Free Republic

Fully 20 percent of U.S. adults become rich for parts of their lives, wielding extensive influence over America's economy and politics, according to new survey data. These "new rich," made up largely of older professionals, working married couples and more educated singles, are becoming politically influential, and economists say their capacity to spend is key to the U.S. economic recovery. But their rise is also a sign of the nation's continuing economic polarization. They extend well beyond the wealthiest 1 percent, a traditional group of super-rich millionaires and billionaires with long-held family assets. The new rich have household income of...

There are cheers from the media about the latest jobs report. While some speculated that it was so good that The Fed would begin tapering their assets purchases, few noticed that the 10 year Treasury yield actually fell on the jobs report. But let’s look at the longer term picture. House prices are rising rapidly despite declining real median household income. Problem 1: Labor’s share of nonfarm business have been falling for decades, but it’s decline has been accelerating since 2000. laborsharelt No problem, many economists say. The U.S. has been moving towards a service economy for decades. But, …...

While foreclosure activity as a whole has been declining in the U.S., there are still some unnerving aspects to the housing and mortgage recovery. So, it’s time for “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” The good. According to RealtyTac, overall U.S. foreclosure activity is down 23 percent year-to-date through October 2013. The bad. Foreclosure activity on properties in the $5 million-plus value range is up 61 percent from the same time period in 2012. And most of it is concentrated in Florida and Los Angeles. I designate Atlanta as an honorary coastal city since Georgia does have properties on...

President Obama will cast growing income inequality and a decline in economic mobility as a “fundamental threat to the American dream” during a speech Wednesday in Washington. The speech will serve as an early preview for next year’s State of the Union address, according to a White House official, who said Obama would focus much of his energy over the next three years on the issue. “The decisions we make over the next few years will determine whether or not our children will grow up in an America where, if you work hard, you can get ahead,” the official said.

“Go West, young man” is a popular quote from Horace Greeley in 1865. “Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.” – Horace Greeley I see much hasn’t changed since 1865, but Greeley’s advice was wrong if we look at real median household income. The blue line is for the nation as a whole, the red line is for Washington DC. realmedhi So, go east young man, if you want to...

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, caused a flap where he pronounced that some people are too stupid to get ahead. But unless people are getting more stupid over time, it is likely bad government policies that are preventing people from getting ahead. Government policies including the Fed monetary expansion have seemingly made matters worse for the average American family. Particularly since 2007. The GINI coefficent is a measure of income distribution in country. And it has been skyrocketing since 2007 when Democrats took control of Congress and 2009 when they achieved a majority in both the House and Senate...

Government policies including the Fed monetary expansion have seemingly made matters worse for the average American family. Particularly since 2007. The GINI coefficent is a measure of income distribution in country. And it has been skyrocketing since 2007 when Democrats took control of Congress and 2009 when they achieved a majority in both the House and Senate AND the Presidency. But for all the talk of income redistribution and “leveling the playing field,” things have only gotten worse for the average American household. Here is the GINI coefficent for the USA since 2005. Note the decline from 2006 to 2007,...

My mother and father taught me some important lessons in my life. One of them was to not to pay attention to what someone is saying, but rather pay attention to what they are doing and the consequences of their actions. Never has this lesson been more evident in taking stock of the economic policies of Obama and the progressive liberals who seek to transform America from an individualistic, capitalistic society to a collective, socially democrat one. We hear on the news every day that the economy is improving, people are going back to work, and that the dark days...

Stan Druckenmiller makes an unlikely class warrior. He's a member of the 1%—make that the 0.001%—one of the most successful money managers of all time, and 60 years old to boot. But lately he has been touring college campuses promoting a message of income redistribution you don't hear out of Washington. It's how federal entitlements like Medicare and Social Security are letting Mr. Druckenmiller's generation rip off all those doting Barack Obama voters in Generation X, Y and Z. "I have been shocked at the reception. I had planned to only visit Bowdoin, " his alma mater in Maine, he...

The final deal to avert a breach of the debt limit and end the government shutdown included what has been described as a “small concession” to Republicans: tightening the income verification measures for customers on the Obamacare insurance exchanges to qualify for subsidies. But considering the hurdles associated with this step – and the enormous IT problems we’ve already seen with the exchanges – the concession may not be small at all. As one prominent health care expert tells Salon, the impact could contribute to an attempted sabotage of the law by those who want to see it repealed. Rather...

**SNIP** By the way, you can only receive tax credits if you buy from Covered California. They won’t be offered for employer-sponsored insurance or open-market plans. Will my eligibility for tax credits in 2014 be based on my 2012 or 2013 income — or my estimated 2014 income? And when I do my 2014 taxes in 2015, will there be an adjustment if my actual 2014 income is different than my estimated 2014 income? Let’s start off with a straightforward answer and then ease into the pain: Your eligibility will depend on your 2014 income, says Anne Gonzales of Covered...

What does the government shutdown mean for the mortgage market? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren’t affected by the shutdown. While the FHA is still processing loans, it’s operating with a vastly reduced staff, which could lead to delays. The FHA is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Housing, which has just 64 of 2,972 employees reporting to work right now. The biggest issue facing the mortgage market is that the Internal Revenue Service isn’t issuing Form 4506-T, which is what most lenders currently use to verify borrowers’ incomes. For loans ready to close now,...

For some individuals and families signing up for ObamaCare, a little fudging can make a big difference in their bank accounts. In California, for example, a childless married couple stating income of $30,000 would face a $1,000 deductible, $15 per primary care visit and a maximum out-of-pocket cost (after premiums) of $4,500. But for a couple attesting to $32,000 in income, the deductible would be $3,000, primary care visit $40 and out-of-pocket maximum a hefty $10,400. Though they are separated by just $2,000 in income, the government might provide the lower-earning family as much as $5,900 more in cost-sharing subsidies...

The American middle class, like the American economy in general, is ailing. Labor-force participation has hit a 35-year low. Median household income is lower than it was five years ago. Only the top 5 percent of households have seen their incomes rise under President Obama. Commuters are paying more than twice as much for gas as they were in 2008. Federal payouts for food stamps, unemployment insurance and disability insurance have reached unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, the country is still running near-record budget deficits and is burdened by $17 trillion in aggregate debt. Yet the stock market is soaring. How can...

Household net worth rose to $74.8 trillion in the second quarter, helped by the stock market, housing market and government accounting. Household wealth in the U.S. increased from April through June, supported by gains in the stock and housing markets that are improving Americans’ finances. Net worth for households and non-profit groups climbed by $1.34 trillion in the second quarter, or 1.8 percent from the previous three months, to $74.8 trillion, the Federal Reserve said today from Washington in its financial accounts report, previously known as the flow of funds survey. Here is a chart of household net worth since...

If the economy is getting better, then why do incomes keep falling? According to a shocking new report that was just released by the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income (adjusted for inflation) has declined for five years in a row. This has happened even though the federal government has been borrowing and spending money at an unprecedented rate and the Federal Reserve has been on the most reckless money printing spree in U.S. history. Despite all of the "emergency measures" that have been taken to "stimulate the economy", things just continue to get worse for average American families. Americans...

The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989. “the most depressing result comes when you look at the longer view of household incomes in the United States. This chart shows real median household income over the past 25 years; that is, the money earned, in inflation-adjusted dollars, by the family at the exact middle of the income distribution.” medianhouseholdincome Yes, that is pretty depressing. This in spite of a tax system where 43% of Americans pay no Federal income taxes. The good news? It used to be 47%. This corresponds to my least favorite chart which shows...

I think the poor need another Reagan in the White House. The income of black heads-of-households dropped by 10.9 percent from June 2009 to June 2013. This decline in black income is more than double the overall 4.4 percent drop nationally in real, adjusted for inflation, median household income during the same four years of alleged “recovery.” In dollar terms, the median income per year ... in female-headed households and black households has dropped, respectively, by $2,300 and over $4,000 since Obama's stimulus-led “recovery” began in June 2009. The CBO report shows that after-tax household income, adjusted for inflation, increased...

No one can blame you if you start out in life poor, because how you start is not your fault. If you stay poor, you're to blame because it is your fault. Nowhere has this been made clearer than in Dennis Kimbro's new book, "The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires." Kimbro, a business professor at Clark Atlanta University, conducted extensive face-to-face interviews, took surveys and had other interactions with nearly 1,000 of America's black financial elite, many of whom are multimillionaires, to discover the secret of their success. Kimbro's seven-year study included wealthy blacks such as Byron E....

As we enter the Labor Day weekend when we are supposed to be celebrating hard-working Americans, we get the monthly personal income and spending numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Personal income rose .. 0.1% in July. pitab083013 compensation of employees, the core component of personal income, fell by $21.9 billion, the was the biggest monthly slide decline since May 2012. pi083013 Another view of declining employee compensation. Compensation Employees_0 And my favorite chart of declining real household income: household-income-monthly-median-growth-since-2000 Chicago Purchasing Managers Index printed at 53.0 in August, up from 52.3 in July. But there was a...