15 Examples Of How “The Little Guy” Is Getting Absolutely Killed In America Today

End Of The American Dream ^ | September 8th | Unattributed

[danielmryan]

Those without a lot of wealth or a lot of power are getting absolutely killed in America today. The big corporations, the major financial institutions, the ultra-wealthy and those connected to the top levels of government are absolutely thriving even though the economy overall is in shambles. Meanwhile, "the little guy" is being abused, harassed, regulated, taxed and mistreated like never before. In general, the big corporations and the government don't spend a lot of time tangling with each other. Instead, mostly they seem content with attacking the weak members of the herd (the rest of us). In the United States today, wealth and power have become more concentrated than ever, and the big corporations and the government have figured out thousands of different ways to drain even more wealth and power away from the rest of us. Most of the time, "the little guy" is not even able to fight back. Most Americans have very limited resources and a very limited knowledge of the law. Meanwhile, the "big guys" have almost unlimited resources and can hire huge numbers of lawyers. So what does that mean for the rest of us? Well, it means that until society becomes a lot more just, you better do your best to keep from becoming a target of the "big guys".

The following are 15 examples of how "the little guy" is getting absolutely killed in America today....

#1 The "Little Guy" Is Finding It Increasingly Difficult To Run A Small Business

The number of "self-employed" Americans continues to rapidly shrink. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million. Even though we have 14 million unemployed people in this country and jobs are incredibly difficult to come by, the number of people trying to work for themselves continues to decrease because the environment for small businesses in this country has become so incredibly toxic.

#2 The "Little Guy" Is Being Hounded By Federal Bureaucrats

Did you know that hay is not considered a "pollutant" by the federal government? Kansas cattle feeder Mike Callicrate recently told an audience that the EPA is now cracking down on his feedlot....

“Has the Environmental Protection Agency declared hay a pollutant?” an audience member asked. Callicrate responded affirmatively and explained that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently initiated a formal enforcement action against his Kansas feedlot for, among other things, failure to store his hay in a pollution containment zone. “Now that EPA has declared hay a pollutant, every farmer and rancher that stores hay, or that leaves a broken hay bale in the field is potentially violating EPA rules and subject to an EPA enforcement action,” Callicrate said. “How far are we going to let this agency go before we stand up and do something about it?”

#3 The "Little Guy" Is Losing Health Coverage Because Of Obamacare

According to a recent report from the National Federation of Independent Business, one out of every eight small businesses in the United States have either already had or expect to have the health insurance plans for their employees terminated by the health insurance companies because of Obamacare. Another recent survey of mid-size and large businesses found that nearly ten percent of them plan to stop offering health insurance coverage to workers once Obamacare insurance exchanges begin in 2014, and another 20 percent are not sure if they will continue to offer coverage or not. Our health care system is deeply broken and the ones that keep getting the short end of the stick are average Americans.

#4 The "Little Guy" Is Being Forced Into Desperate Living Conditions By This Economy

As I wrote about recently, millions of Americans are now living out of "budget motels" because that is the only option they have left. Large numbers of Americans that have lost their jobs or their homes are now living in decaying hotel rooms because at least it beats living on the street. One of my readers named JD recently left a comment describing his own experience with living in these "budget motels"....

As for living in budget hotels I know firsthand of this. I spent last fall in several of them in my old town. They are shoddy, sometimes you have to share bathrooms with several other people, they are infested with bedbugs and despair clings to the very air itself. Its funny, In Helena MT they have the budget hotel in the general area of the homeless shelter. I call the Budget Inn Hotel Gods Love part 2. Gods Love is the name of the shelter. People go from the hotel to the soupline across the street. Its stunning the people you see in the shoddy hotels and souplines. I saw beautiful women staying in those places. I wondered what happened to them to have to stoop to that level of poverty. I eventually ran out of money so I stayed in my car instead of staying in that terrible shelter. The people are always sick and I was afraid of catching TB or staph infection. Im not better than those people so I hope I dont sound snobby. Im so grateful to God for giving me a second chance to salvage my life. I truly feel like a modern day Cinderella Man.

#5 The "Little Guy" Is Getting Taxed Into Oblivion While The "Big Guy" Has It Relatively Easy

Today, the wealthiest 400 Americans pay approximately 18% of their income in taxes. Many middle class Americans find themselves paying a much, much higher percentage of their incomes to the government than many of the wealthiest Americans do. Our income tax system is fundamentally unjust and needs to be completely discarded.

#6 The "Little Guy" Is Being Abused By Local Government

Local governments in the United States love to sink their teeth into small businesses. Since they don't have the same flexibility to just pick up and move like large corporations do, local governments often see small businesses as "captive" sources of income. In a recent article, Charles Hugh Smith commented on this phenomenon....

Local government sees small business as one thing and one thing only: a captive source of extra revenue via higher licensing fees, junk fees, permits, surcharges, etc. Local government thinks small business is captive, but the local politicos and fiefdoms are forgetting every small business owner has an option: it's called closing down, and opting out of the rat-race of higher taxes and costs.

#7 The "Little Guy" Is Being Absolutely Hammered With Ridiculous Regulations

The number of nightmarish regulations that "the little guy" has to deal with today just continues to increase. For example, a reader named Mark recently left the following comment on one of my recent articles....

Many of the rules created and enforced by the government are over the top. For example: as a farmer (farming my own land) the government wants to require me to have a CDL to operate my own tractor. This is not needed. These type of regulations just bring more money to the government and then we get more bureaucrats. The family farms will go away and you end up with big corporate farms in their place that can afford to pay the fees. In my state the government claims ownership of all the underground water. They do not think it is fair that we in the country do not pay for the use of it. The folks in the city pay for water, so we should too. When the people in the city pay their bill it covers the water, treatment costs, installation of pipes, power costs,etc. They fail to consider that we pay for our own costs such as drilling the well, buying and installing the pump, the pressure tanks, the piping, no water treatment, the cost of power to run the pump, the cost to repair the system, etc. This is just another way for government too take more money without providing a service. Let’s see, under the new food safty regulations, the government will have the power to come and inspect my garden. What comes next? Will I need to buy a permit to have my garden in order to cover the cost of the government inspector? Another one is the government wants to erect a fence 60 feet from the center of each side our creek. These would be for wildlife corridors to bring on more of UN agenda 21.

#8 The "Little Guy" Has To Pay The Bill For The Mistakes Of The "Big Guy"

During the financial crisis, the big banks got hundreds of billions in bailouts and trillions in secret loans from the Federal Reserve. Most average Americans that found themselves deeply suffering got next to no help from the federal government. Instead, all we got was a big debt bill that our descendants are going to be expected to pay off for generations to come.

#9 The "Big Guy" Will Mercilessly Come After The "Little Guy" If Payments Are Missed

Because they don't think that you have any power, the big financial institutions will treat you like garbage if you don't pay them on time. For example, Bank of America recently called one grieving widow up to 48 times a day to remind her that her husband's debts needed to be paid. The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the Daily Mail....

The bank told the widow that it was unable to stop the calls until the debt was paid as they were computer generated.

Mrs Crabtree claimed that the calls began the day after her husband died of cancer.

She told the bank that she only had $5,000 cash to hand, which was needed for food and to bury her husband, but debt collectors told her that she must use it to pay them.

Mrs Crabtree said she and her family spent her husband's wake repeatedly hanging up the phone on calls from the bank.

#10 The "Little Guy" Is Struggling To Stay Out Of Poverty

The middle class in America continues to rapidly shrink. According to a new report produced by Pew Charitable Trusts, approximately one out of every three Americans that grew up in a middle class household has slipped down the income ladder.

#11 The "Little Guy" Has A Smaller Share Of The Pie Than Ever

If the United States is still "the land of opportunity", a whole lot of people are being left out. At this point, the poorest 50% of all Americans now control just 2.5% of all of the wealth in this country.

#12 The "Little Guy" Is Watching The Federal Government Destroy Our Jobs

We are experiencing the worst stretch of unemployment since the Great Depression and yet Barack Obama keeps pushing for more "free trade" agreements which will allow even more of our jobs to be shipped overseas and he keeps making it easier for illegal immigrants to come in to the U.S. and steal our jobs.

#13 The "Little Guy" Is Expected To Pay Through The Nose For Education That Has Little Value

They keep telling us that we need "an education" if we are to better ourselves. Well, the cost of college tuition in the United States has gone up by over 900 percent since 1978, and most college graduates are not able to find decent jobs in this economy. So we are all expected to go into debt for the next 30 years to pay for college, but then the system fails us by not providing nearly enough good jobs. Is there any wonder why more people than ever are asking if college is really worth it? In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors and more than 317,000 waiters and waitresses that have college degrees.

#14 The "Little Guy" Is Now Treated Like "Human Cattle" In The Name Of "National Security"

It just isn't just at airports where Americans are being searched like prisoners and treated like dehumanized cattle. Now, TSA "VIPR teams" are conducting about 8000 "unannounced security screenings" a year at subway stations, bus terminals, seaports and highway rest stops.

#15 The "Little Guy" Is Seen As A Major Threat While The "Big Guy" Seems To Get A Free Pass Almost Every Single Time

The federal government has no problem with brutally going after the little guy, but extends every courtesy to the big banks and to the big corporations. For example, the FDA conducted an armed raid on an Amish farm that was selling raw milk at 5 AM in the morning, but not a single Wall Street executive has gone to jail for the mass financial fraud that helped precipitate the horrific financial crisis of 2008.

What in the world has happened to this country?

Please say a prayer for America - we definitely need it.

[danielmryan]

A sobering look at how Obamanomics is playing out. There's a hint of liberal in his points, but only a hint. The rest might as well have come from here.

[muawiyah]

What we need is the dissolution of a federal agency and the punishment of its employees.

I'd nominate Education Department as the target but they don't have enough field offices. Instead let's do EPA. They have a lot of folks all over the place.

Just send out the US Marshalls to corral them then send them out for appropriate mob punishment.

Not sure how you'd advertise this ~ but that'd be the basic outline.

Although this wouldn't do much of anything I'm sure folks could feel good about it.

[manic4organic]

IRS.

[rabscuttle385]

Just send out the US Marshalls to corral them then send them out for appropriate mob punishment.

Why, so Americans can re-enact the French Revolution?

Although this wouldn't do much of anything I'm sure folks could feel good about it.

Getting high feels good too.

The problem is when the high wears off.

[Baynative]

What we are seeing is the final stages of the Marxist plan to destroy the world's only free enterprise system. We can stop it. But it won't be easy.

I'm not sure we have the courage or the energy that the liberals pushing this agenda have.

I'm not sure the majority of our neighbors actually take this seriously.

I'd be that if you found 50 people in your community who said they take the items on the list above very seriously and there was an upcoming meeting to address the concerns, less than ten (maybe less than five) of them would bother to show up.

meanwhile we are seeing our country taken by proponents of everything from ObamaCare to Agenda 21 and while we gripe at BBQs or send emails to each other, the liberal Marxists are busy, busy, BUSY!

[Vaduz]

Suicide by vote is what the non thinking voter is doing to this country.
The longer one is in office the more POWER you have,see congress and senate.

[Paladin2]

The ‘Rats are taking care of the “Little Guy”.

[Comparative Advantage]

Helicopter Ben and Tax Cheat Tim are destoying the little guy with their actions every day. We are slaves to the Fed and our government.

[Mr. Jeeves]

There's a hint of liberal in his points, but only a hint. There's a hint of liberal in his points, but only a hint.

There's a lot of liberal in it. A lot of scarcity mentality. A lot of victim mentality.

[Minn]

One or two decent points. But overall an example of the mentality nobody needs to acquire int tough times.

Reading this will make everybody slightly dumber. Taking it any of it to heart will make you just a slightly bigger loser than you may already be.

[butterdezillion]

What we need to do is address the things that make we the people unable to hold government accountable BETWEEN ELECTIONS.

For instance, we need a way to make it so that the people have a way to bypass political law enforcement appointees in order to charge any government official with crimes - in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. US Supreme Court justices need to be held to the same laws and ethics requirements as any other attorney or judge. (The honor system has totally, absolutely, and in every other way FAILED).

We need laws that specifically grant legal standing to any US (or state, for state laws) citizen to sue for the enforcement of that law, including the US Constitution - since the rule of law IS the business of us all.

We need the right to sue (and/or prosecute for violating the Federal General False Statement Act) any media company or government official which refuses to correct provably false statements on issues involved in government policy-making. Congress-critters should not be exempt from libel laws and the Federal General False Statement Act.

Regulators should be required to cite the provision in the Constitution which authorizes any regulation they make. Any US citizen should be granted legal standing to sue over the Constitutionality of any regulation. The Tenth Amendment should mean what it says.

Any US citizen should have legal standing to challenge the Constitutionality of any executive order of the President or of any of his/her appointed “czars”.

Right now people pretty much know that the system ties their hands behind their backs. Once a politician is elected they are free to break laws while their buddies cover their behinds. They are all “untouchable” by the normal people like you or me.

I think we’d all pretty much like to ship them all to a deserted island and pay them a modest salary just to leave us alone. Not being able to do that, I think people mentally boycott the government - cynically roll their eyes at the intevitability of crooks in office and a broken system that has no way of being fixed.

If we had even one instance where a massive public outcry made any difference it could help people believe that effort is not futile. Unfortunately, we’ve had massive outcries by the people - phone lines burned up from public response, huge majorities in polls, and the largest electoral landslide in our history - and it has made little to no difference on any real policy.

[muawiyah]

Still, when we run out of EPA employees we can dig into the vast overburden of EPA “groupies” and GOREBOTS!

[Nervous Tick]

>> Although this wouldn’t do much of anything

I’m guessing your post is tongue-in-cheek. Nevertheless — an immediate and thorough purge of the EPA and a change in its directions and mandate would do MORE to get the economy going than any other government action of similar scale and cost that I can think of.

And we don’t even have to exile or kill the EPA employees we purge.

We should, however, brand them on the forehead with “EPA Whore” so no one will ever hire them. (j/k)

[muawiyah]

Their little pointy heads aren’t big enough for such a wide tattoo.

[MikeSteelBe]

People who vote for democrats nowadays are so mentally deficient they think the democrap party is “for the little guy”.

[RavenATB]

Agreed. The article is very poorly written.

[Baynative]

From your lips to GOD's ears! Our politicians have managed to shield themselves from the law and from any liability associated with ignoring it.

If your vision were to come to pass the first investigation and trial I'd like to see would be to go through the files of every living member who has served and voted on legislation to use funding taken under the guise of social security for general fund projects and programs (vote purchases).

[Baynative]

The Dept. of Education has 7,000 employees and a budget of $38 Billion. Why?

[muawiyah]

So they can be a target for our wrath.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I sure am glad I’m not a ‘Little Guy.’ Oh, wait...

Grrr! (I’ve been growling a LOT today...)