There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Trump is starting his second term as president on a good note with a job approval rating that is 10 points higher than at the start of his first term.
Trump, who was sworn in on Jan. 20, enjoys a 46% approval rating for the job he is doing. He has a disapproval rating of 43%, while 11% did not offer an opinion.
This is a marked difference from the poll released on Jan. 26, 2017. At that time, 36% approved of the job Trump was doing, compared to 44%, who did not. In addition, 19% did not offer an opinion.
Voters are split on how Trump is handling immigration issues with 47% approving, 46% disapproving and 7% not offering an opinion.
Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said:
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., questions President Donald Trump’s HHS secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee. #FoxNews
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., discusses President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and their Senate confirmation hearings on ‘Mornings with Maria.’ #FoxBusiness
The following stories had the most page views at the MinistryWatch website during the month of January. We present them here in a “countdown” format, from 10 to 1. The first few sentences of each story are reproduced below. To read the entire story, click on the link. To read the Top 25 stories of 2024, click here.
By Jessica Eturralde. In November, a federal judge sentenced church employee Heather Darrey, 45, to 27 months in federal prison for wire fraud after she pleaded guilty to stealing from the parish she worked for. The investigation revealed that for five months Darrey spent the funds on mortgage payments, car and boat loans, and credit card bills for clothing, restaurants, vacations, and concert tickets—totaling $875,323.19.
By Warren Cole Smith. Below is a list of 100 highly paid Christian college and university executives. The information was derived from the latest available Form 990 prepared by the ministry itself.
By Warren Cole Smith. Junior Hill, a well-loved and well-traveled Southern Baptist evangelist, died Jan. 3 at the age of 87 in Hartselle, Alabama. In his 2005 autobiography “They Call Him Junior,” Hill estimated that he preached at more than 1,800 Sunday-to-Sunday revivals during his five decades of ministry.
By Jessica Eturralde. A lifetime registered sex offender once listed on “America’s Most Wanted” for running away with a 15-year-old is making headlines for his leadership roles in two Dallas-area churches.
By Kim Roberts. The pastor of Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church (BHPC) has been suspended from his office, and the church elders (session) have been admonished to repent and cooperate with the requests of the presbytery.
By Kathryn Post. Daystar is losing a number of its popular stars after months of ongoing scandal at the influential Christian television network involving alleged abuse cover-up, spiritual abuse and financial misconduct. At least six program hosts, most recently including evangelical heavyweights Jack Graham, Jesse Duplantis, Lance Wallnau and Hank and Brenda Kunneman, have parted ways with the network, though most have not cited the scandal as reason for their departure.
By Kim Roberts. Dr. Burk Parsons, senior pastor at St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, and the editor of Ligonier’s Tabletalk magazine, is reportedly under investigation by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). According to minutes of the Central Florida Presbytery, the Minister and His Work committee found sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation into Parsons.
By Warren Cole Smith. Below is a list of 100 highly paid Christian ministry executives. The information was derived from the latest available Form 990 prepared by the ministry itself.
By Warren Cole Smith. Brandon Meeks was a rising star among conservative and Christian intellectuals. His essays appeared in First Things, Mere Orthodoxy, The North American Anglican, Ad Fontes, The American Conservative, and other publications. His book “The Foolishness of God: Reclaiming Preaching in the Anglican Tradition” has been influential among American Anglicans. He had also developed an active social media audience.
By Daniel Ritchie. California megachurch pastor and author John MacArthur remains in the hospital undergoing tests as he recovers from a difficult year of health issues, including a heart-valve replacement.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is set to deliver her first regular news briefing since the plane crash in Washington DC on Thursday. This follows Donald Trump’s comments where he claimed diversity, equity and inclusion policies affected the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers. #planecrash #aviation #trump #whitehouse
The truth is finally being revealed about what really happened on January 6, 2021.
Today, Kash Patel laid the blame on Nancy Pelosi for the so-called Capitol “insurrection” after Sen. Ted Cruz questioned him about the facts.
Specifically, Patel told Ted Cruz that, on the day of the Capitol protests, he was preparing to mobilize the National Guard until given orders by the Capital Sergeant at Arms, who said it would not be necessary.
The Captial Sergeant at Arms reports to the Speaker of the House, who was, of course, Nancy Pelosi at the time.
The FBI is stalling again. The world’s top intelligence agency is still refusing to turn over the Seth Rich records to Attorney Ty Clevenger.
Attorney Ty Clevenger is the bulldog attorney who has been working for years to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. His requests continue to be denied by the FBI. Kash Patel cannot be sworn in as FBI Director soon enough!
Clevenger previously investigated who supplied the DNC and Podesta emails to Wikileaks during the 2016 election cycle. This was always the key to the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense. No proof was ever offered up by the fake news legacy media, Democrats, or the intelligence community involving this scandal. If Russia did not supply the DNC emails to WikiLeaks then this was more proof that the DOJ’s Russia collusion story was a complete lie used to fool the American public.
Seth Rich was a DNC operative who was mysteriously murdered in the summer of 2016 weeks before Wikileaks released their Clinton email investigation. The murder is still unsolved.
After years of denying they had anything related to Seth Rich, the FBI and DOJ were caught lying over and over again. In September 2023, a judge finally demanded the FBI and DOJ provide all they had regarding Seth Rich to Attorney Clevenger. The FBI responded requesting another 66 years before releasing the information. They wanted it moved out like the JFK assassination reports.
Then in late November 2023, a Federal Judge ruled the FBI must hand over evidence regarding former DNC employee Seth Rich’s murder to Ty Clevenger.
No media outlet has covered the Seth Rich story as extensively as The Gateway Pundit.
But since the November 2023 court order the FBI has completely dug in in the coverup of the Seth Rich murder. Chris Wray’s FBI continues to defy the court and will not release the laptop computer.
On Thursday, Attorney Ty Clevenger released a string of tweets on the latest in the Seth Rich investigation.
President Donald Trump has proposed tariffs on several countries.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
February 1 could mark the beginning of a tariffs campaign Trump has been talking about for months.
He has leveraged tariff threats to achieve policy goals and promised a US manufacturing revival.
Here’s where all of his trade proposals stand so far, and how they could affect consumers.
President Donald Trump said that February 1 will mark the beginning of his tariffs campaign, which includes threats on numerous countries in an attempt to revive American manufacturing and achieve certain policy aims.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that his first move would be to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico to strengthen border policy and a 10% tariff on China to crack down on drug imports.
Economists widely expect firms to pass increased costs caused by tariffs onto customers, and several companies have already said they are preparing to raise prices if tariffs are implemented. Electronics, groceries, and apparel are among the most likely products to see price increases.
The White House maintains the tariffs will work to deliver Trump’s campaign promises. Regarding his proposed first round of tariffs, an official told BI that “Trump has been clear about his desire to end the fentanyl crisis, and it’s time for Mexico and Canada to join the fight as well.” Trump has said a tariff on China would also help fight the fentanyl crisis.
Here are the othercountries Trump has targeted so far with his trade proposals.
China
China was a key focus for tariffs on the campaign trail. Trump proposed a 60% tariff on all goods imported from China, alongside a 10% to 20% tariff on imports from other countries.
Once Trump took office, though, his ideas for tariffs on China appeared to narrow. On January 21, he suggested a 10% tariff on imports from China into the US beginning on February 1, “based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.” It’s unclear if Trump was referring to a particular situation with fentanyl exports.
China is a major electronics supplier to the US, so cellphones, computers, and games could get more expensive with a new tariff.
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters on February 22: “We believe that there’s no winner in a trade or tariff war, and we will firmly uphold our national interests.”
Canada and Mexico
On January 20, Trump warned he’d slap a 25% tariff on products from Mexico and Canada, which he said could go into effect on February 1. In November, he posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he would impose tariffs on those two countries on his first day in office if they didn’t strengthen their border policies.
The US imports many key goods from both Mexico and Canada. Americans receive $92 billion in crude oil from Canada, as well as billions of dollars worth of vehicles and vehicle parts. In addition to car parts, Mexico also supplies $25 billion worth of computers to the US.
Russia
Trump said on January 22 that he would place tariffs on imports from Russia if the country did not end the Ukraine war soon.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
According to Census data, the US imported $4.57 billion worth of goods from Russia in 2023, which made up just 0.14% of total imports that year. Given how little the country exports to the US, consumers would probably see few effects if a tariff on Russia was implemented.
Colombia
After Colombia’s president turned away two flights from the US that carried deported migrants, Trump threatened the country with a 25% tariff. He said that in one week, the Colombia tariff would be raised to 50%.
“We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” Trump said on Truth Social.
Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro responded in a statement that his country would receive Colombians “on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.” The White House then withdrew its threat but warned it could be reinstated if Colombia failed to honor its agreement.
Key goods the US imports from Colombia include coffee and bananas, which would likely get more expensive under tariffs.
BRICS nations
On November 30, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS group unless they committed to not creating a separate currency that competes with the US dollar.
BRICS is comprised of nine countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.
Pharmaceutical preparations, crude oil, and household goods are the top imports from countries that are part of the BRICS group, excluding China.
Denmark
Trump said during a press conference on January 7 that he would “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if the country didn’t agree to cede control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, to the United States.
The president has not offered further details on that claim. The Financial Times reported that Trump and Denmark’s premier, Mette Frederiksen, had a call to discuss the threat, during which Frederiksen reportedly emphasized that Greenland was not for sale.
The US primarily imports medicinal products and machinery from Denmark.
I’m Bub Kuns and today we’re talking about socialism.
Socialism promises “equal prosperity for all,” but, historically, socialist revolutions have led to political and religious oppression and POVERTY.
Take Venezuela, for example. Venezuela had a thriving economy in the 1970s, but socialist policies under dictators Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro — such as the government takeover of businesses and redistribution of wealth — have led to widespread impoverishment despite the country’s abundant natural resources.
Historian Lee Edwards said, “Venezuela’s economic catastrophe “dwarfs” any in U.S., European, or Latin American history. Ninety percent of Venezuelans live in poverty. Once Venezuela had the world’s largest proven oil reserves; today, its citizens need a wheelbarrow of bolivars to buy a loaf of bread.”
As Christian columnist Cal Thomas wrote, “Socialism’s promise of equality is mutually shared poverty.”
And what is another problem with socialism?— We’ll discuss them another time.
Bub Kuns is (at heart) a storyteller. He is a director, producer, writer, performer and editor. Bub’s life mission is to help and guide people to love God with all their “heart, soul, mind and strength.” Part of how he does that is by providing truth-filled, accessible, captivating content that packs a little punch. Bub produces content that inspires, challenges and activates believers to use their talents and voices to make a difference in their communities and in the world for the cause of Christ.
The reason the entire Trump administration is successfully fielding absurd questions so well is because they understand these ‘journalists’ are just the propaganda wing of the Democrat party.
RFK Jr. delivered a scorching indictment of Bernie Sanders’ financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry (Screenshot: C-SPAN)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came out swinging at Vermont senator Bernie Sanders for his deep-pocketed ties to Big Pharma during the second day of confirmation hearings for the new head of Health and Human Services (HHS).
RFK Jr. wasted no time in pointing out the blatant corruption in Washington, and he wasn’t about to let Sanders off the hook.
“By the way, Bernie, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies—it’s in Congress too,” Kennedy said.
“Almost all the members of this panel, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,” Kennedy challenged the socialist senator, drawing applause from the audience.
Sanders, visibly flustered, tried to wriggle out of the accusation.
“Oh no, no, no… No, no, no,” he blurted out, attempting to cut off Kennedy. “I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives. Not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. They came from workers.”
Kennedy wasn’t buying the excuse. “In 2020, you were the single largest recipient of pharmaceutical dollars,” he shot back
The Vermont senator, caught red-handed, tried to downplay the revelation. “Workers from all over this country—workers with a skill—gave to my campaign,” he insisted. “Not a nickel from corporate money.”
But Kennedy refused to let him off the hook. “Bernie, you were the single largest acceptor of pharmaceutical dollars. $1.5 million.”
Sanders, now scrambling, weakly replied, “Yeah, out of $200 million.”
According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign finance data, Sanders received the most direct funding from Pharma lobbyists in the Senate in 2020.
Source: OpenSecrets
Sanders was also the second-largest recipient of pharmaceutical or health product donations in 2016, receiving over $439,000.
The socialist senator has made a career out of duping his supporters into believing he’s a principled fighter for the people, while behind the scenes, he plays the same old Washington game—raking in cash and protecting the establishment.
RFK Jr. just ripped the mask off, and Bernie’s socialist charade is crumbling faster than his credibility.
There is a place for the right kind of rebellion, resistance and nonconformity:
The 60s and 70s were a time of radical social and political turmoil and upheaval. This was the time when the hippy movement, the ‘peace and love’ generation, and the New Left erupted in America and the West. Popular culture at the time reflected all that in books, films and music. They glamorised rebellion, defying authority, drug-taking, and protests against the system. A few songs that come to mind include:
“The Times They Are a-Changin’” by Bob Dylan (1964) “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire (1965) “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers (1967) “Volunteers” by Jefferson Airplane (1969) “War! What is it good for?” by Edwin Starr (1970) “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell (1970) “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (1971) “Peace Train” by Cat Stevens (1971) “Rebel, Rebel” by David Bowie (1974)
A few of the books that can be mentioned: The Politics of Experience by R. D. Laing (1967) The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (1968) Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver (1968) The Politics of Ecstasy by Timothy Leary (1968) DO IT! Scenarios of the Revolution by Jerry Rubin (1970)
Finally, some films would include: Easy Rider (1969) Woodstock (1969) Zabriskie Point (1970)
All this had to do with the 60s counterculture. For those who are too young, or not in the know, one definition of a counterculture is ‘a culture whose values and norms of behaviour differ substantially from those of mainstream society.’ It seems that the term first appeared in the 1969 book The Making of a Counterculture by the American writer Theodore Roszak.
If you are a bit older, you might recall those heady days. And if you are like me, you might actually have been involved in it. I was fully into this time of rebellion and resistance. I was reading reams of Marxist and leftist literature at the time, and I became convinced that the mainstream culture had to be fully rejected, resisted and overthrown. You can read about my early days of being a wild child of the revolution here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/06/27/coming-home-my-testimony-part-1/
But little did I know that at the age of 18 when I left this movement that I was simply trading in one counterculture for another. Let me explain. In the early 1950s when I was born, one could still say that American culture, and much of Western culture, was essentially Christian culture.
But by the time of the late 60s and early 70s, one needed to speak of living in a post-Christian culture. And today it is more accurate to speak of being in an anti-Christian culture. As such, I became a card-carrying member of not one but two hardcore countercultures.
As mentioned, I was fully immersed in the radicalism of the 60s. But when I became a Christian in August of 1971, I simply moved from one counterculture to another. If being a radical and a hippy in the 60s meant you were on the fringes of society, estranged from the surrounding culture, and seen as a rebel and an outsider, well, guess what? It is now the same for being a Christian today.
We believers have been relegated to the margins of society, and the mainstream culture views us with suspicion, disdain and contempt. We are seen as troublemakers and malcontents. We are viewed to be rebellious oddballs who need to be put in our place, in order to maintain the status quo.
So I have now experienced two terms of being at odds with the society that I live in. But the Christian should not be surprised at being an outsider and a castaway from the culture of the day. Jesus himself promised his followers that they would not just be rejected by others, but they would be hated as well. And the New Testament makes it clear that Christ-followers will be rejected, scorned, and persecuted.
Scripture throughout testifies to the believer’s countercultural role. Consider just two passages, one from each Testament. When the prophet Elijah appeared before the wicked King Ahab, he was called “the troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17). And it was said of the early disciples that they “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
It is always this way. But when one is living just in the present, it is hard to get real perspective. With age however there hopefully comes the ability to look back and reflect on the changes that have taken place over many decades. A century ago in the West you were viewed as being somewhat odd and a bit of a misfit if you were not a Christian. Today you are viewed the same way if you are a Christian.
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (The Bible Speaks Today Series) by Stott, John (Author)
Some Christians were able to clearly see all this early on. They had the insight and perception to know that the Christian is the real counterculturalist. One notable example of this was the English Christian leader and biblical expositor John Stott (1921-2011). If you are unfamiliar with him, see this piece: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2011/07/28/notable-christians-john-stott/
Back in 1978 he released the book, The Christian Counter-Culture (IVP). In 1984 it was re-released as The Message of the Sermon on the Mount in “The Bible Speaks Today Series”. So nearly a half century ago Stott was aware that believers are the real counterculturalists.
If the Bible is a countercultural book, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is especially so. God’s people have always meant to be distinct from the world, stand out from the world, and convict the world. Early on Stott says this:
Insofar as the church is conformed to the world, and the two communities appear to the onlooker to be merely two versions of the same thing, the church is contradicting its true identity. No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than the words, ‘But you are no different from anybody else.’
For the essential theme of the whole Bible from beginning to end is that God’s historical purpose is to call out a people for himself; that this people is a ‘holy’ people, set apart from the world to belong to him and to obey him; and that its vocation is to be true to its identity, that is, to be ‘holy’ or ‘different’ in all its outlook and behaviour. (p. 17)
He goes on to write:
There is no single paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount in which this contrast between Christian and non-Christian standards is not drawn. It is the underlying and uniting theme of the Sermon; everything else is a variation of it. Sometimes it is the Gentiles or pagan nations with whom Jesus contrasts his followers….
At other times Jesus contrasts his disciples not with Gentiles but with Jews, not (that is) with heathen people but with religious people, in particular with the ‘scribes and Pharisees’….
Thus the followers of Jesus are to be different – different from both the nominal church and the secular world, different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style and network of relationships – all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out under the divine rule. (p. 19)
In his discussion on the command for believers to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16), Stott says this:
Christian saltiness is Christian character as depicted in the beatitudes, committed Christian discipleship exemplified in both deed and word. For effectiveness the Christian must retain his Christlikeness, as salt must retain its saltness. If Christians become assimilated to non-Christians and contaminated by the impurities of the world, they lose their influence. The influence of Christians in and on society depends on their being distinct, not identical. Dr Lloyd-Jones emphasizes this: “The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.” Otherwise, if we Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians, we are useless. We might as well be discarded like saltless salt, ‘thrown out and trampled under foot by men’. ‘But what a downcome,’ comments A. B. Bruce, ‘from being saviours of society to supplying materials for footpaths!’ (p. 60)
And again:
There is a fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians, between the church and the world. True, some non-Christians adopt a deceptive veneer of Christian culture. Some professing Christians, on the other hand, seem indistinguishable from non-Christians and so deny their Christian name by their non-Christian behaviour. Yet the essential difference remains. We might say that they are as different as chalk from cheese. Jesus said they are as different as light from darkness, as different as salt from decay and disease. We serve neither God, nor ourselves, nor the world by attempting to obliterate or even minimize this difference.
This theme is basic to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is built on the assumption that Christians are different, and it issues a call to us to be different. Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and chequered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture. (p. 63)
As I say, for all of my adult life I have been a counterculturalist. First it was with the utopian, idealistic yet ultimately defective hard left version of events, built on the sinking sands of relativism, humanism, envy and hate. But then, by God’s grace, I found the real deal, built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, his unchanging Word, love and forgiveness. I know which I prefer.
Who will join me in being a real rebel, a real outsider, and a real counterculturalist?
It takes strength to be free. That is why they want us to be weak. When we are weak, we are much more likely to become dependent upon the system to survive, and that makes us much easier to control. So they give us junk to eat, they put poisons into our air and water, they “dumb us down” from a very early age, they feed us a steady stream of “programming” that makes us depressed and afraid, they get us hooked on legal and illegal drugs, and they constantly try to get us into as much debt as possible. Something that a rapper known as Zuby posted on Twitter sums this up perfectly…
He really nailed it.
We were created to be independent beings, but the elite are constantly attempting to make us as dependent as possible.
Here in the United States, we are supposed to be the most prosperous nation on the entire planet.
And yet most of us are living like servants.
When I was growing up, $80,000 sounded like an enormous mountain of money. And it actually was a very significant amount of money in those days. But in 2025 it just doesn’t go that far. Today, the median household income in the U.S. is approximately $80,000 a year. Approximately half of all U.S. households make more than that, and approximately half of all U.S. households make less than that. So if your family earns $80,000 in 2025 that would put you about right in the middle.
So can a typical family of four survive on $80,000 in America today?
The answer might surprise you.
Over the past four years, the cost of living has been rising much faster than our paychecks have.
As a result, our standard of living has been steadily going down.
$80,000 breaks down to about $6,666 a month. So how far will $6,666 a month stretch for a family of four in today’s economy?….
First of all, our hypothetical family of four needs a place to live. As I discussed the other day, the household income required to purchase a typical home in the U.S. has more than tripled since January 2012. At this point, the average mortgage payment in the U.S. is about $2,200.
So after paying the mortgage, we only have $4,466 left.
Next, our family of four has to pay for utilities for their home. According to Google AI, the average U.S. household spends $600 a month on their utilities bills.
So now we only have $3,866 left.
Our family is also going to need phone and Internet service. Cell phone bills for a family of four can balloon to ridiculous proportions, but let’s assume that our family of four is extremely budget conscious and has found a package where they can get basic phone service for 50 dollars a month and Internet service for 50 dollars a month.
Now we are down to $3,766.
In our hypothetical household, both parents are also going to need vehicles to get to work. Let’s assume that both vehicles were purchased used, so the payments will only total about $600 a month. If the vehicles were purchased new this number could potentially be much higher.
Suddenly we only have $3,166 remaining.
If our family has two vehicles that means that they will also be paying for automobile insurance. Let’s assume that they both have exemplary driving records and so they are only spending about $100 a month.
Now our total is just $3,066.
Our hypothetical family of four is also going to need health insurance. According to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, a typical family of four will spend $1,437 a month on health insurance.
Ouch.
Now we only have $1,629 left.
Our hypothetical family is also going to have to eat. Let’s assume that our family clips coupons and cuts corners any way that it can and only spends about $50 for each member of the family on food and toiletries each week. That works out to a total of $800 a month for the entire family.
I know that number may seem way too low to many of you, but let’s go with it.
That brings our remaining cash down to just $829.
Needless to say, our hypothetical family will also need to buy gasoline to get to and from work each week. Let’s assume that they don’t live too far from work and only need to fill up both vehicles about once per week. That would give them a gasoline bill of about $50 a week or $200 a month. Of course if either of them has a long commute to work or if a lot of extra driving is required for other reasons this expense could be far, far higher.
After everything that we have gone through so far, we actually have $629 left.
That is a reason to celebrate, right?
Wrong.
We haven’t taken federal, state and local taxes out of the paycheck yet.
Federal, state and local taxes will reduce your paycheck by about one-fourth.
So after taxes, we are now $1,371 in the hole.
Up to this point we have assumed that our family does not have any credit card debt or student loan debt at all. If they do, those payments will have to be made as well.
In addition, the budget above includes no money for clothing, no money for dining out, no money for additional entertainment, no money for medications, no money for pets, no money for hobbies, no money for life insurance, no money for vacations, no money for vehicle repairs and maintenance, no money for child care, no money for birthday or holiday gifts, and no money for retirement.
On top of everything else, if our family of four has a catastrophic health expense that health insurance will not pay for, then our hypothetical family of four is suddenly facing a complete and utter financial catastrophe.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Most of us are just desperately trying to find a way to scrape by from month to month, and that is the way that the elite like it.
Do you feel like you are a hamster on a wheel that is never really getting anywhere?
Well, the truth is that what you are feeling is very real, because the entire system has been designed to keep us all trapped for as long as possible.
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