Suppressing wages and increasing corporate profits: The tough math behind the current economic recovery.
It should come as no surprise that the stock market is a very poor barometer on the financial health of Americans. We think of the stock market as a temperature gauge on how well Americans are doing. If that is the case, the record breaking highs in the stock market should reflect a very happy […]
Failure to launch into household formation: Record 36 percent of young Americans (18 to 31) living at home with parents. Where is household formation coming from?
The notion that the housing market is surging because of young Americans buying up homes to form households is simply incorrect. The housing market is rising like an artificial phoenix built on Wall Street’s insatiable appetite to leverage easy money from the Fed and investors. If we look at data regarding young household formation we […]
The financial feeding of the massively indebted American: Consumer credit owed hits record, permanently high gas prices, and feeding empty promises with food stamp outlays up 600% from 2000.
Americans are now fully engaged, once again, in their consumption ways financed by debt. To continue pretending that the middle class is not shrinking, massive amounts of debt are being pumped into the system once again. Total consumer debt has reached another peak but the reason this has peaked is very troubling. Over the last […]
Arrested development courtesy of student debt: How student debt is putting the lives of many young Americans on hold.
Many young Americans view student debt as a necessary evil in pursuing higher education. The level of student debt now reaches Himalayan levels as many are falling behind on keeping up with payments. A double-edged sword has befallen young Americans. First, the path to middle class jobs no longer runs through a blue collar industry […]