Marshall - How You Got Screwed: What Big Banks, Big Government, and Big Business Don’t Want You to Know—and What You Can Do About It

To Mary, the love of my life.

Copyright 2018 by Allen Marshall

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Rain Saukas

Cover photo credit: iStock

ISBN: 978-1-51072-592-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-51072-593-5

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I remember playing a game of Monopoly with a friend when I was maybe ten or eleven years old. I was doing well, but I was still losingand thats when I realized that my friend, who was acting as the bank, was cheating by secretly moving money from the bank over to his own pile. Once I figured this out, I quit the game: Why play when its impossible to win?

In a nutshell, thats whats happening to you in todays America. Throughout your entire childhood, you were told about the American Dream, and how if you worked hard and did the right things, you could build a good life for yourself. If youre reading this, then youve figured out that something went wrong: Either someones cheating, or they changed the rules without telling you.

Im here to tell you that this is exactly what happened. The generations before you actually did have a real shot at achieving their dreams. However, over time, so many people cheated and used shortcuts to achieving their goals, that they ended up changing the nature and accessibility of American Dream. They rigged the game, and now that its your turn to play, theyve made it almost impossible for you to win.

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

Do any of the following criteria describe you?

Youre carrying huge amounts of college debt.

Youre an adult still living with your parents because you cant afford to move out.

Youre not able to find a job that pays a livable amount of money.

You want to get married, but you cant afford it.

Prices keep going up, but your income doesnt follow.

Youve got health insurance but cant afford medical care due to the high deductibles.

You joined some movement like Operation Wall Street or the Tea Party, or followed a revolutionary politician like Ron Paul or Bernie Sanders, and didnt see anything change.

You feel that somethings not right, even though the government and the media keep telling you otherwise.

Then this book is for you. Ive intended it to serve as a starting point: A quick, easy-to-read overview of the forces that have an impact on your life in some way, showing how they workby designto rob you of your rights, your money, and your potential. Although not comprehensive in scope, it should introduce you to these topics so you can get a sense of whats actually happening. You canand shouldbroaden and deepen your understanding of these issues, especially the examples that pertain most to yourself. It concludes with some suggestions for what to do with this new information, but thats a starting point as well: Its up to you to decide what to do next.

WHO AM I?

Allen Marshall is an alias.

In reality, Im a typical middle-aged guy. Ive achieved my own American Dream, with a wife, two kids, two dogs, and a house with a white picket fence in the suburbs (seriously).

Ive pretty much got it madebut over time, as I learned about how the game is rigged, how the odds are stacked against the next generation, Ive come to realize that my kids are going to face huge hurdles in achieving their dreamshurdles I didnt have to face. And its not just my kids: I realized that a lot of people in my generation, and the majority of people younger than me, are in the same boat.

Not only are most of them destined for a life of frustration and unfulfilled dreams, but the system thats holding them down is the same system thats choking the life out of this country. And its all because some of the people who came before us decided to rewrite the rules of the game to benefit themselves and hurt the rest of us.

WHY WRITE THIS BOOK?

I struggle every day with what to do about the challenges that I see so many people facing. My kids are too young for me to share all this with them; theyre not ready. But there are lots of people who are, and just need a little assistance in seeing the big picture.

Thats why I wrote this book. If you read it and see things in a different wayif it helps you understand how the system is rigged against youthen youll have the chance to do something about it.

I cant tell you what that something is. I dont think these problems can be solved with marches and protests; I dont even really think they can be solved through voting, unless we actually start voting for people who tell the truth and tell us up front about the hard choices we have to make. Perhaps we all just have to pull out of the system entirely. Thats for you and your peers to decide.

Im just trying to do my part by sharing information, along with my wishes and prayers that others can pick up the torch and carry it forward.

A WORD ABOUT DATA

Throughout this book, youll notice that I raise concerns about some institution, and then later quote that same institutions research or data. For example, I talk about the Federal Reserve working contrary to the interests of our country, yet continue to reference information from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) system from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Or Ill talk about the flaws in the way our government calculates GDP, and then use GDP numbers as a way to track economic growth.

This is, unfortunately, unavoidable. In many cases these institutions are the only sources of information available on certain issues, or at least the only commonly-acknowledged sources. And to understand the issues covered in this book, we have got to be able to incorporate data into the discussion. However, to limit the potential for biased analysis, I follow three rules when using data:

Cui bono? I try to ask myself who benefits from the data being reported and look for conflicts of interest. If the government wants to look good by reducing unemployment rates, then they have a vested interest in making those numbers look better than they actually are. I would much rather look for an independent organization or watchdog group to provide data.

Look for minimally processed data. I tend to rely on data from FRED because it is not filtered or massaged: They report on national debt levels, for example, without trying to tell me whether theyre good or bad. In contrast, numbers like the unemployment rate or GDP are heavily doctored in the ways in which they are defined, collected, and reported, so I dont consider those reliable at all.