For nearly a century, Americans have been told Social Security is their safety net, a promise that if you work hard, pay in, and stay loyal, you’ll be taken care of in the end. But that promise was never real. It was a political invention built to fund the government, not protect the worker.

In this episode of Beyond the Workforce, David Thomas Graves exposes how Social Security was born out of desperation during the Great Depression — not as a retirement plan, but as a cleverly disguised tax pipeline. He breaks down how the system was designed to recycle your money into government spending, how inflation and demographics have gutted its foundation, and why your “benefits” are paid in devalued dollars.

From shrinking worker-to-retiree ratios to the myth of the trust fund, this episode reveals the uncomfortable truth: Social Security isn’t saving you, it’s spending you.

This is the great American illusion, and it’s time to see it for what it really is.

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For over a century, the Federal Reserve has sold Americans the story of control, that it can fine-tune the economy with the pull of a lever. Raise rates, lower rates, pump liquidity, pull it back. Stability on command. But the truth is harder: the brakes don’t work anymore.

In this episode of Beyond the Workforce, David Graves unpacks the illusion of control and explains how fiscal dominance has trapped the Fed in the very machine it built. We break down what “liquidity” really means, why debt has become the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, and how every attempt to pull money out risks breaking the system.

From wages that lag behind prices, to savings that erode, to housing and retirement turned into speculative assets, workers pay the bill for a system addicted to debt. And with the dollar’s global dominance showing cracks, the costs are only getting heavier.

This is the machine’s last stand. The question isn’t whether it fails, it’s how long the illusion can last before workers demand something real.

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Beyond the Workforce isn’t just another podcast about labor, it’s a declaration. Hosted by David Thomas Graves, this show calls out the truth about a rigged economy, corporate manipulation, and union leaders who’ve gotten too comfortable while their members lose everything.

We dig into the issues no one else wants to touch: Social Security as a government-run Ponzi scheme, the collapse of the American film industry, the death of the 60/40 retirement portfolio, and why unions are bleeding out under outdated laws. We strip away the slogans and the culture war noise to reveal the real fight: workers versus the system built to drain them.

This is where broken systems get torn down, unapologetically. This is where something better gets built, intentionally. No polish. No PR. Just purpose.

If you’re ready to flip the table instead of fighting for a seat at it, this podcast is for you.

Thanks for listening to Beyond the Workforce. If this episode hit home, share it with someone who needs to hear the truth behind the headlines. And don’t forget, you can check out all the Beyond the Workforce articles at www.beyondtheworkforce.com

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What happens when money loses its anchor? In this episode of Beyond the Workforce, David Thomas Graves unpacks how two pivotal decisions, Franklin Roosevelt’s 1933 gold confiscation and Richard Nixon’s 1971 closure of the gold window, reshaped the dollar forever.

We trace how the move from gold-backed money to fiat currency turned debt into the fuel of the American economy, ignited the stagflation of the 1970s, and laid the foundation for a system addicted to credit, bailouts, and Federal Reserve intervention. From housing bubbles to quantitative easing, the story isn’t abstract economics, it’s the paycheck in your pocket, the mortgage on your house, and the retirement you’re counting on.

If you’ve ever wondered why stability for Wall Street always seems to mean instability for workers, this episode explains how we got here, and why it all started the moment the dollar lost its anchor.

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Most Americans never think about the Federal Reserve, but they live with its consequences every single day. From the value of your paycheck to the cost of your mortgage, the Fed shapes your financial reality with decisions made in rooms you’ll never enter.

In this episode of Beyond the Workforce, we pull back the curtain on the machine that drives the American economy. We’ll trace the Fed’s birth out of financial panic, break down how it creates and destroys money, and expose the illusion of neutrality that hides its true role as a partner in power. This isn’t theory, it’s the plumbing of your daily life: your bills, your savings, your job security.

If you’ve ever wondered why your money buys less, why the housing market feels rigged, or why Wall Street always seems to get rescued while workers get left behind, this episode explains why.

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Politicians love to sell tariffs as “pro-worker.” The truth? They’re political theater that hits your wallet harder than any foreign competitor ever could. In this episode of Beyond the Workforce, we cut through the patriotic slogans and break down how tariffs collide with inflation, wage compression, and stagnant paychecks. We’ll look at why targeting allies like Canada and Mexico doesn’t strengthen America, it weakens us, and why the real path forward isn’t division, it’s integration.

If you’ve ever wondered why your paycheck feels smaller even when the numbers look bigger, this episode is for you.

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Thanks for listening to Beyond the Workforce. If this episode hit home, share it with someone who needs to hear the truth behind the headlines. And don’t forget, you can check out all the Beyond the Workforce articles at www.beyondtheworkforce.com

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