The red queen race of debt – US public debt set to pass US annual GDP. The 100 percent GDP to public debt threshold is quickly approaching.
People may not even realize that during the Great Depression, US Federal debt as a percent of GDP did not even reach 40 percent. Part of this was because the size of government was much smaller in military, public services, and entitlements. The only time in history that the US as a whole spent more […]
The growing chasm between rich and poor in America – Latest data shows that 500,000 people were added to the food assistance program in one month. 6 million Americans added over the last year. Those that buy diamonds versus those that barely have enough to buy soup.
The shrinking of the American middle class is painful to watch. Shopping at the grocery store I’ve noticed more and more people with unique debit cards that don’t look like your typical debit or credit card. These are actually the modern day food stamps and help to take away the stigma of pulling out a […]
The era of mega banks – The growth of too big to fail. American banking system still backing over $13 trillion in assets with a negative deposit insurance fund. 7,760 banks but 19 banks make up 50 percent of the asset base.
The growth of the too big to fail bank is something that is modern to this era. In the 1990s there were fewer than 40 institutions that had total assets above $20 billion. In the late part of the 1980s and 1990s this number was below 20. The peak was reached in 2005 with 55 […]
Catch 22 economics – The U.S. economy has 7,400,000 less workers than the peak in late 2007 yet nominal GDP is at a record. What does that mean for those without jobs?
The Friday jobs report was significant for a variety of reasons but one key theme is that it shows the true fragility of the state of the economy. Even though it was a net add of 39,000 jobs we need to remember that the nation needs to add roughly 150,000 jobs per month just to […]