Federal Reserve openly aiming for inflation – The Fed looks for a sequel in punishing the U.S. dollar and hopes to inflate debt and the middle class away.
The Federal Reserve has painted itself into a very narrow and troubling corner for most of working and middle class America. The massive debt problems on hand have no realistic way of being paid off and the best path in the eyes of the Federal Reserve is to slowly inflate away the currency and debt. [...]
The persistent and sticky unemployment of the American worker – To get back to 5 percent unemployment we would need to add 285,000 jobs per month for 5 consecutive years.
The biggest problem facing many working and middle class families is the structural changes in our employment base. By this point in any “recovery” the private sector would be adding a tremendous amount of jobs. Yet there really is very little recovery for the typical American. The stock market is performing “well” for the moment [...]
The Transfer of Risk from Wall Street to Main Street – How the Bailouts Shifted 3 Gigantic Risks from Wall Street in Housing, Banks, and Jobs to Average Americans.
There is a false security in our current economy. The belief that the current banking industry is now healthy simply because the government supports it is misguided in valuing the real risk inherent in back stopping Wall Street. Or the idea that deposits are safe up to $250,000 in commercial banks because the FDIC seal [...]
What Isn’t Happening with the $3 Trillion Commercial Real Estate Market: Loans Falling and Vacancy Rates at Record Heights at 10 Percent.
With commercial real estate, you can learn a lot from what isn’t happening. We all know that the $3 trillion commercial real estate market is already taking a drubbing in terms of pricing. CRE prices are down over 40 percent from their peak elevated levels. Yet with commercial real estate you don’t have the typical [...]
Top 10 States make up 55 Percent of United States GDP. 6 of the top 10 States have Unemployment Rates over 10 Percent.
It should come as no surprise that the economic production of each state is not evenly divided. There are many variables including population, industrial base, and regional specialties. With this deep recession it is important to get an understanding of how things are divided in the United States. It is easy to get into the [...]
Stag-Inflation: Japanese Employment Trends in the United States: Part-time, Dispatched, and Contracted Workers. A Decline in the American Consumer Standard of Living. Why the U.S. is not Japan and This is Not Good News.
There have been many comparisons between the lost decade experienced in Japan after the Heisei bubble boom and the current real estate bubble in the United States. On the surface, superficially things may appear the same. Japan had a technology led bubble that sent the Nikkei to record heights only to have a bust. We [...]
The Disappearing Middle Class Dream – How the Average American is coping with the Recession: Savings, Banking, Housing, and Investing. Over 50 Million Households Living on $52,000 or less a year.
Last month the American Community Survey detailed the painful 2008 year for American households. This is a comprehensive survey looking at multiple financial, economic, and social characteristics of Americans. What we find is that the average American is having a tougher time maintaining a hold on the middle class dream. This isn’t a revelation but [...]
Economy Losing 11,000 Jobs per day since December of 2007. 824,000 Jobs Lost in Statistical Revision: 8 Million Jobs Lost Since Start of Recession. Nationwide Unemployment Rate at 17 Percent.
Since the start of this deep recession back in December of 2007 some 7.2 million jobs have been lost in the official BLS reports. The official non-farm employment has dropped from 138 million to 130 million. Think of it this way, for 21 months we have lost on average over 11,000 jobs per day. As [...]
The Long Lost City of Detroit: The Economic and Financial Pain of Motor City. How Detroit went from 1.8 Million to 912,000 Residents. 28.9 Percent Unemployment.
There is no other city in the United States that highlights the Achilles Heel of the current financial crisis like Detroit Michigan. Detroit Michigan had a booming population from 1870 to 1950. In 1870 Detroit had 79,577 residents and in 1950 Detroit had a stunning 1.8 million. The massive boom came with the growth of [...]
It’s the Jobs Stupid: Why There will be no Recovery until Employment Stabilizes. When Obvious Financial Truth Becomes Uncommon. New Nurses Competing with Old Nurses for Hours Because of Gender Unemployment.
It should be rather obvious that without any sustained job growth there will be no economic recovery. In the same breath, you will have someone tell you that this is no common recession yet when it comes to talking about the stock market they will tell you that in normal times, stocks recover before jobs. [...]
