False prosperity through debt – 4 out of 10 Americans have less than $500. The dangers of building a consumption based nation.
If most Americans had to choose between saving and spending, they would decide to join the spending team. Americans are so drawn to spending that they will even purchase items they cannot afford. Another recent survey found that 40 percent of Americans have less than $500 saved. This aligns with a survey we found last […]
The math on US income – if you call something the middle make sure you are using math. The surprising details on median household income and per capita wages.
People have a hard time wrapping their minds around household and personal income.   It is an easy enough concept to understand but some throw around terminology that confuses the facts. For example $250,000 is not middle class income if we define it from a strictly mathematical model. The median household income in the US is […]
The sound of rumbling from the student debt bubble – Jump in consumer credit last month came mostly from student debt growth. For two decades student debt expanded at a rate above 17 percent per year.
The flashing alert signs permeating from the higher education bubble should give people pause to the next flavor of the day bubble. This month information was released regarding consumer credit growth. Most of the headlines took this as positive economic news but digging deeper into the data we realize that the bulk of the growth […]
How the Fed bluffs the financial system – Labor force participation back to levels last seen over three decades ago. Fed policy aims at pushing US dollar lower.
The US is facing a long trend of aging Americans entering into retirement or what can be viewed as life post-work. The vision of sitting on the sand in some resort villa is largely a dream. Nearly half of American when they leave this world go out broke like a country western song. Today as […]