California Economy: $80 Million in Unemployment Insurance Being Paid out Per Day. 143,000 Exhausted Their Jobless Benefits on September 1. One in Four Unemployed Workers without a Job for 27 Weeks or More.
In another sign that California is inching back to the financial edge, earlier this week 143,000 unemployed Californians exhausted their unemployment benefits. Now, you might think that this is simply a function of a normal recession. It is not. In fact, many of these people have exhausted their 26 weeks of benefits plus three additional […]
The American Consumer Meets Minimalism: How This Recession Will Change the American Consumer.
Is the American consumer forever changed? Did the current recession alter the seemingly unrelenting spending machine known as the American consumer? From early indications, it looks like some habits will be changed for a very long time. This is a big shift given the nearly endless round of bubbles in the past 30 years culminating […]
Going Broke on $50,000: The Story of the Struggling American Middle Class. The $50,000 Median Household Budget.
The recent recession is exposing how many American families have been treading on the edge. Problems were already in the system before the recession began but the downturn in the economy was the ultimate catalyst. Many families were using credit cards as a means of supplementing a decade of stagnant wages. The median household income […]
Federal Reserve Paying Interest on Excess Reserves: Why Lend when you can Earn Interest for Holding on to Funds with Low Risk? The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Walking a Tight Rope.
One tiny announcement made by the Federal Reserve back in October of 2008 is finally making some noise in the dark corners of the internet. What the Federal Reserve announced at the time was that it would begin paying interest on depository institutions’ excess reserve balances. Now why this is important is that it offers […]