The financial elixir that is falling home prices – Lower home prices good for the economy – Median U.S. home price down to $157,000 taking up 3 times the annual household income instead of the bubble peak of 5. Adding jobs while home prices move lower? Banks big winners when home prices remain inflated.
It is interesting that in the short-term horizon of our economy falling home prices are occurring while jobs are being added. The banking sector during the early days of the crisis made it abundantly clear that falling home prices would lead to economic collapse. Yet the opposite is occurring. Why? First, inflated home prices eat […]
Federal Reserve punishes savers by subsidizing big banking bailouts – Two largest U.S. banks offer a paltry 0.05 annual percentage rate while increasing service fee charges and upping loan interest rates. S&P 500 not cheap.
The challenge most Americans are facing is first, trying to save money. If that hurdle is accomplished the next tougher question becomes where the money should be placed. The Federal Reserve by default with a negative interest rate policy has punished savers at the expense of massive debtors. The Fed for many decades since the […]
Home is where the working and middle class lose their money – $6.3 trillion lost in household real estate values. Top 1 percent control $13 trillion in financial assets while bottom 80 percent control $2 trillion.
When people talk about the American Dream it usually implies owning a home. Owning a home has been part of our collective psychology for generations and is hard to shake out even after such a disastrous and financially painful bubble that will linger with us for many years going forward. After World War II, owning […]
College Marauders – Student loan debt inches to $900 billion when only in 2000 it was at $200 billion – Most expensive colleges in country charging nearly $60,000 per year in tuition.
College education is a dream for many Americans. What the current recession is showing us is that having a college degree is a substantial benefit in getting ahead as long as you don’t put yourself into the abyss of student loan debt. This has been magnified by the fact that low skilled work and blue […]