California Budget Miscalculation: The $60 Billion Budget Gap. Cargo Levels near Decade Lows. Why the Financial Recovery will come last to California.
The largest singular economy in the United States is still facing a fiscal mess. California is still trying to grapple with the budget deal that is now in place. The challenging part seemed getting a budget passed but the more challenging aspect of the budget process is enacting the $26 billion in fixes. Over the […]
Employment Situation: Job Anti-Growth – A Decade with Zero Net Added Jobs. 131 Million Nonfarm Payroll Employment in June of 2000. 131 Million Nonfarm Payroll Employment in June of 2009. 6,460,000 job losses since start of Recession.
The so-called second half recovery got off to a rocky start. The market was expecting 367,000 job losses for the month of June but instead got 100,000 more than expected. The market quickly turned sour as 26,000,000 Americans are now unemployed or underemployed in the job market. Yet what is even more troubling is the […]
Credit Card Addicted Nation: How Americans have Pushed Themselves off the Fiscal Cliff. $931 Billion in Credit Card Debt Outstanding.
Credit cards were developed as a form of convenience and not another stream of household income. The first major use in the United States started in the 1920s when it was used for the purposes of fueling the expanding auto owner population. Bank of America created the BankAmericard in 1958 which later became the Visa […]
The Country that Punishes Savers: Americans Saving 7 percent of Income Putting nearly $800 Billion Annual Rate on the Sidelines. Banks offering 0 to 0.10 Percent to Borrow Your Money.
Americans are increasingly putting more and more money on the sidelines. For the month of May Americans put away 6.9 percent of their income into savings. Not the stock market or real estate but bona fide savings. This is a stark contrast from the zero rates achieved back in April of 2008. When we discussed […]