Middle Class Dismissed

Ordinary Folks Losing Faith In Stocks, Plowing Into Bonds

"Since they started selling in April 2007, eight months before the start of the Great Recession, individual investors have pulled at least $380 billion from U.S. stock funds, a category that includes both mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, according to estimates by the AP. That is the equivalent of all the money they put into the market in the previous five years. Instead of stocks, they're putting money into bonds because those are widely perceived as safer investments. Individuals have put more than $1 trillion into bond mutual funds alone since April 2007." Continue reading →

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Who Could Be Watching You Watching Your Figure? Your Boss

"Fitbit is entering a brave new world in privacy as it starts selling devices and data to a new market: employers. Scal says Fitbit is attempting to grow through corporate wellness programs. One of Fitbit's competitors, BodyMedia, says it is working with insurance companies to get its self-trackers into more workplaces. Scal says Fitbit is running an experiment with one insurer, to see if employees who use the devices go to the doctor less. This, he says, 'would be the holy grail for a product like this.' 'If we could make a direct connection to reduction in medical care costs, then I think the floodgates would be open,' Scal says." Continue reading →

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Evictions Become Focus of Spanish Crisis

"There are now 1.7 million Spanish households in which not a single family member still earns a salary. Nearly 4 million people have lost their jobs since late 2007, when the real estate bubble burst. More than half of those out of work in Spain are now considered to be long-term unemployed. The result is that an increasing number of them can no longer service the loans they took to purchase apartments, houses and commercial space during the boom years prior to the crisis. According to a forecast by the Spanish central bank, the number of foreclosures will increase by another 30 percent in the coming year." Continue reading →

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Feds mobilize against additional hits on their pocketbooks

"Federal workers have had enough. Now if only they can convince elected officials not to hit them again. As the White House and Congress look for ways to avoid a Jan. 1 'fiscal cliff' of budget cuts and tax increases, federal employee groups are increasingly mobilized against more hits on their pocketbooks. The Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), a coalition of 20 unions representing more than 300,000 employees, scheduled a 'federal employee day of action' on Tuesday to pressure officials not to take any more away from the workforce in the name of deficit reduction." Continue reading →

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Older homeowners falling more into foreclosure

"Homeowners more than 50 years old are falling into foreclosure faster than any other age group, particularly widows whose husbands held the mortgage, said the New York Times. Foreclosures among homeowners over 50 increased by 23% over the past five years, resulting in 1.5 million foreclosures. The main reason for the rise in foreclosures is due to women outliving their spouses and not being able to cop with ballooning, medical costs, mortgage and pension cuts. About 6% of loans held by persons over 50 were delinquent in 2011, up from 1% in 2007. One of the problems is older Americans are saving less and borrowing more, said AARP." Continue reading →

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How LA Regulated A Burger Stand Out of Existence

"Located on the corner of Figueroa and 101st Street in South Central Los Angeles, Tam's Burgers has been a part of the neighborhood for almost thirty years. Nick Benetatos took over the restaurant in the late '80s after his father retired. Tam's has withstood multiple recessions and even the 1992 LA riots. The city's zoning board has now ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, such as hiring a full-time security guard, fencing in the entire property and installing a security camera that links directly to LAPD's electronic surveillance system. Benetatos says that the cost of compliance would put him out of business." Continue reading →

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Central bankers rethink their devotion to slaying inflation

"A subtle shift in monetary policymaking is afoot with a new generation of central bankers, striving to secure global economic recovery, prepared to challenge the old doctrine of inflation-fighting at all costs. Policymakers from the U.S. Federal Reserve to the Bank of Japan have reconsidered or relaxed their inflation targets and have given more emphasis to economic growth. With the financial crisis having starkly exposed central banks' failure to stave off danger, and policymakers having responded by flooding world markets with trillions of dollars in cheap funding, a small run-up in inflation may no longer be the anathema it once was." Continue reading →

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Why Milk Prices Could More Than Double After January 1

"Come Jan. 1, there is a threat that milk prices could rise to $6 to $8 a gallon if Congress does not pass a new farm bill that amends farm policy dating back to the Truman presidency. Without last-minute Congressional action, the government would have to follow an antiquated 1949 farm law that would force the government to buy milk at wildly inflated prices, creating higher prices in the dairy case. Milk now costs an average of $3.65 a gallon. Higher prices would be based on what dairy farm production costs were in 1949, when milk production was almost all done by hand." Continue reading →

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Asia, not North America, now has most millionaires

"Millionaire wealth in the United States and Canada in 2011 fell 2.3 percent to $11.4 trillion - still the wealthiest region by this measure - though it had 1.1 percent fewer millionaires, slipping by about 39,000 to a total of 3.35 million. Strong economic growth in China and other markets increased the ranks of millionaires across the Asia-Pacific region by 1.6 percent to a total of 3.37 million, as Asia vaulted past North America as home to the most millionaires." Continue reading →

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How Congress Snuck in a 3.8% Tax Increase that Will Kick in on Jan. 1

"Scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, the tax, which was adopted as part of the 2010 health-care law, is a 3.8 percent levy on interest, dividends, capital gains and passive business income received by taxpayers with incomes exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 for couples). Because the new tax was added to the health-care law late in the process without congressional hearings, it received little attention at the time. With only a few weeks left before it takes effect, it remains largely unknown. One problem with the unearned income Medicare contribution tax is the name Congress chose for it, which is a triple misnomer." Continue reading →

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