The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and “free trade” that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn’t tell us that the “global economy” would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

Here are the statistics to prove it:

•    83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people. 
•    61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
•    66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
•    36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.
•    A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
•    24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
•    Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
•    Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
•    For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
•    In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
•    As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
•    The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
•    Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
•    In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
•    The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America’s corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
•    In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
•    More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
•    or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
•    This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
•    Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 – the highest rate in 20 years.
•    Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
•    The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

Giant Sucking Sound

The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new “global” labor pool.

What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are “less attractive” than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of “chronically unemployed” is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can’t raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald’s or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying — and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.

Ready to become an entrepreneur yet? These statistics are further evidence that it is time for you to take charge of your destiny and create your own “income”.

Crazy cool! This is the world famous “Devil’s Causeway” in Colorado. Super scary… a 3 foot wide section with 1,000 foot cliffs on both sides. I pushed the comfort zone while crossing this big time.

Feeling stuck and not knowing how to re-engage your business and life? Ready to begin moving forward in creating the business you truly love?

In this short 6 min video, you’ll reconnect to your true passions and begin to attract what you really want into your life. Enjoy!

Let’s chat personally, get to know each other and talk about your business…

To book a free 30 min strategy session …

Looking forward to speaking with you soon.

Travis

Wishing you a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend, enjoy!

- Travis

Based on his work with professional sports teams, world-class organizations, and interviews with top professionals in a wide variety of fields Jon Gordon has found that the best of the best, whether they play sports or the piano or work with numbers, a computer or a scalpel, all share the same eleven traits and habits that cause them to excel in their work and life.

Jon says, “There is a formula for success. There are habits that the best do that others don’t and things that the best do better than everyone else. There is a way that the best of the best approach their life and work and craft that differentiates themselves from others. This formula is predictable, repeatable and a process anyone can follow…especially YOU.”

In this spirit you’re invited to listen to the Training Camp tele-seminar event and hear Jon share invaluable insights and proven strategies on what it takes to bring out the best in yourself and your team.

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Jon Gordon is a speaker, consultant and author of the international best seller The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy, The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work, and Training Camp: What the Best do Better than Everyone Else. Jon’s latest book, The Shark and The Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change, is now available.

The message in Jon’s books and speaking presentations is such that NFL coaches such as Jack Del Rio, Mike Smith, the PGA Tour and the FBI have called on Jon to inspire and benefit their teams. Jon and his books have been featured on CNN, NBC’s Today Show and in Forbes, Fast Company, O Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Clients such as The Atlanta Falcons, Campbell Soup, Northwestern Mutual, Publix Super Markets and JP Morgan Chase also call on Jon to bring out the best in their leaders and teams.

Steve Jobs (CEO Apple and Pixar Animation) delivers his Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 to the graduates of Stanford University. He tells three stories from his life: connecting the dots, love and loss and death!

Extract: ”Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.

Don’t lose faith.

I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
Don’t settle.

As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.

So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Join Nick and Travis as they reveal a new project they are working on that will give you the opportunity to become a Best-Selling Author alongside a few other success minded entrepreneurs – the Fast, Easy way!

Click the link below to listen to a brief overview…

Imagine what kind of credibility and additional business you will get just from having the title of “Best-Selling Author”

“A Book Can Take You Places You Could Never Take Yourself”

If you want to dominate your market by becoming known as the absolute expert on in your field, this could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for…

Listen in to hear Travis and Nick peel back the curtain and show you how you can:

* Become a Best-Selling Author Quickly and Easily
* Position Yourself Above all of your competition
* Use your Best-Seller Status in your Marketing to Grow Your Business!
* Use a Book to Take You Places and Get You Clients You Could Never Get Yourself
* Use a book to drive traffic and lead generation on your website
* Repurpose your content to attract more and better business
* and much, much more!

My friend, celebrity attorney & branding expert, Nick Nanton, gave me a publishing deal to author a collaborative book and we’re inviting a select group of high-integrity, experienced entrepreneurs, marketers and professionals to join us in this unique opportunity.

You’ve possibly come across other collaborative books and book opportunities out there in the past.

I have to confess, I really haven’t been that drawn to the model myself because the other books didn’t relate to what I was doing, so I couldn’t use it to increase the income from my business.

That is, until I met Nick.

Nick is a branding and positioning master and he actually has a system that ensures Best-Seller status.

And, we’re both committed this isn’t “just another book” that sits on shelves… or is just an entertaining read.

Our collaborative book will be a first class hardbound book, with proven tips from the trenches and actual strategies and knowledge that people can use to change their lives and grow their businesses in any economy.

About Your Co-Authors:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Lawyer” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

Nick serves as the Producer of America’s PremierExperts® television show and The Next Big Thing® radio show, both designed to recognize the top Experts in their field and bring their solutions to consumers.

Nick is an award winning songwriter, television producer and, the co-author of the best-selling books, Celebrity Branding You!®, Big Ideas for Your Business and Shift Happens. Nick also serves as editor and publisher of Celebrity Press™, a publishing company that produces and releases books by top Business Experts. Nick has been featured in USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, Newsweek, The New York Times, Entrepreneur® Magazine, FastCompany.com and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX television affiliates speaking on subjects ranging from branding, marketing and law, to American Idol.

Travis Greenlee is a Master Internet Marketing and Business Development Consultant. He specializes in teaching small business owners, entrepreneurs, and service professionals to leverage the power of technology to automate, simplify, and rapidly increase their profits.

Travis began his career with Merrill Lynch as a financial consultant and business advisor. He has been a professional speaker, trainer and a Master Business Development Consultant since 1991. As CEO of the Business Building Mastery, LLC. family of companies, Travis shares his extraordinary blend of passion, purpose, and excitement for life and business.

In addition to being a professional speaker, Travis is a world renowned author. He is a co-author of Guerrilla Marketing on the Front Lines with Jay Conrad Levinson, and Don’t Miss Your Boat: Living Your Life with Purpose in the Real World.

Tired of chasing that elusive “six to seven-figure mark?”

Or are you already making six figures, but the pace you’re keeping is a whirlwind of clients and meetings and projects and crazy, mixed-up hours?

I’ve got great news for you:

You are 75 minutes away from catapulting your “overworked and underpaid business” into a rewarding and successful MONEY-MAKING MACHINE

Discover how to take advantage of every opportunity while at the same time thriving in business because you get to do what you love most every day!

But this is about more than just making oodles of cash (although I know that’s important). This is also about enjoying the business you’ve created rather than being trapped back in a J.O.B.

You know what it’s like when you spend all your time and energy trying like heck to finish that ultra-long to-do list. Overwhelmed with learning new technology, keeping up with all your social media or even the extraordinary amount of effort it takes to ramp up a new client…

There’s just never enought time to get it all done!

Until now.

I’d like to help you discover the secret weapon I’ve been teaching entrepreneurs how to leverage for the last five years that will set you up for more money, time and fun in your business.

You may think you’ve heard it all when it comes to growing your business, but believe me – you haven’t! Give us just 75 minutes and we will show you a simple way to work less than you ever dreamed possible, make more money than you ever thought possible AND put the joy back into your business!

In the past, this program has been a $97 investment. But because you are a part of our community and we are committed to helping entrepreneurs like you rev up their business, we’d like to share it with you.

Enjoy!

Melanie Benson Strick is known as The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach because she knows first-hand how to build a successful, thriving, freedom-based company with her secret weapon — LEVERAGE. With over 12 years in corporate America and eight years as a business owner, Melanie works exclusively with entrepreneurs who are ready for a “sustainable” lifestyle business.

To learn more: VirtualTeamBuilding