Expanding the debt bubble to a tipping point – US government debt growing 4 times faster than GDP. Retail investors largely out of stock market.
The global market is being held together with the veneer of massive debt duct tape. The solution for much of the European debt crisis was to simply add more debt to the current situation. Solve a debt problem with more debt in other words. All this does is delay the inevitable. The hope is that [...]
The modern day Gilded Age – in 2010 top one percent captured over half of all income gains. From early 2009 the S&P 500 is up 109 percent but home prices are at new lows falling almost 34 percent.
Most Americans derive their net worth from the equity built up in their homes. This has been the case for many decades. As the stock market races upwards to stratospheric highs it is hard for many average Americans to understand why it is that economically they are stuck in the same place. New tax data [...]
Retirees face a perilous financial decade ahead – Over 30 percent of workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement. Defined-benefit plans down to 20 percent from over 60 percent in 1983.
While financial institutions can rearrange assets and play around with accounting rules modifying reality the progression of age is hitting millions of Americans. There is no pause button when it comes to growing old. Recent surveys are highlighting a very challenging road ahead for retirees. A survey released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) [...]
A costly lesson in student debt for young Americans – 34 percent of all student debt saddled to those under the age of 30. 47 percent of student loan borrowers appear to be in deferral or forbearance.
The student loan market has expanded like a financial virus in the last decade. Even during the financial meltdown where credit was being restricted across all sectors of the economy, student debt kept on growing at a feverish pitch. It would be one thing if the quality of education had increased or wages were going [...]
Little Known Ways the Federal Reserve Punishes American Savers and Supports Conspicuous Consumption.
The Federal Reserve is one of the most mysterious organizations in the world. What they don’t hold back on however is their intentions for the American saver. They are one of the biggest key players in the financial bailouts yet very little is ever discussed about this organization on national or even cable television. The [...]
A shadow inflation hits shoppers through economic sleight of hand: Inflation and the hidden side of finances.
Anyone that shops realizes that the price of goods has only gone up. Yet by how much is deceiving by economic chicanery. The Federal Reserve has taken a baseball bat to the US dollar and the purchasing power of what Americans carry in their wallet. Yet many Americans have been duped into thinking inflation has [...]
The old get wealthier and the young get poorer.
This recession has been unmercifully brutal on younger Americans. Many are entering the most difficult employment market in generations with a flood of low wage jobs saddled with record levels of student debt. Many have never even witnessed how it is to live in a bull stock market. Of course this is assuming they had [...]
How does an America with no middle class look like? Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects top two jobs for the next decade will pay roughly $20,000 a year. Approval rating of Congress at 10 percent. In comparison, Americans approved of BP’s handling of the Gulf oil crisis at a 16 percent rate.
A strong middle class has been at the core of what has been promoted as the American Dream. How would America look like if the middle class simply vanished? We may not need to wait too long at the current rate since we are quickly siphoning people off the middle class and throwing them into [...]
The crisis of solvency – peak debt, peak food stamp usage, and massive financial deception by media. The faux economy of solving a solvency issue with more debt. Job postings up but hiring flat.
The economy is largely running on a solid amount of debt, Orwellian news, and selective perception. Take for example the absolute lack of coverage on our peak debt situation. The media simply assumes that going over the $15 trillion mark on national debt was somehow a story not worth reporting. The total amount we have [...]
Hitting the credit card wall – Credit card debt contracts 17 percent as the grand American household deleveraging continues. Average household with credit card debt carries $16,000 at an average rate of 15% – Real broke housewives. Orange County California witnesses a 600 percent jump in bankruptcies.
Credit card debt has become a big financial albatross for many American families. According to the Federal Reserve Survey on Consumer Finance over 176 million credit cardholders exist in the United States. This is an amazing figure when you actually think about what a credit card is. A credit card essentially allows you to spend [...]
