authored by J. Kim of skwealthacademy substack
During global lockdowns a couple of years ago, Oxfam reported that the world’s ten richest billionaires doubled their collective wealth from 2020 to 2022 during one of the most miserable times of suffering for the global poor in our lifetime. Author Naomi Klein attributed the obscene wealth explosion of billionaires during global lockdowns as Disaster Capitalism, an economic phenomena in which the world’s wealthiest rapidly increase their wealth during times of State policy originated disasters that exploit and punish the poor. Of course, the Banker’s exploitation of the poor to become wealthy does not happen solely during wars or manufactured healthcare crises, but such exploitation also happens due to monetary policies that rain soaring inflation rates and debt upon the middle class as well, that successfully move them into the ranks of the poor despite this event being censored by the mass media.
For example, view the partial list below of what the banker-controlled media reports as “middle class” income in selected US states. In California and Hawaii, since middle class incomes are listed as six figures, at first glance, most of us may agree with this warped distorted view of the “middle class”. However, the deception imposed upon us by the mass media is that they will print charts such as the one below to define “middle class” without ever revealing to us the lower ranges of income still considered to be “middle class” in all mass media reports. In other words, the mass media often uses a very wide range of income for middle class that includes annual incomes more reflective of the poor than the middle class, especially in regard to US states that have very high costs of living, like California and Hawaii.
“Middle class” incomes above defined by the Zippia website
Even when using the above definition of “middle class”, after taxes, the median middle class income in Hawaii of $122,695 only nets $94,072, an income that does not allow a citizen to save much, post rental or mortgage and food expenses. At this after-tax income level, a citizen would be lucky to save $15,000 to $20,000 a year, a savings figure that is only attainable if one lives very frugally. Given that the median home price on Oahu, the most populated Hawaiian island, is $729,000, a person defined as “middle class” by the bankers and global State leaders, may have to live frugally for a decade or longer just to save enough money for the 20% down payment on an average house in Hawaii. And if they have to live frugally for more than a decade just to afford the down payment on a median priced house, then they are not middle class. As you can observe above, though the website Zippia adjusted “Middle class” incomes downward relative to cost of living, any New Yorker living in Manhattan would inform us that a pre-tax annual income of $75k will not yield a middle class lifestyle.
In the past, home ownership was a pillar in defining the American middle class. Today, bankers and State government leaders around the world believe home ownership is no longer a necessary element to define the “Middle Class”, and that even those burdened by overwhelming anxiety due to economic and financial struggles should be categorized as “Middle Class” In California, a person earning a median income of a “middle class” definition, would only clear approximately $87,842 after taxes per year. Though this may sound like a lot of money to Europeans or to those living in emerging market nations, all income needs to be adjusted for cost of living in the regions it is being earned to determine if such an income can indeed grant a “Middle Class” lifestyle.
Having lived in both San Francisco and Los Angeles for multiple years, I can attest to the fact that living a “middle class” lifestyle in these cities for under $6,000 to $7,000 a month is very difficult, a figure that would necessitate a pre-tax income level much higher than those used by financial journalists to define “middle clas”. And by the way, if one is truly “middle class”, one should be able to save well over ten thousand dollars per year on a six figure income without living a frugal lifestyle in large urban centers in California.
Most Californians that earn $100k today in large urban cities would truthfully claim that saving a significant percentage of their income on a low six figure income every year, due to soaring costs of living, is unachievable.
The term “middle class” should relate not just to some random income figure that appears sufficiently large to fit the defintion, but it should relate to an income level sufficiently large enough, less expenses and after-taxes, that allows one to save at least 25% of one’s pre-tax income every year.
The term “middle class” implies a certain level of comfort in life devoid of constant financial worry and anxiety. In order to achieve this, one must be able to save a decent proportion of one’s salary every year without penny pinching if one truly were among the middle class. But this is explicitly unachievable with the income levels ascribed to “middle class” levels by today’s financial journalists.
Additionally, we need to understand that many media articles written about a recovering middle class in America after the end of Covid lockdowns often use a very different income level to define “middle class” than the ones listed above. For example, many Western mass media journalists that claim the middle class is still alive and well in America reference the Pew Charitable Trusts definition of middle-class households as those that earn as little as just 67% of the state’s median income to categorize many as “middle class” that should not be shuttled into this demographic category. Thus, in California and Hawaii, for the sake of falsely arguing the “middle class” has made strong inroads into regaining their “middle class” status after politicians ended global lockdowns, establishment politicians and media members ludicrously argue that Californians and Hawaiians that respectively earn just $53,895 and $55,678 per year are still living a ”middle class” lifestyle.
Such conclusions are a complete bastardization of the “middle class” definition, as after taxes, these annual income amounts equate to respective paltry after-tax annual incomes of approximately $47,732 and $47,308. Any lifelong Californian or Hawaiian would inform you that such incomes were barely sustainable to life fifteen years ago, let alone capable of sustaining life in 2024 without immense economic struggle. But yet we are still being brainwashed into a belief that such income levels are more than adequate to provide a “middle class” lifestyle today. In no logical world replete with reality would any intelligent analyst consider $54k and $55k to be “middle class” incomes in California and Hawaii today.
Conclusion
I believe that establishment Ruling Class tirelessly work to spread such false narratives about the existence of a healthy middle class around the world to prevent us from taking the necessary steps to protect our savings from the mass destruction that the majority of us will suffer over the next few years, starting as early as the second half of this year. The message of complacency, built on a foundation of lies of a healthy middle class, is meant to keep all of us passive instead of proactive when it comes to protecting the wealth we have built through the blood, sweat and tears of decades of hard, disciplined labor.
If you have not yet read the article here I published yesterday on my substack newsletter platform, in which I discuss not only historical proof that the four billion people that earn less than $7 a day have not even kept pace with poverty conditions from Biblical times, but also discuss concrete steps that must be taken to preserve your wealth and savings now, please ensure that you take the time to read it. (Please note that a subscription is required to read this full article).
