Not everyone in America is hurting during this economic downturn. In fact, the wealthiest Americans are doing just fine. At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes, the folks at the top end of the income scale are actually seeing their incomes go up. In 2009, the number of millionaires in the United States rose 16 percent to 7.8 million at a time when tens of millions of other Americans were experiencing gut-wrenching economic despair. The truth is that the statistics and the data do not lie. Wealth and income are increasingly becoming concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest Americans. So just what in the world is going on? (Read More...)
Is The United States Headed For A Commercial Real Estate Crash Of Unprecedented Magnitude?
Will commercial real estate be the next shoe to drop in the ongoing U.S. financial crisis? While most eyes are on the continuing residential real estate disaster, the reality is that the state of the commercial real estate market in America could soon be even worse. Very few financial pundits are talking about this looming disaster but they should be. The truth is that U.S. commercial property values are down approximately 40 percent since the peak in 2007 and currently approximately 18 percent of all office space in the United States is now sitting vacant. That qualifies as a complete and total mess, but the reality is that the commercial real estate crisis is just starting. (Read More...)
Money Out Of Thin Air: Now Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Wants To Eliminate Reserve Requirements Completely?
Up until now, the United States has operated under a “fractional reserve” banking system. Banks have always been required to keep a small fraction of the money deposited with them for a reserve, but were allowed to loan out the rest. But now it turns out that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke wants to completely eliminate minimum reserve requirements, which he says “impose costs and distortions on the banking system”. At least that is what a footnote to his testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services on February 10th says. So is Bernanke actually proposing that banks should be allowed to have no reserves at all? (Read More...)
11 Economic Headlines That Make You Wonder What In The World Is Actually Going On
These days there are times when you read the economic headlines and all you can do is shake your head. Is anyone in control out there? Who in the world could possibly be making so many bad decisions? The truth is that the U.S. economy is in a state of absolute chaos, but whenever anybody in power tries to do something about it they usually seem to make things worse. It is almost as if the vast majority of people in positions of power have lost the common sense that they were born with. Meanwhile, average Americans just keep getting angrier and angrier and are looking for someone to blame for this gigantic mess. (Read More...)
How Can Anyone Claim That The Housing Crisis Is Over When The Delinquency Rate On U.S. Mortgages Continues To Explode At An Exponential Rate?
Housing prices have stabilized and are actually slightly increasing in some areas. The tax breaks passed by Congress have encouraged more first-time home buyers to get into the market. So is the U.S. housing crisis over? Will the real estate market be back to normal in no time? Well, if you listen to many of the talking heads on the news channels, you might be tempted to think that the worst of the housing crisis is behind us and that we are headed towards recovery. But that is not what is happening. The truth is that we are just now getting ready for round 2 of the real estate nightmare. (Read More...)
For Americans Wishing To Leave The United States, What Is The Best Country In The World To Move To?
For those seeking to move outside of the United States, figuring out the best country to move to can be a very daunting task. There are a ton of social, cultural, economic and safety issues to be considered. In addition, those who have never been outside of North America should not underestimate the severe “culture shock” that can take place when moving to another nation. While moving outside of the United States may seem like an attractive alternative, the truth is that it is not easy and it is not something to be done lightly. But there have been many Americans who have done it successfully and are now loving life. Our recent article, “Is Moving Out Of The United States A Way To Escape The Coming Economic Collapse?”, generated some really great comments about what various areas of the world are like for Americans who move there. Today we wanted to share with you some of those comments. These commenters have some very strong opinions about where the best places for Americans to move to are, but the reality is that each person and each situation is different so keep that in mind as you read these…. (Read More...)
The Health Care Reform Bill: Welcome To The Biggest Tax Increase In U.S. History
Will the health care reform bill that the Democrats are trying to figure out a way to ram through Congress end up being the biggest tax increase in U.S. history? Unfortunately, a close reading of the bill leads to the inescapable conclusion that it will be. You see, the crafters of this legislation were smart. They realized that if they included one huge tax increase in the health care bill it would make headlines all over the country, so they chopped up the taxes into a bunch of smaller pieces in order to make them easier to swallow. In fact, one review of the Senate version of the health care bill identified at least 19 tax increases. When you put all of the tax increases together they add up to the biggest tax increase in the history of the United States. Considering the fact that the U.S. economy is already on the verge of economic collapse, the last thing that the American people need is a massive tax increase. But that is exactly what they are about to get. (Read More...)
Virginia Hands Out 6996 Traffic Tickets In One Weekend In An Effort To Raise Revenue For The State Government
In the old days, police officers wrote traffic tickers primarily to keep people safe and to prevent citizens from breaking the traffic laws. But in the new Amerika, all of that has changed. Now traffic tickets are primarily viewed as a revenue raising tool for state and local governments. For example, a federally funded ticketing blitz in the state of Virginia resulted in a total of 6996 traffic tickets being handed out this past weekend. This most recent ticketing blitz is part of a campaign code-named “Operation Air, Land & Speed”. Last Saturday and Sunday state troopers were ordered to absolutely saturate Interstate 95 and Interstate 81 and to issue as many traffic tickets as humanly possible during those two days. Why? Well, it turns out that the state of Virginia has a 2.2 billion dollar budget deficit that they are trying to deal with, and so they need to find some quick sources of cash. (Read More...)