Does inflation matter? The real cost of living for middle class Americans. Fed on path to growing balance sheet to $4 trillion.
Does inflation matter? If you ask this question to the Fed, it appears like it doesn’t. The Fed is doing everything it can to stoke the fires of inflation. Instead, what it is doing is causing further asset bubbles and misallocation of capital in markets. For most people the cost of living is becoming more [...]
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The other side of persistently high unemployment – Underemployment rate shoots up to 15 percent but is actually more problematic because of the civilian employment-population ratio.
Spending time examining the employment report shows continuing trends that appear beyond the headline figures. The number of Americans unemployed or marginally attached to the work-force increased to 15 percent and appears to be a new staple of our current workforce. A key data point is the civilian employment-population ratio that shows a continuing drop. [...]
Financial panic button for younger Americans – The sandwich generation saw a 59 percent decline to their net worth as they deal with college aged students living at home and elderly parents.
Unfortunately more data pointing to the deterioration of the middle class came out this week regarding net worth figures. One of the more ominous data points regarded the sandwich generation of those taking care of college aged kids and parents. The net worth figures this time released by the US Census coincide with the information [...]
Using the young as a shield for hitting the deficit spending wall – the bill will come due for the young. Government spending prioritizes old American immediate needs and will send the bill to the young.
The level of government spending is mind boggling but has taken a backseat to the issues being experienced over in Europe. We are running trillion dollar deficits as if this was somehow customary in our history. For each dollar spent we are seeing less of a result in the real economy. Part of the issue [...]
The chicanery between the Fed and ECB – twin balance sheets near peak levels and many European nations back in recession. Methods of understating US unemployment rates.
The Fed and ECB (European Central Bank) have taken notes from the exact playbook in dealing with the global financial crisis. People tend to believe that these are somehow fully set government agencies but in reality, they are designed to protect their number one constituency group. The Fed and ECB have the primary mission of [...]
