produce children with criminal behavior and mental health problems. Children from fatherless homes are 20 times more likely to end up incarcerated. This is an insidious drain on our culture and our nation’s wealth.
Many men point out that marriage is a huge financial risk given the current divorce laws and this has made the practice untenable. But even removing unfair divorce laws would probably not solve the greater conundrum. Eliminating feminism from our society would be a good start, but that’s an elusive goal requiring many years of social healing.
One thing that could be done in a single year is to create incentives for married couples that want to have children. Easy access to home loan programs would be a start, along with educational subsidies for viable careers in STEM or technical fields so they can get higher paying jobs that actually serve national needs.
Resurrect apprenticeships to boost domestic manufacturing and self-sufficiency
America’s economy was once founded on the old standard of apprenticeships. This was a way for those who could not afford a higher education – or simply weren’t interested in one – to learn a trade and acquire a valuable skill set. For example, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere were ALL apprentices at one point in their lives! As a surveyor, a printer and a silversmith respectively. Of the three, only Revere turned his apprenticeship into a career. All were notably successful, productive and celebrated members of society.
We need to bring this tradition back.
Specifically, we need apprenticeships in business operations, medical, manufacturing, engineering, technical repair and fabrication, construction, computer science and software engineering fields. These are the areas in which our needs are greatest. (We already have more than our share of lawyers and Instagram influencers.)
An apprenticeship doesn’t just teach a specific set of skills – it introduces the young to the idea of work. It teaches responsibility, attention to detail, problem-solving and a host of other vital skills that can’t be mastered in the classroom.
Such a move would help solve the current self-sufficiency problem that needs to be fixed immediately (especially with growing conflicts between the west and the east). Over the long term, it would return the U.S. to its role as world-leading manufacturer and innovator.
Revitalizing America’s workers, small businesses and industrial base is the key to stopping our accelerating slide into economic oblivion. We need to show people there’s a light at the end of the tunnel before they give up completely.
This is the way
The above measures are all items that can be adopted in a very short period of time. In a single year every one of them could be instituted by a proper government, federal or state.
Other actions would have to be long term. Reversing inflation, shrinking the size of government, ending the Federal Reserve, returning the dollar to a commodity-based form of money (gold and silver did the job for centuries), rebuilding America’s manufacturing base – all of these efforts will take many years to succeed.
Getting off to the right start is essential. I argue that the above list could be implemented quickly and create a resurgence in economic optimism. This is the launch point by which all other solutions will unfold. It’s not enough to declare our high-minded goals, there has to be a plan.
The plan has to be achievable. It has to be believable.
I believe we can make it happen.