The other side of persistently high unemployment – Underemployment rate...
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...
View ArticleLong live the debt ceiling – approaching the fiscal cliff by spending $1...
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...
View ArticleWhen the financial clock strikes zero – Half of Americans pass away with...
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...
View ArticleEconomic duplicity with low wage capitalism – Nearly half of those that lost...
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....
View ArticleFederal Reserve slaps on financial rocket boosters but who will benefit? Half...
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...
View ArticleWho controls the wealth in the US? Western countries expand balance sheets at...
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...
View ArticleThe erosion of purchasing power via inflation – Federal Reserve and the...
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....
View ArticleAmerican Gerontocracy: Since 2009 2.7 million jobs for those 16 to 55 have...
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...
View ArticleIs the stock market a sham for the middle class? Retail investors expected to...
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...
View ArticleDebt based delusion: Fed spending far outstripping revenues, balance of...
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...
View ArticleCasino economics: How the S&P 500 endured two 50 percent dips in the 2000s...
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...
View ArticleThe American dream myth: Income mobility; 4 out of 5 Americans struggle with...
There is an odd sort of Greek-like mythology that the American dream is only getting stronger when various pieces of economic data clearly show that this is not the case. The middle class has...
View ArticleSuppressing wages and increasing corporate profits: The tough math behind the...
It should come as no surprise that the stock market is a very poor barometer on the financial health of Americans. We think of the stock market as a temperature gauge on how well Americans are doing....
View ArticleModern day financial repression and disinformation: Financialization of...
America in the last couple of decades has undergone a massive reformation when it comes to the financial system. The ability to convert everything and anything into a tradable security has been the...
View ArticleHow the stock market is a sham for the working and middle class. 53 percent...
The growing wealth divide in this country is devouring every piece of the middle class that is currently left. The stock market is largely a sham for most Americans. Why? Many hedge funds and other...
View ArticleDebt serfdom via student loans: A new class of indentured servants now carry...
$1.1 trillion. That is the amount of student debt being carried on the backs of millions of Americans. Student debt has become a rite of passage for many young Americans. In fact, many Americans...
View ArticleThe grand financial shift: Rich own assets while poor and working class deep...
A core reason for the financial crisis was because too much debt was given to those with very little ability to pay it back. From the wealthiest banks to those scrimping by on minimum wage. The...
View ArticleThe US cannot avoid a soft default even if a hard default is avoided: Debt...
All the talk has shifted from the government shutdown to the US actually defaulting on outstanding debts. The markets were in deep fear but the last couple of days rumors that the debt ceiling would...
View ArticleArrested economic development: 36 percent of Millennials living at home...
Young Americans are living at home in record numbers. Millennials are living at home for much longer because of the poor economic conditions for the young. Think about the perfect storm of financial...
View ArticleThe New Normal for the American Dream – 3 Cornerstones: Low wage jobs, high...
There seems to be a growing acceptance that the American Dream is hardly as accessible as it once was. Low wage jobs, higher education tuition pushing many into untenable levels of debt, and a new...
View Article
