Middle Class Dismissed

U.S. Prison Population Seeing “Unprecedented Increase”

"The research wing of the U.S. Congress is warning that three decades of 'historically unprecedented' build-up in the number of prisoners incarcerated in the United States have led to a level of overcrowding that is now 'taking a toll on the infrastructure' of the federal prison system. Over the past 30 years, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the federal prison population has jumped from 25,000 to 219,000 inmates, an increase of nearly 790 percent. Swollen by such figures, for years the United States has incarcerated far more people than any other country, today imprisoning some 716 people out of every 100,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Prison Population Seeing “Unprecedented Increase”

Majority Says the Federal Government Threatens Their Personal Rights

"As Barack Obama begins his second term in office, trust in the federal government remains mired near a historic low, while frustration with government remains high. And for the first time, a majority of the public says that the federal government threatens their personal rights and freedoms. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 9-13 among 1,502 adults, finds that 53% think that the federal government threatens their own personal rights and freedoms while 43% disagree." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMajority Says the Federal Government Threatens Their Personal Rights

Commodities: High metal prices can put lives in danger

"High prices for scrap metal has resulted in more than cultural vandalism such as the theft of a £500,000 Barbara Hepworth statute from Dulwich Park – it is putting innocent people's lives in danger. Last month, 80 operations, including eight for people with cancer, were cancelled at Llandough Hospital in Wales after 100m of cabling was stolen from a generator. Eight people have been killed trying to steal copper from electricity substations in the last year alone. The fact that there is a significant cash element makes metal theft an easy option for criminals – and it robs the Treasury of significant revenues." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCommodities: High metal prices can put lives in danger

What Is Middle Class in Manhattan?

"Manhattan is not like most places. Its 1.6 million residents hide in a forest of tall buildings, and even the city's elite take the subway. Middle-class neighborhoods do not really exist in Manhattan — probably the only place in the United States where a $5.5 million condo with a teak closet and mother-of-pearl wall tile shares a block with a public housing project. In a city like New York, where everything is superlative, who exactly is middle class? What kind of salary are we talking about? Where does a middle-class person live? And could the relentless rise in real estate prices push the middle class to extinction?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Is Middle Class in Manhattan?

California Man Pays Off $13,000 Property Tax Bill in Coins, Dollar Bills

"A California man who failed to pay his property taxes for over five years has finally come up with the money — but he made local tax office workers count nearly $15,000 worth of change and dollar bills. Larry Gasper of Redding, Calif. brought in a wheelbarrow and two buckets worth of coins and cash to the Shasta County Tax Collector’s Office on Wednesday afternoon. Gasper rolled and collected the coins and bills until he had enough to clear his debt. If Gasper had not paid the bill, his property would have been auctioned off next month. He said he lost his tree business a couple of years ago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia Man Pays Off $13,000 Property Tax Bill in Coins, Dollar Bills

The Doomsday Preppers of New York

"New York hardly seems like a natural location for what has become known as the prepper movement, but in fact the city’s prepping community is not only large and remarkably diverse, its leaders say, it’s also growing rapidly. To the unprepared, the very word 'prepper' is likely to summon images of armed zealots hunkered down in bunkers awaiting the End of Days, but the reality, at least here in New York, is less dramatic. Local Preppers are doctors, doormen, charter school executives, subway conductors, advertising writers and happily married couples from the Bronx. They are no doubt people that you know — your acquaintances and neighbors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Doomsday Preppers of New York

IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Cost $20,000 per Family by 2016

"The Internal Revenue Service issued a report Wednesday in which it estimated that under Obamacare, the least expensive health insurance plan available to a family in 2016 would cost $20,000 annually according to CNSNews.com. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act all U.S. citizens are required to have health insurance, either through their employer or by purchasing it directly from the government. Individuals who don't have it by 2016 face a penalty amounting to either 2.5 percent of a person's taxable income or approximately $2,000 per family, depending on their income." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Cost $20,000 per Family by 2016

Severe Disaffection: Seventy-five Percent of US Citizens Don’t Trust Government

"It is a manifestation of a larger disaffection that has been exacerbated by what we call the Internet Reformation. The Internet allows people to understand their world in ways they didn't before and tends to put discontent into a larger perspective. Whereas before, people might have been more apt to blame themselves or their circumstances for their troubles, now they may see their dilemmas as part of a larger systemic issue. But the nation's media gatekeepers like PBS continue to focus on such issues as they have in the past, mainly through the lens of the two-party political system. This in a sense trivializes the growing discontent and misinterprets it, as well." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSevere Disaffection: Seventy-five Percent of US Citizens Don’t Trust Government

At Bank of England, Carney to put growth at top of list

"The new Governor of the Bank of England has signalled that he will put growth at the heart of his approach to the job and is willing to see higher inflation for longer in order to support the economy. Using the US as an example, Mr Carney said economies needed to be allowed to reach an 'escape velocity' in which they were out of danger of slipping back into recession. That would suggest keeping interest rates lower for longer while considering further quantitative easing, indirect provision of monetary stimulus via the financial system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAt Bank of England, Carney to put growth at top of list

Japan welfare payments to be slashed ¥74 billion to root out the comfortably poor

"Welfare benefits will be slashed by ¥74 billion over a three-year period starting from fiscal 2013, after a government panel found that some people are making more on the dole than the average low-income person who is not spends on living costs, it was learned Sunday. The decision to lower standard benefit payments by 6.5 percent was made by welfare minister Norihisa Tamura and Finance Minister Taro Aso. The reduction will hit in August." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan welfare payments to be slashed ¥74 billion to root out the comfortably poor