Aug 31 2012

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 […]

Aug 5 2012

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.  […]

Jun 26 2012

The burden of unsupportable debt. US debt-to-GDP growing at a pace rivaling certain European nations – The dramatic problems of peak debt in 2012.

What makes this global financial crisis unique is that it is based on unsustainable levels of debt.  In historical cases you would have sovereign nations defaulting on their debts but these were more isolated and clustered, not global issues.  Today virtually every large crisis that is hitting is occurring because of peak debt situations.  No […]

May 14 2012

The curious calculus of the US employment numbers – Decline of 2.4 million in extended and emergency unemployment benefits coincides with 2.2 million rise in disability benefits. Last time we had 8.1 percent unemployment rate we had 14,000,000 fewer Americans on food stamps.

The math on the employment situation in the US simply does not compute.  Over the last few years, many have escaped the employment market by diving into massive student loan debt.  This looks good for the employment figures since these people are not counted as part of the workforce.  The headline unemployment rate of 8.1 […]

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