tagged w/ economic recovery
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Other sources besides the CBO have been reporting signs of strong and sustained economic growth. Unfortunately, these reports have been drowned out by the strident voices of the Republican candidates with their relentless anti-Obama rhetoric. While one may argue that it’s their job to bash the economy, it is our civic duty to bring the hard facts to light.
http://veracitystew.com/?p=35170Other sources besides the CBO have been reporting signs of strong and sustained... more
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That elite sliver reaped 93 percent of the post-recession income gains. Is extreme inequality America's new normal?
There was a brief debate focused on the following question: Would the gains of the economy continue to accrue to the top 1 percent once the recovery started, or would they have a weak post-recession showing in terms of raw income growth as well as income share of the economy? The top 1 percent had a rough Great Recession. They absorbed 50 percent of the income losses, and their share of income dropped from 23.5 percent to 18.1 percent. Was this a new state of affairs, or would the 1 percent bounce back in 2010?
We finally have the estimated data for 2010 by income percentile, and it turns out that the top 1 percent had a fantastic year. The data is in the World Top Income Database, as well as Emmanuel Saez’s updated “Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States” (as well as the excel spreadsheet on his webpage). Timothy Noah has a first set of responses here. The takeaway quote from Saez is, “the top 1 percent captured 93 percent of the income gains in the first year of recovery.”
The bottom 90 percent of Americans lost $127, the bottom 99 percent of Americans gained $80, and the top 1 percent gained $105,637. The bottom 99 percent is net positive for the year due to around $125 in average capital gains. They can take comfort in efforts by the right to set the capital gains tax to 0 percent, which would have netted them an additional couple dozen bucks.
(Also, just to show “the top 1 percent captured 93 percent of the income gains in the first year of recovery” isn’t some sort of stats juke, you can take $105,637 and divide it by the the number you get when you add $80 times 99 to $105,637 times 1. That number is 93 percent, which is the share of income gains the 1 percent took home.)
And if this wasn’t obvious, you can see the gains become quite high the farther you walk up the inequality ladder. When we discuss things like the Buffett Rule or taxing capital gains as ordinary income, it is important to see how top-heavy that capital gains distribution actually is.
This should also be put in the historical frame of looking at 2002 onward. I’m going to normalize some percentiles by their average income in 2002 and show how they have moved going into and out of the recession. This takes the income distribution in 2002 as granted — and any movements from there on out reflect changes from that income. I’m going to exclude capital gains for this chart to show it’s a deeper phenomenon than the stock market, though the effects are the same in either case (click through for larger image): http://rortybomb.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/saez_chart.png?w=640&h=368
The Great Recession dropped income for the bottom 99 percent by 11.6 percent, completely wiping out the meager gains of the Bush years. And crucially, while 2010 was a year of continued stagnation for the economy as a whole, the 1 percent began to show strong gains even when capital gains are excluded.
As you can imagine, this has increased the percentage of the economic pie that the top 1 percent takes home. As Saez notes, “excluding realized capital gains, the top decile share in 2010 is equal to 46.3 percent, higher than in 2007.”
There are two things worth mentioning. There’s an interesting debate within left-liberal circles about whether or not elite economic interests benefit from a weak recovery, benefit more from a strong recovery, are vaguely indifferent to the United States economy, are impotent during the recession, or are more interested in pursuing other agendas during the instability caused by mass unemployment. These numbers are certainly a point for the argument that the rich are doing just fine, and to whatever extent they’d be doing better with more robust growth and employment, it isn’t putting a damper on their earnings.
It’s also worth mentioning that, pre-recession, inequality hadn’t been that high since the Great Depression, and we are quickly returning to that state. It’s important to remember that a series of choices were made during the New Deal to react to runaway inequality, including changes to progressive taxation, financial regulation, monetary policy, labor unionization, and the provisioning of public goods and guaranteed social insurance. A battle will be fought over the next decade — it’s already been fought for the past three years — on all these fronts. The subsequent resolution will determine how broadly shared prosperity is going forward and whether our economy will continue to be as unstable as it has been.
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/05/welcome_to_the_1_percent_recovery/singleton/That elite sliver reaped 93 percent of the post-recession income gains. Is extreme... more
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When the Republican Caucus cloistered at Dracula’s castle in Transylvania after the 2010 elections, they decided the utter ruination of the American economy would be just the thing to ensure this Kenyan pretender would not be reelected.
Therefore, the Republican reaction to the better-than-expected job news Friday and the fact that unemployment had dropped for the 5th month in a row was hardly an occasion for celebration. Let’s sample some GOP reaction.
http://deepbrainmedia.com/2012/02/04/republican-reaction-to-fridays-good-news-on-employment/When the Republican Caucus cloistered at Dracula’s castle in Transylvania after... more
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ITS TIME TO FORECLOSE ON FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC
Its time to foreclose on the foreclosurers!!!
Occupy Fany.Fredy is calling for direct action to end the unnecessary foreclosures. We the people are calling for a joint effort to occupy Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to force Congress to foreclose on F&F to facilitate, and economic recovery in our country, if they do not agree to a monthly mortgage principle reduction policy and the use of new mortgage terms.
For more information go to:http://goo.gl/tMfAWor www.foreclosurecrisissolved.wordpress.com/
LEARN HOW FREDDIE MAC HAS BEEN BETTING AGAINST YOU MAKING YOUR MORTGAGE PAYMENT.
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/30/145995636/freddie-mac-betting-against-struggling-homeowners?sc=fb&cc=fp/
There is article, after article written about how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage securitization corporations, are unwilling to reduce principle balances on underwater mortgages they hold, even tho other financial businesses
have been able to reduce foreclosures by using principal reduction to keep families in their homes.
Still have doubts, read the article, posted on my web site "Fannie and Freddie Stand In The Way Of Debt Reduction" is the headline of an article that recently appeared in the New York Times.
Here is a few paragraphs from that article.
LIMITED IMPACT
(Any settlement would not apply to mortgages owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which together own or guarantee most of the U.S. mortgage market. The regulator that controls the two government-sponsored enterprises has resisted cutting their loans, arguing it would cost U.S. taxpayers more money than other options would.
But lawmakers and top administration officials have pushed for a broader principal reduction program, and this settlement could lay the groundwork for that if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are swayed to test it out themselves as an alternative to the costly process of foreclosing on struggling borrowers.
Earlier on Wednesday, House Democrats sought to force the housing regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to explain its calculations in deciding not to offer principal reductions.
In addition, the Federal Reserve said in a rare 26-page white paper delivered to Congress this month that lawmakers need to do more to stabilize the housing market. But it stopped short of endorsing any plans to have Fannie and Freddie slash borrowers' loan balances)
Still have doubts, read the article "Fannie and Freddie Stand In The Way Of Debt Reduction" is the headline of an article that recently appeared in the New York Times.
Banks are trying to limit their responsibility for the damage the have done to people lives and our economy, as pointed out in his paragraph from an article Published on Monday, January 23, 2012 by Common Dreams says it all!
Obama's Choice on Housing: A Sweetheart Deal for the 1% or a Fair Deal for the 99%
by Van Jones and George Goehl
Rumor has it that as early as today, after months of negotiation with big banks, the White House may announce a settlement that would let the banks off the hook for their role in the foreclosure crisis -- paying a tiny fraction of what's needed in exchange for blanket immunity from future lawsuits.(Daniel Goodman / Business Insider
Now is the time to demonstrate, petition, convince, and occupy F&F to change their policy of no principal reduction. This is where the occupy groups should focus all their efforts to end the foreclosure and unemployment crisis.
Millions of American families are being kicked to the curb by the banks, and the financial sector. It is our contention that most foreclosures, and home abandonment's are unnecessary, or preventable.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold the key to improving the primary home market, and the economy, as explained in The "People's Economic Recovery Plan". www.foreclosurecrisissolved.wordpress.com
We should occupy, march, and hold demonstrations at Fany & Fredy headquarters.
We are not alone in this effort. The Federal Reserve, and members of Congress are putting pressure on the GSEs to reduce principal balances, and lower the interest rate on mortgages. Our efforts to bring attention to this inaction by F&F will reinforce our Representatives in Congress that are working to solve the foreclosure and unemployment crisis.
Occupy Fany.Freddie invites all the Occupy, and other concerned groups to join your fellow citizens to convince F&F, for their own benefit, and for your benefit, to change their mortgage terms and adopt a policy of principal reduction.
If we want to help millions of people stay in their homes, and find employment, F&F must purchase the "Ascending Interest Rate Mortgage" (AIRM), from banks and mortgage originators, and adopt the monthly principal reduction plan for underwater mortgages. If F&F will purchase the new mortgage, the banks and mortgage originators will offer the new mortgage terms to homeowners and home buyers. There-by eliminating the foreclosure inventory, and improving the primary home market and the economy.
F&F owe taxpayers over 150 billion dollars. If F&F do not agree to purchase the "AIRM" from the mortgage originators, the tax payers of the United States of America should kick their executives, and Mr.DeMarko, the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency, to the curb, and foreclose on them by petitioning President Obama, and the US Congress.
We the people should then adopt the "Plan" ourselves to facilitate an sustainable economic recovery, to put people back to work in the private sector, and prevent more foreclosures.
The "Plan"outlines three changes that need to occur to empower the people to create their own economic recovery. Changes to the bankruptcy laws, a change to mortgage terms, and a change to the income tax, as outlined in the "Plan".
View and sign our Petitions to "Stop Unnecessary Foreclosures" at: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-unnecessaryforeclosures-and-uneployment-crisis-with-new-mortage-terms/
To view a video about bankruptcy go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7YPR_p7DYQ%2F
If you want to increase job opportunity, and reduce foreclosures without increasing the deficit, please become a friend of Occupy Fany.Fredy and "Like" us at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-FanyFredy/177079029043062?sk=wall
Not ready to get involved yet? What if it was your home, or your family's home that was being foreclosed? The way the economy is going, you could lose your job tomorrow, and your home could be in foreclosure in a few months. Help others now, to improve the economy, so it doesn't happen to you.
This is important!!Please forward this information to your friends, contacts, the news media, other occupy groups, and concerned organizations. Thank You!ITS TIME TO FORECLOSE ON FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC
Its time to foreclose on the... more
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'In FDR’s First Hundred Days, politicians work day and night, shuffling papers at warp speed to pass legislation in a frenzy to get the economy moving. Some of what they do will work, some will fail, some will be called unconstitutional, but there is little legislative in-fighting by politicians blaming one another.'
http://veracitystew.com/2011/12/29/a-tale-of-two-americas/'In FDR’s First Hundred Days, politicians work day and night, shuffling... more
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says W R Bradley:
http://current.com/community/93342594_disintegrating-economic-recovery.htm
I can only agree with him if we continue to not only permit, but to also facilitate, the current "rogue" politicians who continue to act only in the interests of splinter economies, by taking your money and funneling it to special interests which will never come back to benefit you or this nation as a whole. The only way we will ever restore America and it's whole economy, is if WE grab the controls from the hands of out of control politicians and drive this economy back to health ourselves. No one else is going to do that for us, as history has and is showing us.says W R Bradley:... more
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If this is supposed to be an "economic recovery" it sure is pathetic. In fact, as you will read below, the numbers tell us that this is the worst economic recovery that the American economy has ever seen. If what we had experienced was a "normal" recession and a "normal" recovery, then jobs, economic growth and home values would have come roaring back by now. But they haven't. The Federal Reserve injected unprecedented amounts of new money into the system and the federal government went into unprecedented amounts of new debt, but all of that effort has not accomplished much. It did buy us a little bit of time and a period of relative economic stability, but now there are all kinds of signs that we are about to go into another recession (or something even worse). So is it really honest for Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama to be using the term "economic recovery" to describe what is happening?If this is supposed to be an "economic recovery" it sure is pathetic. In... more
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Visiting a Chrysler Jeep plant, President Obama was met with applause. Once he started into his economic speech, the bailed out workers yelled boo at times.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56216.htmlVisiting a Chrysler Jeep plant, President Obama was met with applause. Once he started... more
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Washington (CNN) -- In the fall of 1984, I was a student living in Boston. A high-tax manufacturing state, Massachusetts had been hit hard by the economic troubles of the 1970s. But now suddenly there were signs in every shop window: "Help wanted." Or: "Help wanted!" Or even: "Help wanted!!!"
One afternoon on my way to the subway, I paused in front of one of these signs in the window of a restaurant that catered to students. I stood maybe 10 seconds, maybe 12. The manager bolted out, put his hand on my shoulder: "Hey -- you want a job?"
That's what a strong economic recovery looks like.
Technically speaking, the U.S. economy is recovering right now. GDP growth has been positive since the summer of 2009. Employment is growing. If you like, you can say the recession is over.
But don't say it too loud. With 13.5 million people out of work -- 6.1 million out of work for 27 weeks or more -- the odds are high that one of them may hear and take offense.
Isn't it weird that...neither of the two great U.S. political parties is offering a plan to do anything about the job situation?
--David Frum
Globalization crushing middle class? Ryan: 'No more gimmicks' Ryan budget plan fair? Stockman: Ryan plan 'whiffs entirely'
RELATED TOPICS
Economic Recovery
Recessions and Depressions
U.S. Federal Reserve
U.S. Republican Party
The recovery is weak, and job creation is slow. Everybody knows that. But here's something that we don't know, or anyway don't think about enough: Isn't it weird that in this dismal economic situation, neither of the two great U.S. political parties is offering a plan to do anything about the job situation?
This is a democracy, right? The parties compete for power by offering solutions to problems that people care about, isn't that the theory? Yet here is the thing that people care about the very, very most -- and from the two parties there is ... what?
The Republicans have coalesced around U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan.
That plan has four main elements:
-- It would impose large cuts in Medicaid for the poor right away.
-- It would impose very large cuts on other domestic spending programs.
-- It would cut the top rate of federal income tax from the current 36% to 25%, while pledging to close unspecified loopholes.
-- Starting 10 years from now, it would reduce Medicare benefits for people now younger than 55 by potentially more than half.
Ryan's plans are bold. And they made bold promises. According to a Heritage Foundation study commissioned by Ryan, the plan would reduce unemployment to 6.4% next year, 4.0% in 2015 and 2.8% by 2021. (The rate of 2.8% was last seen during the Korean War, when millions of young men were conscripted into the armed forces.)
Alas, the Heritage projections were derided by other economists and eventually quietly withdrawn by Heritage itself.
Well, we all sometimes get our math wrong. But here's the strange thing: the invalidation of Heritage's job predictions has had no impact whatsoever on Republican advocacy of the Ryan plan.
Suppose I presented you with a plan to land an astronaut on Mars. You check my numbers and discover a mistake: my trajectory will instead send the astronaut hurtling into outer space. If I answer, "Well let's use that trajectory anyway," wouldn't you conclude that I was less than totally committed to the Mars mission? That perhaps I had some other goal in mind instead?
But at least Republicans have a goal in mind.
What about the Democrats? From the party of the president, we hear no job message at all. The president instituted his job program in 2009: His big stimulus plan, backed by the Federal Reserve's active monetary creation. Last year, the president offered a supplementary measure. He agreed to Republican renewal of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 plus a partial remission of Social Security payroll taxes.
Obviously, the results of those policies has been underwhelming, to put it mildly. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the latest round of Fed easing -- $600 billion of direct money creation -- has not produced substantial results, in the opinion of most economists.
Plan A and Plan B have failed.
So what's the administration's Plan C? It seems to be wait and hope. The waiting will be long. At current trends, it will be years before all the involuntarily unemployed return to work. And hope is never a plan.
The administration does however have a political plan: Blast the Ryan plan. Since the Ryan plan is highly politically vulnerable, the blasting will likely hurt the GOP and help President Obama. The blasting will not, however, do much for the unemployed. But then we've all sort of given up on them, haven't we?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/25/frum.jobless/index.html?hpt=T2Washington (CNN) -- In the fall of 1984, I was a student living in Boston. A high-tax... more
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When Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve and the mainstream media tell us that we are in the middle of an economic recovery, is that supposed to be some kind of sick joke? According to newly released numbers, over 44 million Americans are now on food stamps. That is a new all-time record and that number is 13.1% higher than it was just one year ago. So how many Americans have to go on food stamps before we can all finally agree that the U.S. economy is dying? 50 million? 60 million? All of us? The food stamp program is the modern equivalent of the old bread lines. More than one out of every seven Americans now depends on the federal government for food. Oh, but haven't you heard? The economy is showing dramatic improvement. Corporate profits are up. The stock market is soaring. Happy days are here again.When Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve and the mainstream media tell us that we are in... more
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The surging stock market and metals market has given the wealthy the liquidity it takes to buy lots of bling - but a the cost of giving the money to police, firemen, and teachers to keep them employed or helping families keep their homes from being taken by the bank. If anyone's keeping score, the greedy rich have declared war on the rest of us and right now are winning.The surging stock market and metals market has given the wealthy the liquidity it... more
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The home prices continued to drop for the fifth month consecutively, the report of Standard and Poor/Case Shiller released Tuesday said.The home prices continued to drop for the fifth month consecutively, the report of... more
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Bernanke’s endless talk of more dollar printing sets precious metals soaring
Gold prices rose close to all time highs on Monday following Ben Bernanke’s comments on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday, as the Fed chairman indicated that even more quantitative easing is being considered.
Bernanke appeared less than convincing as he told viewers that the economic recovery may not be self-sustaining, and that the Fed may purchase even more Treasury bonds.
The comments, coupled with the fact that unemployment in the US is now officially at its worst levels since World War Two, a fact that has been long known but never admitted, were driving factors in sending gold and silver soaring once more.
Investors are still seeking a safe haven in the precious metals, driving gold futures for February delivery up $10.50, or 0.8 percent, to $1,416.70 at 10:22 a.m. on the Comex in New York.
Earlier in the day the price climbed as high as $1,420.
Gold has now risen in value approximately 29 percent this year and will make a tenth consecutive annual gain.
“Further currency debasement is the new norm,” said Matt Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago told Bloomberg News.
“As long as that stands, investors are going to buy metals as a hedge against paper money. Gold has very clear sailing to go much further from here.”
Zeman also pointed out that gold would now be even higher if investors were not also buying dollars as a safer bet against the Euro.
“Without the eurozone troubles in the background, we’d see the dollar much weaker and gold much higher,” Zeman said. “These debt issues continue to pop up, and printing more money is essentially a huge positive for gold.”
“Gold is supported either way — risk sentiment turning sour, or (by) further weakness in the greenback,” added VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov. “Clearly investment demand is still there.”
Fears over the spread of the European debt crisis were also heightened today with news that Moody’s downgraded Hungary’s debt to the lowest investment grade.
Zeman predicts that gold will hit $1500 before the end of the month.
Meanwhile, spot silver traded at a 30 year high, gaining almost 2 per cent to $29.90 a troy ounce, the highest price since 1980.
The precious metal has gained 10 per cent in the past week, and 66 per cent since August.
It’s time to protect your wealth with precious metals. Gold and silver have staged one of the best ten year runs in history and captured the attention of millions of investors worldwide.
The last decade may soon be written in history as what jump started the revolution in personal finance; utilizing metals as an important hedge against economic fallout. The ability of precious metals to protect against inflation, as well as deflation, and everything in between truly shows how versatile and rewarding gold and silver are as investments.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/gold-trades-close-to-all-time-record-silver-hits-30-year-high.htmlBernanke’s endless talk of more dollar printing sets precious metals soaring... more
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Financial institutions on Wall Street are preparing to pay a record 144 billion dollars in compensation and benefits, according to a study published in the Wall Street Journal. The payout, covering bonuses, premiums and stock options for the firm's executives and employees, is a four-percent raise over the previous record 139 billion dollars that was handed over in 2009.Financial institutions on Wall Street are preparing to pay a record 144 billion... more
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Tens of thousands protested against austerity cuts in Spain and Denmark last week as Germany's powerful unions warned of mass action and Hungary became the latest debt-ridden nation to slash spending.Tens of thousands protested against austerity cuts in Spain and Denmark last week as... more
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Several thousand demonstrators marched through the New York financial district this past week in a protest led by labor unions. They said Wall Street's biggest banks must account for record profits while average Americans still suffer financially.Several thousand demonstrators marched through the New York financial district this... more
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The Associated Press reports that President Obama's latest effort to reel in big banks may have more bark than bite. Obama has proposed a tax on banks to get back billions in bailout money that was handed out at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
But analysts say that Obama's plan to limit banks' size and risky trading would have only a marginal effect on institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup — and would be hard to enforce. And it's not clear the rules would reduce taxpayers' risk of having to bail out another big bank.The Associated Press reports that President Obama's latest effort to reel in big... more
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A brutal study issued last week by a government watchdog holds Timothy Geithner -- then the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now the nation's Treasury Secretary -- responsible for over-payments that put billions of extra tax dollars in the coffers of major Wall Street firms, most notably Goldman Sachs.A brutal study issued last week by a government watchdog holds Timothy Geithner --... more
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