The incredibly uneven recovery: Net worth of bottom 93 percent declines by $0.6 trillion while top 7 percent net worth increases by $5.6 trillion. Why? Most Americans don’t own a sizable amount of stocks and bonds.
One unique signature of this economic recovery is how narrow it is. When we look at actual wealth, the net worth figures of Americans, we see some dismal numbers. In fact, what we find really isn’t a recovery at all if we look at 93 percent of the country. Then again, with most of Congress [...]
US households are tapped out on debt: While US households are forced to eat austerity measures financial institutions load up on debt and purchase assets at rock bottom prices.
US households are tapped out with debt. Debt matters. Contrary to what is being spouted out over the airwaves having too much debt does cause problems. American households tipped over this point when total household debt reached annual GDP. This is a critical juncture and results in massive deleveraging. There doesn’t seem to be answer [...]
The bailout of the wealthy: stock market sham, income inequality, and crushed consumer sentiment. Peak debt, peak Dow, peak inequality.
In the midst of the stock market reaching record levels the Federal Reserve has increased its balance sheet to well over $3.2 trillion. The Fed continues to be the primary buyer of mortgage backed securities. This strategy has caused a flood of easy money from big banks into residential real estate as funds start chasing [...]
The Sequestered Gilded Age: Top 20 percent of households control over 90 percent of all stocks and financial wealth: Bottom 40 percent of all households have an average net worth of -$10,600.
Income inequality is now at levels last seen in the United States during the Gilded Age. This was a time of incredible opulence for the few while the many struggled to get by. There is even a story of a Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish throwing a dinner party to honor her dog that arrived wearing a [...]
Can you live in California on a $60,000 a year household income? Living the middle class lifestyle in California on $60,000 a year.
Can you live comfortably in California making $60,000 a year? It really depends on what you define as comfortably. We should note that the median household income in the US is $50,000 and in California it isn’t much higher. California gets a notorious rap of being an expensive state but this is if the entire [...]
US median household income trap: Four decades of data and households struggling to keep up with inflation. Younger Americans face bigger income struggles.
Household income growth in the US has largely been absent for well over a decade if we adjust for inflation. This is important because people truly care about what their money can purchase. What use is it getting a $1 raise if healthcare went up $2? What use is it that you are earning $1,000 [...]
How much do Americans earn? What is the average US income and other income figures. Fiscal cliff talks only useful in context of incomes.
With talk of the fiscal cliff taking up most of the headlines it is probably useful to look at income figures for Americans. The media rarely discusses income because it is a touchy subject. It probably would not be savvy in a marketing sense to tell viewers that their incomes have been stuck in the [...]
The erosion of purchasing power via inflation – Federal Reserve and the permanent portfolio.
Inflation has a subtle and quite way of eroding your purchasing power. The process can unfold slowly and before you know it you suddenly wake up realizing your paycheck no longer stretches so far. This is happening across the US in many ways. Those on very tight budgets, especially those now on food stamps are [...]
The food stamp economic recovery – Food stamps increase by over 600,000 in last month of data. GDP at record levels yet US employment is 4 million below start of recession.
There was a startling figure that came across my desk from the United States Department of Agriculture regarding food stamp usage in the SNAP program. Food stamp usage has grown dramatically in the last decade even during the debt inspired boom times. Yet the devil is always in the details as we reported with the [...]
Dollar stores in million dollar neighborhoods. 99 Cents Store looking at Beverly Hills location in rise of the low-wage and high-wage economy. 1 out of 4 working Americans in low-wage work.
Whenever a jobs report comes out I always ask what kind of jobs are being added. There is a wide gap between skilled and unskilled labor building in this economy. Those without the skills for select fields are being left behind to pickup jobs in the growing low-wage service sector. It used to be the [...]
