Middle Class Dismissed

Demography is Destiny, Hold On To Your Wallet

"Already, the media drumbeat about 'America’s retirement crisis' — laying further groundwork for a mandatory savings plan — is becoming deafening. Into this void the academics and fund managers have stepped with what you might call 'the Australian Solution.' Fair warning: The politicians won’t be far behind. We won’t let our guard down on the 401(k) confiscation issue, but all the same, we find the Australian Solution comforting in its own awful way. Mandatory retirement savings are a terrible idea. But all else being equal, it’s a better idea than forcing you to convert some of your existing 401(k) account into U.S. Treasury debt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDemography is Destiny, Hold On To Your Wallet

Demography is Destiny, Hold On To Your Wallet

"Already, the media drumbeat about 'America’s retirement crisis' — laying further groundwork for a mandatory savings plan — is becoming deafening. Into this void the academics and fund managers have stepped with what you might call 'the Australian Solution.' Fair warning: The politicians won’t be far behind. We won’t let our guard down on the 401(k) confiscation issue, but all the same, we find the Australian Solution comforting in its own awful way. Mandatory retirement savings are a terrible idea. But all else being equal, it’s a better idea than forcing you to convert some of your existing 401(k) account into U.S. Treasury debt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDemography is Destiny, Hold On To Your Wallet

Indian Food Inflation Is Getting Out Of Control

"Vegetable prices in India spiked 46.59% in July year over year, another ugly bullet point in the country's persistent struggle with massive food inflation. In particular, the onion — a staple vegetable whose rising prices have dogged ruling parties in the past — saw a particularly dramatic jump. India has already lost hundreds of billions of dollars due to inflation in the past few years. Of course, the country's poor population, which spends the lion's share of income on food, has been hit hardest. India's central bank has cut interest rates three times this year, but lowering it further could further crush the rupee and drive inflation higher, the Journal reported." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndian Food Inflation Is Getting Out Of Control

California adds 500,000 renters while homeownership declines amidst a boom

"The California housing market is providing us with two different pictures. First, home prices have surged and inventory is still very low. However, the homeownership rate continues to decline from the peak reached in 2006 of 60.2 percent. Since 2007 California has added a net of 500,000 renter households while losing a net of 233,000 homeowners. Yet the market continues to boom in the face of a declining homeownership rate. As we look at the market today we start seeing a slowdown in the speed in which flips are being accepted and inventory is rising. With higher interest rates and the fall season just before us, will the market thaw or continue to accelerate?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia adds 500,000 renters while homeownership declines amidst a boom

Monthly Home Payment Soars 40% To 2008 Levels

"The following chart from Credit Suisse fully explains why the US housing 'recovery' has just ground to a halt: in a few short weeks, US housing affordability (a topic we first covered a month ago) has collapsed as a result of the monthly payment on the median home sold soaring by nearly 40% from under $800 to just shy of $1100, a level not seen since 2008. Now if only US personal incomes would keep pace, instead of doing this." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMonthly Home Payment Soars 40% To 2008 Levels

King of My Castle? Yeah, Right

"The City by the Bay is going through one of its worst housing shortages in memory. With typical high demand intensified by a regional boom in tech jobs, apartment open houses are mob scenes of desperate applicants clutching their credit reports. The citywide median rental price for a one-bedroom is $2,764 a month, but jumps to $3,500 in trendy areas. One reason for the shortage? Me. I’ve recently joined the ranks of San Francisco landlords who have decided that it’s better to keep an apartment empty than to lease it to tenants. Together, we have left vacant about 10,600 rental units. That’s about five percent of the city’s total." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKing of My Castle? Yeah, Right

NYC goes Tokyo: Micro apartments proposed as solution to overcrowding

"Tiny — and affordable — modular living spaces could soon become the latest real estate craze in the highly crowded city of New York. Fifty-five micro apartments are being constructed in Manhattan to test whether New Yorkers are willing to follow the example of Tokyo and Mumbai. According to Bloomberg News, micro apartments at the new 'My Micro NY' building will be only 250 to 370 square feet. Rents will range from $939 to $1,873. Currently, the average monthly rent for a studio is more than $2,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYC goes Tokyo: Micro apartments proposed as solution to overcrowding

Artist Gregory Kloehn turns $1,000 dumpster into tiny home

"There’s nothing trashy about Gregory Kloehn’s Brooklyn pied-a-terre: a live-in dumpster that sleeps two with ease, hosts impromptu barbecue parties and sports its own sundeck. In a nation where the average home is 2,600 square feet (241 square meters), tiny houses are fetching more attention, not least from aging baby boomers looking to downsize in their retirement years. 'There are more builders. There are more people seeking to live in tiny houses,' Mitchell told AFP by telephone. There would be even more tiny homes, he said, if if local zoning regulations and housing codes were not so restrictive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArtist Gregory Kloehn turns $1,000 dumpster into tiny home

Human Intelligence is Slowly Declining: Genetics Or Food?

"Researchers from Harvard have found that a substance rampant in the nation’s water supply, fluoride, is lowering IQ and dumbing down the population. One study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that pesticides, which are rampant among the food supply, are creating lasting changes in overall brain structure — changes that have been linked to lower intelligence levels and decreased cognitive function. UCLA researchers found that HFCS may be damaging the brain functions of consumers worldwide, sabotaging learning and memory. In fact, the official release goes as far to say that high-fructose corn syrup can make you ‘stupid’." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHuman Intelligence is Slowly Declining: Genetics Or Food?

The USDA Is Pushing Food Stamps Like a Drug Dealer at a Grade School

"Last year the USDA targeted Spanish speaking citizens (and non-citizens) with a radio 'novela' – which was basically a soap opera outlining how the lives of the characters improved as soon as they went on SNAP. In many locations, outreach programs are taking place – people don’t even have to go down to the benefits office to sign up. They can find out if they are eligible right in the grocery store parking lot. The USDA is spending an additional THREE MILLION DOLLARS not on providing food, but on providing outreach to convince people to accept benefits that folks never realized they 'needed'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe USDA Is Pushing Food Stamps Like a Drug Dealer at a Grade School