Middle Class Dismissed

US Rents Hit Record Highs As Homeownership Plunges To 18 Year Lows

"The raw homeownership rate of 65.0% was unchanged from last quarter and 0.4% lower than a year ago. And on a seasonally adjusted basis, the percentage of Americans who have a house declined from 65.2% to 65.1%: the lowest since 1995. Obviously the flipside to most 'children' in their mid-30s still living in their parents' basements is that those wishing to brave the New Normal world will have to spend a lot for rent. A record lot in fact: the median asking rent for US vacant housing units just hit an all time high of $735 per month. The pain is most acute for those renting in the Northeast, where the median rent soared by $65 to a record high of $961." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Rents Hit Record Highs As Homeownership Plunges To 18 Year Lows

Bill Bonner: How America’s Working Stiffs Got Stiffed

"The Party leadership is not infallible. Neither in China nor in the US. In both countries, the feds – looking out for themselves – make policy decisions that are disastrous for others. We have no idea what calamity the central planners will cause in China. But we can take a fair guess of what they will do to America. Broadly, China’s feds build too many factories, malls and apartments. America’s feds encouraged the opposite error – borrowing and spending too much for consumption purposes. China’s real wages doubled in the last 10 years… after doubling in the previous 10 years. That is why the Chinese feel so much better off. They ARE much better off." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: How America’s Working Stiffs Got Stiffed

Cities’ Strategy in Health Insurance for Retirees: “Dump Them Into ObamaCare!”

"The 61 largest U.S. cities in 2009 were in the hole by about $118 billion to retirees’ health insurance obligations. They now think they have a way out: default on these obligations and force retirees into ObamaCare. This gets the obligations off their backs and onto the backs of the federal government. This is what Detroit is doing. Other cities’ officials are impressed. But Detroit is declaring bankruptcy. How can the other cities get out from under without declaring bankruptcy?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCities’ Strategy in Health Insurance for Retirees: “Dump Them Into ObamaCare!”

NYC welfare food is shipped in barrels to the Dominican Republic – then sold on the black market

"New Yorkers on welfare are buying food with their benefit cards and shipping it in blue barrels to poor relatives in the Caribbean. But not everyone is giving the taxpayer-funded fare to starving children abroad. The Post last week found two people hawking barrels of American products for a profit on the streets of Santiago. 'It’s a really easy way to make money, and it doesn’t cost me anything,' a seller named Maria-Teresa said Friday. She said her sister has Bronx grocers ring up bogus $250 transactions with her EBT card. In exchange, the stores hand her $200 cash and pocket the rest. No goods are exchanged." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYC welfare food is shipped in barrels to the Dominican Republic – then sold on the black market

Auditor Urges Safeguards as USDA Pays 6,336 Dead People

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture may have improperly paid as much as $36 million in aid to 6,336 dead people, according to government auditors who recommended stronger safeguards. Random sampling of USDA’s program rolls with the Social Security Administration’s master list of dead individuals found that 6,336 people got conservation aid, crop-insurance subsidies or disaster assistance more than one year after they had died from 2008 through 2012, the Government Accounting Office said today in a report. Payments to the dead 'may call into question whether these farm safety net programs are benefiting the agricultural sector as intended.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAuditor Urges Safeguards as USDA Pays 6,336 Dead People

Bill Bonner: Goodbye, Motor City

"Motor City has been flattened. Now it’s being scrapped. The largest municipal bankruptcy in history. Detroit was once one of the richest…and most dynamic…cities in the world. And it was the centre of America’s most profitable industry: automobiles. German and Japanese automakers had the good fortune to be bombed out in World War II. But Detroit grew bigger…more prosperous…and full of zombies. Yes, dear reader, Detroit is a zombie story. Since 1971, almost all big stories have a zombie angle. Because the credit-based monetary system that Richard Nixon put us in is a perfect habitat for zombies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Goodbye, Motor City

Should Detroit’s Bankruptcy Be an Early-Warning Sign for Washington?

"There’s no way a bailout of Detroit goes through the House of Representatives. Heck, I don’t even think it could make it through the Senate. So some folks on the left would be justified if they asked why the high rollers on Wall Street supposedly deserved a bailout a few years ago but they don’t get one today. The answer, of course, is discrimination by color. But I’m not talking black vs white. The color that matters in politics is green. The financial industry dispenses huge campaign contributions to both sides of the aisle, and the bailout was their payoff. Public employee unions, by contrast, give almost every penny of their money to Democrats." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShould Detroit’s Bankruptcy Be an Early-Warning Sign for Washington?

America’s public finances: The Unsteady States of America

"Detroit’s population has fallen by 60% since 1950. The murder rate is 11 times the national average. The previous mayor is in prison. Shrubs, weeds and raccoons have reclaimed empty neighbourhoods. The debts racked up when Detroit was big and rich are unpayable now that it is smaller and poor. Though some of its woes are unique, a crucial one is not. Many other state and city governments across America have made impossible-to-keep promises to do with pensions and health care. Detroit shows what can happen when leaders put off reforming the public sector for too long." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica’s public finances: The Unsteady States of America

Working Class Whites Are Giving Up Hope.

"Working class whites are giving up economic hope, according to a recent poll. They did not vote for Obama. The article did talk about single-mother households. They are in poverty, of course. What did the social planners expect? If the government subsidizes a particular behavior, we get more of it. That was the conservative argument a generation ago. It was dismissed as heartless by liberals. This is what 80 years of welfare state politics have produced. But of course, no one in the mainstream mentions this. Pessimism now reigns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWorking Class Whites Are Giving Up Hope.

Cyprus Depositor Bail-In Set At 47.5%

"The government of Cyprus, the Bank of Cyprus and international lenders have come to an agreement that will recapitalize the bank and allow it to remain solvent: all depositors at the bank will have 47.5% of all funds above the deposit insurance threshold of $100,000 seized to pay for the bank’s bad debts. Since the original depositor bail-in plan was announced in March, the idea has been very warmly received by governments around the world. The governments of Japan, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand have all endorsed or taken preliminary steps toward potentially implementing similar plans if necessary in their own countries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyprus Depositor Bail-In Set At 47.5%