When the clock strikes 12 – the midnight economy of food assistance. Millions of people shop on the first of the month because electronic food assistance cards are credited. The lost wages of a decade and a Fed determined to bailout the world.
We have a serious economic crisis on our hands and the media simply fails to acknowledge it. You might be waking up to the first of the month thinking the wheels of the economy are fine. Yet silently, millions of Americans drive into mega supercenters like Wal-Mart only to wait for their monthly allotments of [...]
Meet the New Recession, same as the Old Recession – Financial sector devouring a disproportionate amount of revenues. Share of wealth to financial sector at record levels.
The middle class is being squeezed like a ripe tomato out of existence in the United States and the media is largely fixated on trivial nonsense, political theatre, and flashy car advertisements to keep people numb from the grim reality. The financial sector has become a large drag on the overall economy instead of serving [...]
Crisis of generations – younger Americans moving back home in large numbers. Student loan default rates surging largely due to for-profit college expansion.
The United States has over 4,000 college institutions many which have been raising tuition and fees far faster than the overall rate of inflation. Combine this with a younger and poorer population and you have a recipe for massive debt serfdom. As the recession drags painfully on, being the deepest and longest economic contraction since [...]
The economic treadmill is throwing millions out of the middle class and into poverty. In 2010 75 percent of unemployed received unemployment benefits while today it is down to 48 percent. From unemployment to food stamps.
The economy is being pulled apart from the center as if two mighty horses on both sides were set to run in opposite directions of the financially strapped middle class. This seems to be the current trajectory of our economic progress. The ranks of the poor continue to grow while the financial sector continues to [...]
Un-preparing the future with the higher education bubble – graduating students with more debt and with degrees that have little demand in the marketplace. For-profits now account for nearly 10 percent of all undergraduate enrollment when in 1997-98 they accounted for 3 percent.
The higher education bubble only continues to spiral out of control because the profits are so good for the massive banking industry that is pushing student loan debt to the trillion dollar level. At the same time the return on investment in education has been slowly diluted as more for-profit degrees enter the market place [...]
The punishment of the American saver – JP Morgan Chase CEO makes 843 times the median household income and pays his Chase customers 0.01 percent on their savings.
The current financial system is designed to punish old school savers. By definition in our debt based economy those who save are actually taking fuel out of the consumption based economy. Spendthrifts are the high octane that keeps things spinning even if it comes with a high debt price tag. You see this occurring in [...]
A new gilded age shines on America – 50 million Americans roam the countryside uninsured. 45 million Americans receiving food stamps up by 18 million since the Great Recession began in late 2007.
Much of the country is in psychological denial to the damage being created by the current recession. Some even believe that we are fully in a recovery. Part of this has to do with the way the safety net is designed but also the lack of coverage presented in the media. We have over 45,000,000 [...]
While D.C. and Wall Street burns the middle class flails – top 10 percent control 98 percent of all financial security wealth. For stocks and mutual funds bottom 90 percent controls only 19 percent of total assets.
Part of the unfortunate theatre being played out in the political arena is that little focus and energy is being placed on the issues plaguing the middle class. The interests of the big financial banks continue to dominate what politicians will discuss and the media seems content at rehashing the argument over and over like [...]
A banking system built on lies and deception – Hiding commercial real estate losses by laundering bad loans through the Federal Reserve. Trillions of dollars in bailouts were made while banks told the public all was well.
Part of the massive challenges facing our brittle financial system is the opaque and secretive nature of the Federal Reserve. It is difficult enough to confront a challenge with all information present but make it purposely convoluted and dark and we have a crisis of historical proportions. The recent market volatility is simply a dire [...]
Working for less – Aggregate hours worked in U.S. economy from all workers moves back to February 1999 levels. 25 million Americans out of work or looking for full-time work as middle class continues to shrink.
The economy continues to sputter along and the weak employment report only adds more doubt for a summer recovery. As if the American worker was in a position to support more economic bad news? Many are now looking at new methods of measuring employment in our economy since the headline unemployment rate has failed to [...]
