Casino economics: How the S&P 500 endured two 50 percent dips in the 2000s and sent the middle class packing.
It took the S&P 500 about 13 years to get back to where it was in 2000. Of course the power of inflation has taken an even deeper toll on this trend. The stock market is largely a spectacle for most average Americans. It is a dramatic sideshow like going to the track and betting [...]
Debt based delusion: Fed spending far outstripping revenues, balance of trade, and business inventories decline.
One clear symbol of our new Gilded Age is that of the peaking DOW while food stamp usage is at a peak as well. Even though the DOW is only a reflection of a handful of companies, the media focuses on this as if it were a barometer of the real economy. It isn’t. Household [...]
Is the stock market a sham for the middle class? Retail investors expected to pull out $475 billion in funds. Volatility index under pricing real risks.
The stock market is largely a source of entertainment or awe for most Americans instead of being a true source of wealth. In the United States roughly 42 percent of all financial wealth is aggregated with one percent of the population. One third of Americans have no savings at all so for this group, the [...]
American Gerontocracy: Since 2009 2.7 million jobs for those 16 to 55 have been lost yet 4 million jobs were added for those between 55 and 69.
It is still a tough time to be young and looking for work in the United States. With the steady destruction of blue collar industries with living wages, many have to pursue a college degree for any chance at becoming middle class. Yet higher education has become a debt plagued mess where students have to [...]
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 [...]
Who controls the wealth in the US? Western countries expand balance sheets at the expense of their younger population.
If the debates reflected the true interest of what Americans have on their mind the entire debate would revolve around the slow erosion of the US middle class. Yet this is something that will only be a footnote and for any discussions that do come up the specifics will be lacking. The reality is we [...]
Federal Reserve slaps on financial rocket boosters but who will benefit? Half of Americans spend more than they make and household incomes fall back to levels last seen in 1995.
The Federal Reserve announced the sequel to the sequel on Thursday with Quantitative Easing 3. After all, if something didn’t work the first time might as well rinse and repeat. The markets are rallying yet what has come from the QEI, QEII, TALF, TARP, and all of those other backdoor bailouts? What has resulted is [...]
Economic duplicity with low wage capitalism – Nearly half of those that lost their job between 2009 and 2011 are working in a lower wage position. The hard financial reset button.
All jobs are not created equal. It is unfortunate that last month the drop in the unemployment rate was largely driven by hundreds of thousands of Americans simply dropping out of the labor force. Not exactly a way to build the middle class but to many it gives the false impression that things are getting [...]
When the financial clock strikes zero – Half of Americans pass away with nearly zero wealth. The middle class has contracted by ten percent in the last 40 years.
A recent study demonstrates the precarious financial position many Americans find their lives in. The National Bureau of Economic Research found that nearly half of Americans pass away penniless. The exact figures were sobering stating that many of these Americans end up with no financial assets including home wealth and typically rely heavily on Social [...]
Long live the debt ceiling – approaching the fiscal cliff by spending $1 trillion more than is being taken in. A breakdown of government spending and revenues.
History does love to repeat itself especially when it comes to debt bubbles. At the rate the US government is burning through money, we are likely to breach the debt ceiling limit even before we enter 2013. We’re about $400 billion away from the $16.39 trillion limit but considering we’ve already spent $700+ billion that [...]
