Wages, inequality, housing, generations and work.
112 articles · page 6 of 6
Recent news that housing prices are beginning to rise after a six-year slump in certain cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle to Miami, makes for good headlines, but it does not mean this is a national event. Nor does it mean that home prices will appreciate any time soon to their pre-crash levels. It…
“The Securities Industry continues to meander around the 800,000 job level, where it has been stuck for nearly 3 years. March saw the loss of a few hundred jobs.”–BrokerHunter, April 10, 2012 If any investors wonder whether they are getting the best service possible from their brokerage firm or fund company, this employment chart may…
Of all the astronomical numbers associated with the financial collapse–$8 trillion in lost housing equity from 2001 to 2008, and the $4.7 trillion bailout program–perhaps the largest economic cost of the long-running recession comes from the wasted talents of millions of unemployed Americans. With the official rate of unemployment running at 9%, which translates into…
Today’s news that U.S. economic growth may not exceed 2% this year had an immediate effect on the stock market. But how long does it take a nation to recover its GDP in a slow growth period? The U.S. economy grew at a less-than-forecast 2.8% in the fourth quarter 2011. For the full year 2011,…
The American Dream is to own a house, but make sure this important purchase is affordable.
“Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity.
A new survey shows Americans are pessimistic and have very poor retirement plans and financial assets. Among the highlights of the Yahoo Finance poll are: — 41% of Americans say the “American Dream” has been lost. — 37% of adults have no retirement savings and 38% plan to live off Social Security. — 63% of Americans believe…
One of the darker themes of the current recession and its erratic, mismanaged recovery, is that the U.S. is headed for a lower standard of living. That is not officially articulated, of course, but implied in the many reports about long-term unemployment, proposed cuts to retirement benefits, 401k contributions, unpaid internships, and the rise in…
From the perspective of individual investors, revenue sharing is the Trojan Horse of the mutual fund industry. That means most investors have no idea that when they buy an actively-managed load fund, with its implied promise of above-average returns, they are also buying a package driven by 12b-1 fees and revenue sharing deals that they…
The current long recession is changing American spending behavior. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2007 and 2010, Americans have reduced expenditures on luxury items (restaurants and clothes) and more on essentials (healthcare, fuel.) The data shows that consumer spending by family unit declined by 3% to $48,109, while average prices over the…
Wage-based incomes continue to decline, according to the U.S. Commerce Department’s April 2011 report. Using data from February 2011, the report found that wages, benefits and salaries accounted for 75% of total personal income in 1970. This fell to 67% in 2005 and to 64% in 2010. At the same time, spending from the middle…
Of all the astronomical numbers associated with the financial collapse–$8 trillion in lost housing equity from 2001 to 2008, and the $4.7 trillion bailout program–perhaps the largest economic cost of the long-running recession comes from the wasted talents of millions of unemployed Americans. With the official rate of unemployment running at 9%, which translates into…
