Couldn’t resist excerpting and sending along these statistics from one of my favorite sources, "The Daily Bell." They are nothing short of startling.
Full article link follows the excerpt.
. –Sharon
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“Americans are told, "the stabilization of the economy continues." But what an economy it is! America, according to statistics collected by Alternet.org, (ones we have reported previously but they are worth repeating) has one of the highest poverty rates in the industrialized world with up to 50 million citizens already living a lifestyle associated with poverty. This 50 million may have no formal health care coverage and "a stunning 50 percent of U.S. children will use food stamps to eat at some point in their childhoods." And some more: “Americans have lost $5 trillion from their pensions and savings since the economic crisis began and $13 trillion in the value of their homes. During the first full year of the crisis, workers between the age of 55 - 60, who have worked for 20 - 29 years, have lost an average of 25 percent off their 401k. "Personal debt has risen from 65 percent of income in 1980 to 125 percent today." Over five million U.S. families have already lost their homes, in total 13 million U.S. families are expected to lose their home by 2014, with 25 percent of current mortgages underwater. Deutsche Bank has an even grimmer prediction: "The percentage of 'underwater' loans may rise to 48 percent, or 25 million homes." ...
There are now over 3 million homeless Americans, the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population is single parents with children. . . . “ . . . In the past, the power elite has been able to maintain its central-bank driven economy by pouring torrents of debt-based money into Western economies whenever they lagged. But there comes a time when the nag will not rise up no matter how she is flogged. This may be one of those times. Western economies have been so thoroughly distorted by the over-production of fiat money that the world basically needs a reset - and a rest.
Not only that but the biggest bubble that central banks have tried to re-inflate is the banking bubble itself. “What good is such a system, one is tempted to ask. In America the official unemployment figures hover around ten percent, but the reality is far higher. Some speculate it is at 20 percent. We figure it may be as high as 30 percent - especially if one includes people who can only find part-time or occasional work. The numbers are staggering, actually. 20 percent unemployment is something like 30-40 million adults. 30 percent unemployment would put up to 40-50 million or more Americans out to pasture. No wonder there is a tea-party movement in the US. . . . “ . . .We are not so optimistic as the Fed about a rebound in America and generally in the West. How does the Fed, in fact, anticipate an American recovery with Europe unraveling as quickly as it is? And even were Europe to avoid a major downdraft, the amount of unemployed, the commercial real-estate overhang and the foundering of state-sovereign debt itself would all seem to mediate against the kind of fiat-recovery that central banks have been able to put into place in the past.”
Dear Free-Market Thinker, To view today's Daily Bell, click here now. News & Analysis Fed Optimistic About US Economy
Thursday, March 04, 2010 - by Staff Report
The economy continued to show modest signs of improvement in recent weeks, although growth was hindered somewhat by bad weather, according to the latest Federal Reserve snapshot of regional economic conditions. Economic activity improved in nine of the central bank's 12 districts, the Fed said Wednesday in the March edition of its Beige Book. But activity was hampered in several districts, most notably Richmond, due to severe snowstorms in early February. "The stabilization of the economy continues," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist for Channel Capital Research. "However, the recovery seems to be tenuous." – CNN
Dominant Social Theme: Tenuous green shoots seen once more ... Free-Market Analysis: We confess, we wonder what it is that CNN reporters - and the Fed itself - see as so encouraging about the economy. Americans have been down this weary road before. In the 20th century alone, especially since the implementation of the mercantilist quasi-public Federal Reserve, the US economy (and the world's) has sputtered like bad two-stroke engine. The yellow brick road is indeed riddled with potholes. Read More ... Greece Must Swallow Its Medicine
Thursday, March 04, 2010 - by Staff Report
Crisis management has to leave citizens with the right lessons. The ultimate blame for the Greek crisis rests squarely on the shoulders of Greek citizens themselves: in a democracy, the buck stops with voters. They are the ones who repeatedly failed to understand the appalling economic errors being committed by their governments. Indeed, Greek governments probably behaved as they did because they suspected that more prudent behavior would be electorally unpopular. Experience is a hard school, but it is likely to be the only one that will prove effective. ... The European Central Bank and the Council of Ministers now seem intent on playing the role of the World Bank, telling an increasingly defiant Greek government to raise taxes and cut spending. The current tone of the Greek press is one of blame-the-foreigner. In this case, the policies that have ruined Greece will become more, not less, popular. The surest way for the Greek crisis to be resolved is for the European Central Bank to reiterate without ambiguity the 'no bailout' clause: as Greek bonds become progressively harder to sell, the Greek government will have to tell the Greek people the truth. Learning from mistakes is a painful way to learn, but it is a form of investment. The Germans are still reaping the benefits from their collective learning about the costs of inflation 80 years ago, just as the British now understand the costs of trade union power. – UK Telegraph Dominant Social Theme: No more time for games. Greece must buckle down. Free-Market Analysis: This article was written for the Telegraph by Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at Oxford University and author of "Democracy in Dangerous Places." On the surface it would seem quite reasonable, though in this analysis we will argue that likely it is not. Read More ... We look forward to hearing your feedback on today's Daily Bell. Sincerely, The Editors theDailyBell.com
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