Daily Readings 11-15-2012
Nothing seems real anymore, not preelection federal data on jobs or food stamps or the release of such “facts”; not foreign-policy information like an Iranian attack on a drone; not the supposedly competent federal relief in response to Hurricane Sandy. Even Saddam Hussein’s plebiscites could not achieve margins like the 19,605 to 0 we saw in 59 Philadelphia precincts. Does anyone care?
US government runs $120 billion October deficit
The federal government started the 2013 budget year with a $120 billion deficit in October, an indication that the nation is on a path to its fifth straight $1 trillion-plus annual deficit.
Marc Faber: Markets to Plunge 20% on Dismal Earnings, Not Fiscal Cliff or Greece
“The market is going down because corporate profits will begin to disappoint, the global economy will hardly grow next year or even contract, and that is the reason why stocks, from the highs of September of 1,470 on the S&P, will drop at least 20 percent, in my view.”
Ohio food stamps for low income families will be reduced in January 2013
The Toledo Blade reported on Monday that the state Department of Jobs and Family Services will begin reducing food stamps for Ohio residents beginning in 2013. Reduction estimates should total $50 per family which is about $520 million worth of yearly groceriesfrom a total of 869,000 households.
Is $250,000 a Year Rich? Let’s Break It Down
250,000 is a lot of money — especially if you live in, say Peoria, Ill. But if you live in or around New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago or Dallas, you’re not rich — you’re simply what’s known as “upper middle class.” It all comes down to cost of living, a metric that is not considered when the Census Bureau or the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the mean earnings of working Americans.
The cost of living in New York, for example, is 105.7 percent higher than that in Peoria, according to Salary.com. New York employers make up some of that difference by typically paying 29.9 percent more than employers in Peoria for the same job with the same type of company.
America must avoid Europe’s toxic tax remedy
The looming fiscal cliff, with four times more tax increases than spending cuts, would reduce growth, not debt. Tax-heavy European austerity plans have failed. We must cut public spending to prosper
Chronicling The Decline And Fall Of Entitlement Democracy
If X is the population of the United States and Y is the degree of imbecility of the average American, then democracy is the theory that X times Y is less than Y
The Worst Is Yet To Come For California
After 18 years of spending, taxing and regulating, the most resource-rich state in the Country is facing underemployment in excess of 20%, huge perennial deficits and failing schools. Sadly, the worst is yet to come.
US Conference Board fears Brics miracle over as world faces decade-long slump
The catch-up boom in China, India, Brazil is largely over and will be followed by a drastic slowdown over the next decade, according to a grim report by America’s top forecasting body.
Tax Hikes on Rich Won’t Solve Fiscal Woes, Depression Possible
The Obama administration’s plans to hike taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of the population will do little to solve the country’s fiscal imbalances and do nothing to avoid economic depression that looms large for the economy, said Peter Morici, a professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.
“To avert calamity, President Obama and House Republicans likely will compromise to raise taxes on high-income Americans by $100 billion to $150 billion, curb spending an equal amount and renew the Bush tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000,” Morici wrote.
“This will hardly be enough to right the nation’s shaky finances.”
Failure to address deep-rooted fiscal imbalances could seriously damage the U.S. economy.
“A second Great Depression would grip the nation,” Morici wrote.
Senate Democrats say deficit package must include stimulus
Daily Readings 11-15-2012,Senate Democrats, feeling confident from their net gain of two seats in last week’s election, say any deficit-reduction package negotiated in the coming weeks must include stimulus measures.
They have yet to decide which prime-the-pump measures to push, but are mulling options such as new infrastructure spending and an extension of the payroll tax holiday.
