Did you know...4 in 5 are Facing Near-Poverty!

What more is there to say? You think it's just racial and ethnic minorities that are suffering "economic insecurity?" Read the FACTS and think again. ...Dennis

EXCLUSIVE: 4 IN 5 IN US FACE NEAR-POVERTY, NO WORK

By HOPE YEN

— Jul. 28 8:36 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.

Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.

The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to "rebuild ladders of opportunity" and reverse income inequality.

Hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy "poor."

"I think it's going to get worse," said Irene Salyers, 52, of Buchanan County, Va., a declining coal region in Appalachia. Married and divorced three times, Salyers now helps run a fruit and vegetable stand with her boyfriend, but it doesn't generate much income. They live mostly off government disability checks.

"If you do try to go apply for a job, they're not hiring people, and they're not paying that much to even go to work," she said. Children, she said, have "nothing better to do than to get on drugs."

While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in government data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press.

The gauge defines "economic insecurity" as a year or more of periodic joblessness, reliance on government aid such as food stamps or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. Measured across all races, the risk of economic insecurity rises to 79 percent.

"It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position," said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty.

LINK to full article

These are YOUR Parents, Grandparents and Friends...

Here's some food for thought: If you can't see yourself working the Nu Skin program for yourself, how about stepping up to the plate and doing it for someone you love.  If you have a parent or grandparent or relative, or just a good friend, over the age of 75...they are going to need your help! ...Dennis

Why the very old face a financial doomsday

People older than 75 are in crisis, struggling with rising debt and falling returns on fixed assets.

So much for the golden years. 

People over 75 are increasingly in financial crisis, incurring mounting credit card debt while dealing with low interest rates that crush returns on their nest eggs. As Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times notes, "The facts are sobering."

Americans over 75 lost almost one-third of their financial assets from 2007 to 2010, according to a study from AARP Public Policy Institute. On top of that, the group is adding on debt. Nearly 22% of people 75 and older carry credit card debt, a rise from 18.8% in 2007. 

Part of the problem plaguing seniors is the current financial environment marked by low interest rates, which have diminished the returns for retirees who placed their assets in fixed-rate instruments. 

As a result, the 4% rule may no longer hold valid for retirees. That guideline, developed in the 1990s, says if retirees withdraw about 4.5% of their savings every year, their retirement assets should span three decades. 

But that rule was developed when portfolios earned about 8%, about double today's returns, The New York Times pointed out in a recent article.

While some retirees have built solid nest eggs, the truth is that almost half of senior citizens die nearly broke, according to a study last year from James Poterba of MIT, Steven Venti of Dartmouth College and David A. Wise of Harvard University. 

Their research found that 46% of seniors die with less than $10,000 in assets, indicating they're unlikely to withstand financial emergencies. 

Need a Little Perspective in Your Life?

In these new images released by NASA, our planet is dwarfed by Saturn’s breathtaking rings, and shows up as just a pale blue dot — a tiny asterisk beneath Saturn’s striking beauty.

The dot is so small, it would seem insignificant if you didn’t know you were looking at our own watery home.

Click on picture above to view other pictures...Dennis

Young Adults–Dreams Delayed or Denied

Who do you know in their 20s?  Are you aware of how HARD it is for them to get ahead in today's economy?  Read this heartbreaking article and educate yourself on what to say to them.  Also, be sure and listen to my BlogTalkRadio show on this topic...Dennis

Dreams delayed or denied, young adults put off parenthood

The early years of adulthood are supposed to be a time of optimism and hope, but for many Americans now in their 20s it has instead been a period of uncertainty and frustration.

Hobbled by student loan debt, frustrated by careers that have been stymied by a weak job market — and frightened by watching their own parents suffer financial setbacks — many say they feel like they are getting off to a slow start. Even if the economy improves, that’s left some Millennials wondering if they’ll ever feel financially comfortable enough to have kids of their own.

“The American Dream is … OK, we go to school, we graduate, we get good jobs, we buy a house, we have kids,” said Daniel Flores, 27. “And it’s just like none of that has happened.”

Flores and his wife, Karlee, grew up in religious homes, got married soon after graduating from college and assumed that they would also be young parents.

   “We don't see it penciling out,” Karlee, also 27, wrote in an e-mail to TODAY.

Instead, the Salem, Ore., couple has started to wonder if parenthood is in the cards for them at all.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:

The Economy CAN'T Do Well, When Our Young People Aren't Doing Well.

There is no reason we shouldn't be sharing this information with every young man and woman we know!  When they should be moving up, buying homes, cars, and everything else they need...they are stuck with huge debts, moving back in with their parents, and working at Starbucks...Dennis

The Economy Can’t Do Well, When The Country’s Young People Aren’t Doing Well

The economy can’t do well, when the country’s young people aren’t doing well. Because it’s the young people who have the greatest need to buy houses, cars, and everything else that there is to buy.

Ending up with huge student debts and going back to live with their parents, while working at Starbucks or at Wal-Mart, is what’s happening with many young people nowadays.

Only 27 percent of college grads have a job related to their major

Here’s some interesting new data from Jaison Abel and Richard Dietz of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The vast majority of U.S. college grads, they find, work in jobs that aren’t strictly related to their degrees:

Going to college is more like gambling than a sure thing to increase your income. Which can’t be good for the country and its economy. This is like the Great Depression for the young people. They don’t end up homeless drifters, like it happened in old days. But going back to live with their parents only masks their poverty and their lack of any future.

The Collapse of Jobs for Working-Age Men

July 18 (Bloomberg) — In today’s “Single Best Chart,” Bloomberg’s Scarlet Fu displays the drop off in employment for American males age 25-54. She speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg Surveillance.”

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-economy-cant-do-well-when-the-countrys-young-people-arent-doing-well/#3vmRyAvbKdUOZ6Ui.99 

Say Good-bye to Pensions for City Workers

If you happen to know anyone who works for the city (or state, or government)...this is a shot across the bow of their dreams for security.  ...Dennis

Detroit not alone under mountain of long-term debt 

Early this year, the Pew Center released a survey showing that 61 of the nation’s largest cities — limiting the survey to the largest city in each state and all other cities with more than 500,000 people — had a gap of more than $217 billion in unfunded pension and health care liabilities. While cities had long promised health care, life insurance and other benefits to retirees, “few ... started saving to cover the long-term costs,” the report said.

But, barring a settlement now with public-sector unions, it’s hard to see cuts not being part of Orr’s plan in Detroit: relying on a bankruptcy judge to rule that federal law trumps the state constitution. 

And such a ruling, once made, could change how public employees across the country see their futures, how their unions negotiate contracts, and how their retirees — some of whom, like police and firefighters in Michigan, don’t contribute to or receive Social Security benefits because their pensions were expected to be guaranteed — pay the bills.

The Pew Center calls it “the widening gap” and says it’s not going away anytime soon, and there won’t be any quick fixes.

What if Over Half the Doctors in America Quit?

Watch this VERY insightful interview.  This doctor's story is heartbreaking.  According to this Fox News report, rather than deal with Health-Care reform, MANY doctors are mulling early retirement. The facts are in: 62% of your Doctors plan to retire in the next 1-3 Years, and according to one survey, 83% say they may quit. (I've included links to stories below the video) ...Dennis 

News Articles:

Rather than Deal With Health-Care Reform, Doctors Mull Early Retirement
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-f…

Thanks Obamacare: 83% of Doctors Surveyed Say They May Quit
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katehick…

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/america-62-of-your-doctors-plan-to-retire-in-the-next-1-3-years-due-to-obamacare/#aIlbzU5S5DL0I44M.99

You Can't Save Your Way to Wealth

If You Put $250 in a Chase "Savings Account," You'll Get 12.5 Cents in Yearly Interest -- And Maybe Charged $4 a Month

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

If you are a working stiff and can squirrel away $250 to put in a Chase "savings account," Chase will pay you 12.5 cents a year (.05% APY at a "standard rate"). Furthermore, if you don't make any transactions, they will charge you $4 a month, meaning that you will be left with $202 at the end of a year, plus your 12.5 cents.

It's all right here on a Chase website marketing page for what is called "Chase Savings." But a closer look at the fees and disclosures page indicates that if you are a consumer not used to reading the footnotes, you could end up losing your savings through add-on fees (including potentially the $4 a month "service" fee).

The oligarchy doesn't keep its money at Chase we bet, at least in savings accounts. We doubt that JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has a standard savings account at his own firm, the parent company of Chase. Why? Because according to the Chase rate chart, any sucker who puts $5 million into even the premium "Chase Savings Plus" still only gets .15% interest. To break that down, that would equal a $150.00 return on every $100,000 lent to Chase each year. Do you think Dimon is a master of the universe with those kind of investment returns?

We call savings at Chase lending because the bank takes your money and charges credit card holders up to around 30%, yielding enormous profits at your expense and the indebtedness of the credit card holders. Meanwhile, you end up as a "good" American saver with literally pennies in interest on your nest egg.  Consumer savers at banks like Chase are paying for providing the banks to big to fail with the capital to lend out funds at usurious interest rates for a variety of purposes -- or financing their risky investment ventures.

These practices of saver subsidies may explain why Forbes reported on July 12:

The U.S. economy is recovering, and the country’s biggest banks are certainly participating in the comeback.

JPMorgan Chase delivered second-quarter earnings that easily beat the Street’s consensus estimate Friday morning.

The banks, we think, will argue that the consumer savings interest rates are low because the Fed is keeping interest rates suppressed in order to boost the economy (although there are indications that such a policy will change in the near future).  However, the banks too big fail are not, by most accounts, reinvesting heavily in America -- either in loans for manufacuturing or small business loans -- and they are racking up profits by lending out money to debt-ridden consumers who can't afford to get ahead financially because pay (adjusted for inflation) for workers has plateaued for nearly two decades. In fact, blue collar worker pay is decreasing in buying power due to the shift to lower paying jobs in the US.

I personally received a flyer from Chase that offered $100 to deposit $10,000 for 90 days "into a new or existing Chase Savings account." In the small print, the advertisement notes: "The APY is 0.01% for all balances in all states. Interest rates are variable and subject to change. Additionally, fees may reduce earnings on the account."  This is a verbatim quotation from a section in small type entitled "Bonus/Account Information."  A section on "Service Fee" details the conditions under which the savings account holder would be charged $4 a month.

Considering that 400 families in the US own as much as the combined salary and assets of 50% of the US population, it's a given that those with minimal financial resources are literally being taken by the banks too big to fail.

That may be why, as BuzzFlash at Truthout recently reported, the large banks are pushing for a bill to take away the tax-exempt status from credit unions.  That is because perhaps as many as nearly a third of Americans are now using credit unions for their banking needs.

What is important to remember about credit unions is that they are essentially cooperatives; they have no shareholders. They are tax-exempt because no individual is an investor or profits from the financial institution except for the members.   In this case, the members are the people who bank at the credit union -- and the board and staff of the organization are beholden to the consumers.  

This dearly threatens the likes of Jamie Dimon and his cohorts for whom the amassing of gargantuan amounts of money is their "contribution" to society.

When you review what Chase, under Dimon, offers people who use their savings accounts for storing money, it appears more like a legal scam than any economic boost to society.  In fact, it leaves savers losing money just on the basis of inflation, as the banks yield enormous profits with the deposits of hardworking Americans.

There used to be a time when saving money at a bank earned you interest and your money was leant out to build up the community and the local economy.

Now, it's just more or less a rip-off for all but the most savvy and ruthless investors. 

LINK:

Everything Is Fine, But...

Let's keep things in perspective shall we?  Any honest person that looks at our economy today has to admit that it isn't even close to where it used to be.  The reality screams a different view. ...Dennis

Everything is Fine, But...

Submitted by Michael Snyder

Most Americans just let their televisions do their thinking for them, and right now their televisions are telling them that everything is going to be fine.

But is that really the case?

Everything is fine, but the city of Detroit has just filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  It will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...

Wait a minute, didn't Barack Obama say that he "refused to let Detroit go bankrupt" less than a year ago?

Everything is fine, but continuing claims for unemployment benefits just spiked to the highest level since early 2009.

Everything is fine, but in the month of June spending at restaurants fell by the most that we have seen since February 2008.

Everything is fine, but Google's earnings for the second quarter came in way below expectations.

Everything is fine, but Microsoft's earnings for the second quarter came in way below expectations.

Everything is fine, but chip maker Intel has reported revenue declines for four quarters in a row.

Everything is fine, but the number of housing starts in June was the lowest that we have seen in almost a year.

Everything is fine, but the number of mortgage applications has dropped 45 percent since May.

Everything is fine, but the homeownership rate in America is now at its lowest level in nearly 18 years.

Everything is fine, but the United States is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.

Everything is fine, but the U.S. economy actually lost 240,000 full-time jobs last month.

Everything is fine, but the number of full-time workers in the United States is now nearly 6 million below the old record that was set back in 2007.

Everything is fine, but 40 percent of all U.S. workers make less than $20,000 a year at this point.

Everything is fine, but robots are starting to take over fast food jobs.  If working class Americans someday won't even be able to work at McDonald's, what will they do to earn money in the years ahead as the jobs disappear?

Everything is fine, but the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has now reached $3.66.

Everything is fine, but the number of Americans on food stamps has increased by almost 50 percentwhile Obama has been in the White House.

Everything is fine, but the U.S. government is going to borrow about 4 trillion dollars in fiscal 2013.

Everything is fine, but worldwide business confidence has fallen to the lowest level since the last recession.

Everything is fine, but the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just told Congress that Obama is considering using the U.S. military to intervene in the conflict in Syria.

Unfortunately, the cold, hard reality of the matter is that everything is not fine.

• As a nation, we consume far more wealth that we produce.
• As a nation, we buy far more stuff from the rest of the world than they buy from us.
• As a nation, our debt is growing at a much faster pace than our economy is.
• As a nation, our share of global GDP has been dropping like a rock over the past decade.

Our economic infrastructure is being systematically gutted, Wall Street has been transformed into a gigantic casino and poverty in the United States continues to explode even in the midst of this so-called "economic recovery".

How in the world can the mainstream media get away with telling the American people that everything is just fine?

The economic fundamentals are absolutely screaming that massive trouble is on the horizon.  Hopefully people are getting ready, because a whole lot of pain is on the way for this country.

Link to FULL article:

Comment from the Real World

Here's an example of how things are out there in the "real world."  I saw this in the COMMENT section below the article I posted earlier about the "McDonald's Budget." These are exactly the kind of people who are open to hearing about our business...Dennis
mark • 5 hours ago

I make 60k/yr. I have 3 kids. After taxes etc I clear $3,500/month. Sounds good right?

Here is a real-world budget.

Mortgage: $1100 Decent house not caving in.
Food: $600
Gasoline: $400 I can't afford the rent in town so I have to live 40 miles from office.
Heating Gas: $100
Electric: $100
Cable/phone internet: $100
Car payments: $200
Other Loans/credit card payments: $400
things break in a house furnaces, roofs leak
bad luck.
Medical Bills: $200/negotiated w/ hospital
My wife had emergency surgery last year and we can only afford high-deductible insurance from my company. Medical bill was almost 10 grand.

That leaves about $400, but I believe in tithing so that's it. We normally have about 10 bucks left at the end of the month. I put my house up for sale and will end up moving into a fixer-upper. I am college educated and I work in IT. My job is getting outsourced in about 6-12 months. Anyone else have a similar story? I'll bet there are a million in the same boat.

The "McDonald's Budget"

Do you think you would be able to support a family on $2,000 a month?  Well McDonald's and Visa believe you can, and in fact, they've created a website that can help you plan out your spending.  What's really interesting to me is that the McDonald Budget assumes you will have to get another job in order to make it. Hey...no problem just get another minimum-wage job and work another 20-30 hours on top of the 40 hours you put in already. Who do they think they're kidding?  ...Dennis

The “McDonald’s Budget”: Laughably Unrealistic But Also Deeply Tragic

by Michael Snyder

Can you support a family on $2,000 a month?  Recently, McDonald’s and Visa teamed up to launch a website that is intended to help employees of McDonald’s manage their money.  The aspect of the website that is getting a tremendous amount of national attention is the “McDonald’s Budget” which is a sample monthly budget which is designed to help workers plan their spending.  You can see a copy of it for yourself right here.  This budget is laughably unrealistic, but it is also deeply tragic, because there are tens of millions of American workers that are actually trying to raise families on this kind of an income.

The first thing that you will notice about the McDonald’s Budget is that it expects workers to have two jobs.  It is an open admission that working at McDonald’s is not enough to survive.  So this budget assumes that the worker will take on a second job which will pay nearly as much as the first one does.  Assuming that both jobs pay about the minimum wage, the budget will require about 70 to 80 hours of work every week.

People can put in those kind of hours for a time, but after a while your body starts to break down.  I have been there, and I have known many others that have been there.

But let’s assume that the hypothetical worker that this budget is for can work that many hours indefinitely.  The budget assumes a yearly income of about $24,000 after taxes, and that would make it a fairly typical budget for a typical working class American.

In the United States today, 47 percent of all U.S. workers make less than $25,000 a year before taxes.  So millions upon millions of U.S. workers are trying to make ends meet each month on very limited incomes.

Does the “McDonald’s Budget” provide any solutions for those workers?

Well, this budget allocates $0 for food, so if you plan on following this budget you might want to anticipate fasting a lot each month.

This budget also allocates $0 for gasoline.  So either you will have to ride a bicycle or walk everywhere you go.

This budget does not allocate any money for clothing either.  If you really need something to wear, perhaps you can take some cash from the “monthly spending money” category and go down to the local thrift store and get something.

In addition, this budget has no money for water, no money for child care and you might as well forget about saving for retirement.  But if you work yourself 70 to 80 hours a week, you probably won’t even make it to retirement age anyway.

So what are some of the things that actually are in the budget?

Well, it allocates $20 a month for health insurance.

Wow – where can I sign up for that health insurance plan?

As the Washington Post noted, nobody is going to be able to get health insurance that cheaply…

The original version of the budget also assumed that the worker would spend zero dollars a month on “heating”.

Perhaps McDonald’s just expects their workers to freeze all winter.

The new version of the budget now allocates $50 a month for heating.  Perhaps that may work for the state of Florida, but anyone that lives in a northern state knows that it takes a whole lot more than that just to heat up your home to a level that is barely livable during the winter.

This budget is absolutely crazy.  But perhaps even more patronizing then the budget itself is the following statement that is made on the website: “You can have almost anything you want as long as you plan ahead and save for it.”

Oh really?

Do they expect anyone to actually fall for that line?

Don’t get me wrong.  Working at McDonald’s is great for some people.  I worked there myself when I was in high school.  But the vast majority of adult Americans need jobs that will enable them to take care of their families.  And those kinds of jobs are rapidly disappearing.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-mcdonalds-budget-laughably-unrealistic-but-also-deeply-tragic/#plMD01PXuC4CDhfC.99 

74% Will Fire Workers and Cut Hours

In this article that appeared today in the Washington Examiner, sobering results from a nation-wide survey by the US Chamber of Commerce made it clear that the majority of small businesses in America are NOT going to be able to comply with government-mandated requirements to provide health care for all their employees, and still be able to stay in business.  So who takes the heat?...Well the employees do of course.  Even the tactic of delaying the implementation for a year is not going to change business-owner's minds about what needs to be done.  Have you talked with anyone lately whose life is being impacted by this?  They are out there! ...Dennis

74% of small businesses will fire workers, cut hours under Obamacare

Despite the administration's controversial decision to delay forcing companies to join Obamacare for a year, three-quarters of small businesses are still making plans to duck the costly law by firing workers, reducing hours of full-time staff, or shift many to part-time, according to a sobering survey released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Small businesses expect the requirement to negatively impact their employees. Twenty-seven percent say they will cut hours to reduce full time employees, 24 percent will reduce hiring, and 23 percent plan to replace full time employees with part-time workers to avoid triggering the mandate," said the Chamber business survey provided to Secrets.

Under Obamacare, just 30 hours — not the nationally recognized 40 hours — is considered full-time. Companies with 50 full-time workers or more are required to provide health care, or pay a fine.

Dealing with Obamacare is the biggest worry of small businesses and comes as they continue to see a sluggish economy which has already put a brake on their hiring. Just 17 percent reported adding employees in the past two years. And only one-in-five small business owners believe that they will add employees in the next two years.

Other key findings from the Chamber survey:

— 77 percent continue to think the U.S. economy is on the wrong track. However, small businesses are more optimistic about their local economy and individual business.

— The majority (61 percent) of small businesses do not have plans to hire next year.

— Concerns about regulation have increased significantly from 35 percent last quarter to 42 percent now.

Full Article: