We need some poor people in Congress. Considering the unemployment rate is 10.2%, it's pretty clear a whole lot of people don't need those jobs.
237 members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44% of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.
Recall there are 435 Representatives and 100 Senators.
Now look at this wealth:
CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million.
On Friday you were probably bowled over by the unemployment rate. So astounded, we missed this major report release by COP, the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP.
The Report, Guarantees and Contingent Payments in TARP and Related Programs is another damning condemnation on corporate socialism to the point of moral hazard. Yet, at the same time, the report says taxpayers will likely profit from the huge TARP gamble. Well, well, if the government is turning the world into a glorified casino with U.S. taxpayer money, all the while guaranteeing the bonuses profits of large banks, at least it looks like we won't take the loss.
U.S. Secretary Geithner says a Tobin Tax, a tax on financial transactions, is something America will not support and slaps down the U.K. Prime Minster for mentioning the "T" word.
A day-by-day financial transaction tax is not something we're prepared to support.
Oh really? There are already various proposals introduced in Congress for some type of transaction tax on speculation in commodities which affect the national economy (oil).
As noted in this previous post, the only real way a financial transaction tax could work is if it is implemented globally. Else, trades will simply move to a country which has no such tax.
On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
Paul Krugman hits it out the park to prove Reaganomics did not do this nation, especially the middle class, a lot of good. Read Reagan! Reagan! Reagan! I must also borrow Krugman's graph on the history of tariffs in the U.S.
The FASB, the independent corporate accounting standards board, is under attack. Believe this or not, financial lobbyists are trying to get it's independence dissolved so they can cook the books whenever they damn feel like it.
Amid the ongoing financial regulation overhaul, the banking industry is hoping to pull off a quiet power grab that has eluded its grasp since the Great Depression, by stripping the independence of the board that sets financial accounting standards.
The move could effectively let banks set their own accounting standards in rough economic times.
U.S. citizens are now using day labor centers to get a few hours of work. Bear in mind that U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to build many day labor centers where the pay is often cash under the table and illegal workers are used.
In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valley’s economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.
Experts say the slow-starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide.
“It’s the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression,” said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Wondering why $787 Billion in Stimulus funds isn't translating into jobs for Americans? This might be part of the reason.
As we warned here and here, a new study confirms that yes indeed, Stimulus funds are being given to foreign companies, offshore, with no restrictions.
Of the $1.05 billion in clean-energy grants handed out by the government since Sept. 1, 84 percent – a total of $849 million – has gone to foreign wind companies. Spanish utility company, Iberdrola S.A., alone has collected $545 million through its American subsidiary.
Sponsored by the taxpayer funded jobs program - Loot luggers wanted for executive bonuses, graft, greed and corruption payola hauling. Must be able to lift two tons. No sticky fingers need apply.
Good Morning! Rise and Shine! Get that Cup O' Joe...
break out the O.J....hang out with the pooch...time to check out the Funnies!
The International Monetary Fund said traders are probably using the dollar to fund “carry trades” across the world and the currency may still be overvalued even after its slide this year.
“There are indications that the U.S. dollar is now serving as the funding currency for carry trades,” the IMF said in a report published today. “These trades may be contributing to upward pressure on the euro and some emerging economy currencies.” While the dollar “has moved closer to medium-run equilibrium,” it is still “on the strong side.”
The IMF is also warning on the Chinese currency being significantly undervalued. We've covered China's currency manipulation many times and noted almost all of the U.S. trade deficit with China can be attributed to Chinese currency manipulation.
The official number is still slightly lower than the brutal winter of 1982-83. But the broad unemployment number says otherwise.
For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now.
With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.
In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.
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