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American • Federal Reserve Vice-Chair admits unemployment rate higher
Federal Reserve Vice-Chair admits unemployment rate higher than official figures
February 14, 2013 By Andrew Moran
Speaking at the “A Trans-Atlantic Agenda for Shared Prosperity” conference sponsored by the AFL-CIO, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the IMK Macroeconomic Policy Institute in Washington on Monday, Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Janet Yellen admitted in her speech that the official unemployment rate of 7.9 percent is actually incorrect because of a variety of factors.
According to Yellen, who is considered a potential successor to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, stated that the unemployment rate is actually 14.4 percent. This number includes about 800,000 discouraged workers who have given up seeking employment and roughly eight million workers who are in part-time jobs but would prefer to work a full-time job.
“The unemployment rate now stands at 7.9 percent. To put this number in perspective, while that’s a big improvement from the 10 percent reached in late 2009, it is now higher than unemployment ever got in the 24 years before the Great Recession,” said Yellen in her prepared remarks.
“Moreover, the government’s current estimate of 12 million unemployed doesn’t include 800,000 discouraged workers who say they have given up looking for work. And, as exhibit 6 shows, 8 million people, or 5.6 percent of the workforce, say they are working part time even though they would prefer a full-time job. A broader measure of underemployment that includes these and other potential workers stands at 14.4 percent.”
The former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco also conceded that the poverty rate is a lot higher than it had been for the past decade and presently stands at 15 percent of the general population in the United States. The results of the recession, says Yellen, have been consequential for these individuals.
“Even those today who are fortunate enough to hold jobs have seen their hourly compensation barely keep pace with the cost of living over the past three years, while labor’s share of income – as measured by the percent of production by nonfinancial corporations accruing to workers as compensation – remains near the postwar low reached in 2011,” stated Yellen. “It will be a long road back to a healthy job market. It will be years before many workers feel like they have regained the ground lost since 2007.”
Despite Yellen’s admission that the federal government’s unemployment numbers are suppressed, her figures, according to other economists, are several percent lower than other projections. The unofficial unemployment rate is seen at 22.5 percent.
Indeed, the unemployment statistics have been revised since the administration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Officials either insert or delete specific equations, workers and numbers to match their public policies and provide the nation’s citizens false data to generate support from voters.
Economic Collapse News reported in October that John Williams of ShadowStats.com noted that if the federal government measured unemployment the way the U.S. did during the time of the Great Depression then the numbers would be dramatically higher.
Nevertheless, Yellen also admitted that even though the Federal Reserve has taken numerous actions, like implementing low interest rates, which she pointed out hasn’t done much to increase spending, the recovery has been slow.
“After a lengthy recession that imposed great hardships on American workers, the weak recovery has made the past five years the toughest that many of today’s workers have ever experienced,” added the former Chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisors in the President Bill Clinton administration.
In December, the Fed confirmed that it will keep key short-term interest rate at or near zero percent as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5 percent. However, it all depends on how the U.S. economy gets to that unemployment level. If the jobless number, for instance, dips below 6.5 percent because workers are exiting the labor force then Bernanke would still not raise rates.
Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital, stated in a video at the time that Bernanke is throwing the U.S. dollar over the currency cliff with his policies.
“The only variable is: how long can Ben Bernanke get away with lying and pretending there is no inflation? How much inflation can he create?” asked Schiff in his video. “By expanding your balance sheet by over $1 trillion a year, that’s massive inflation that is the definition of inflation. He is inflating the money supply. Prices are going to rise in response to that. The question is: how long can he convince the world that prices aren’t rising, despite all the inflation he is creating?”
http://economiccollapsenews.com/2013/02 … l-figures/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Thu Feb 14, 2013 6:08 pm
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
If Spending Is Capped So It Grows at the Rate of Inflation, the Budget Is Balanced in 2018
Daniel J. Mitchell
New 10-year budget projections have been released by the Congressional Budget Office, so it’s time once again for me to show how easy it is to balance the budget with modest spending restraint (though never forget that our goal should be smaller government, not fiscal balance).
- I first did this back in September 2010, and showed that we could balance the budget in 10 years if federal spending was limited so it grew by 2 percent annually.
- I repeated the exercise in January 2011 after new CBO numbers were released, and re-confirmed that a spending cap of 2 percent would eliminate red ink in just 10 years.
- In August of that year, following the release of the CBO Update, I showed again that the budget could be balanced in just a decade by limiting spending so it climbed by 2 percent per year.
- Back in January after CBO produced the new Economic and Budget Outlook, I crunched the numbers again and showed how a spending cap of 2 percent would balance the budget over 10 years.
- Since even a weak economic recovery generates more revenue, the CBO numbers from last August showed that the budget could be balanced if spending was restrained so that it grew by 2.5 percent per year for a 10-year period.
The new numbers show the path is even easier. The budget can be balanced in 5 years if spending grows at the rate of inflation (the green line) and in just 10 years if spending is limited so that it grows 3.4 percent annually (the light blue line).
Today’s path to balance is even easier because of better 10-year growth numbers, and also because of projections that the recent tax increase will generate more revenue (the dark blue line shows total projected revenue over the decade).
Because of Laffer Curve reasons, I’m skeptical about whether all that additional revenue will materialize, so both the chart and the underlying numbers are a bit speculative.
But what they do show is that the nation’s fiscal problems easily can be addressed with some modest spending restraint. Sort of a practical application of Mitchell’s Golden Rule.
Here’s my video explaining the importance of spending restraint. The numbers are now outdated, but the concept is still completely relevant.
As noted at the beginning of the post, I’m much more concerned about reducing the burden of government spending. Balancing the budget is a secondary concern.
That’s why we should impose genuine budget cuts and not just restrain the growth of spending. That would also make it easier to adopt good tax policy.
Maybe, in a parallel universe where politicians are motivated by liberty, we can even get entitlement reform and a flat tax.
View full post on Cato @ Liberty
American • Unemployment Is Not Going Down: The Employment Rate Has .
Unemployment Is Not Going Down: The Employment Rate Has Been Under 59 Percent For 39 Months In A Row
By Michael, on December 9th, 2012
The mainstream media is heralding the decline of the official unemployment rate to 7.7 percent as evidence that the U.S. economy is improving. But it is a giant lie. The truth is that unemployment in America is not actually going down. The percentage of working age Americans with a job actually dropped slightly in November. During the last recession, the percentage of working age Americans with a job fell from about 63 percent to under 59 percent and it has stayed there for 39 months in a row. In September 2009, during the depths of the last economic crisis, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In November 2012, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans were employed. It is more then 3 years later, and we are in the exact same place! So how in the world are they able to pretend that the "unemployment rate" is going down steadily? Well, they get there by pretending that hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers "leave the labor force" each month. According to the government, another 350,000 Americans left the labor force during November, and when you keep pretending that huge chunks of workers "disappear" each month it is easy to get the "unemployment rate" to go down. But any idiot can see that there is something really funny about these numbers. Barack Obama has been president for less than four years, and during that time the number of Americans "not in the labor force" has increased by nearly 8.5 million. Something seems really "off" about that number, because during the entire decade of the 1980s the number of Americans "not in the labor force" only rose by about 2.5 million. At this point the official unemployment rate is so manipulated that it is of very little value at all.
But the mainstream media is just eating up this "good news". They are very excited that the "unemployment rate" has fallen from its peak of 10.0 percent in October 2009 to 7.7 percent now…
But if unemployment was actually going down, we should be seeing the percentage of Americans with a job go up.
Unfortunately, that is NOT happening.
As I mentioned above, the "employment rate" fell below 59 percent during the last economic crisis and it has stayed there for 39 consecutive months…
So all of that stuff about the employment situation getting better is just a load of nonsense. The percentage of Americans with a job has stayed very, very steady since the end of 2009. It is almost as if someone has hit a "pause button" and won’t let unemployment get better or get worse.
This is the first time since the end of World War II that we have not seen the employment-population ratio bounce back in a significant way after a recession has ended.
To me, that is a very bad sign.
I also find it very interesting that the government revised the "job gains" for September and October downward in this recent report…
The government revised down job gains for September and October by a total 49,000. September’s additions were revised from 148,000 to 132,000 and October’s, from 171,000 to 138,000.
So it turns out that the glowing employment reports from those months that helped get Obama re-elected were really not that great after all.
The truth is that it takes somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with the growth of the population. So at best we are treading water.
And who is "creating" those new jobs?
According to an analysis performed by CNSNews.com, 73 percent of the jobs "created" over the past 5 months have been "created" by government.
But government does not create real wealth.
Real wealth is only created by the private sector.
It would be very nice if I could report a major employment turnaround, but it simply is not happening.
Instead, we continue to see an increase in the number of Americans living in poverty.
If things are getting better, then why are organizations like the Salvation Army seeing record numbers of families coming to them for help this holiday season?
For much more on the continued growth of poverty in the United States, just see this article.
Sadly, an increasing number of Americans find themselves forced to turn to the government for assistance, and the cost of caring for all of them has become extremely expensive…
According to the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee, welfare spending per day per household in poverty is $168, which is higher than the $137 median income per day. When broken down per hour, welfare spending per hour per household in poverty is $30.60, which is higher than the $25.03 median income per hour.
But if you think that things are bad now, you should brace yourself, because things are going to get even worse.
For example, how much worse will things get if a fiscal cliff deal is not reached and millions more Americans find themselves in desperate need of help? According to ABC News, more than 3 million Americans will lose unemployment benefits by the beginning of April if Congress does not do something…
Millions of unemployed Americans have another reason to worry about "fiscal cliff" budget talks that seek to avoid looming tax increases and dire spending cuts come January.
About 2.1 million people will stop receiving jobless benefits immediately if Congress doesn’t reauthorize federal unemployment insurance programs by year’s end. Another 1 million will lose benefits over the first three months of 2013.
2013 is already shaping up to be a very tough year.
But the mainstream media is not really talking about how the middle class is systematically being destroyed or about how our once great manufacturing cities are being turned into desolate wastelands.
They just want us all to be happy, but the cold, hard reality of the matter is that the U.S. economy no longer produces enough jobs for everybody and it never will again.
Both of our major political parties have fully embraced the emerging one world economic system which puts average American workers into direct competition for jobs with workers in third world countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.
Millions of good paying American jobs have been shipped to countries where workers work very long hours in absolutely horrific conditions for as little as 45 dollars a month.
Are you willing to work for 45 dollars a month?
Meanwhile, Americans that still do have jobs are piling up more debt than ever before. It appears that most people have not learned any lessons from the last major economic crisis. It has just been reported that consumer borrowing in the United States has hit a new record high…
Americans swiped their credit cards more often in October and borrowed more to attend school and buy cars. The increases drove U.S. consumer debt to an all-time high.
The Federal Reserve said Friday that consumers increased their borrowing by $14.2 billion in October from September. Total borrowing rose to a record $2.75 trillion.
Isn’t that lovely?
And of course the biggest offender of all is our federal government. They just keep borrowing money as if there was no tomorrow.
During the first two months of fiscal year 2013, the U.S. government has run a deficit of $292 billion dollars ($57 billion worse than last year) and during that time it has borrowed an average of $4.8 billion dollars a day.
30 years ago, the U.S. national debt was about 1.1 trillion dollars.
Now it is more than 16.3 trillion dollars.
To get an idea how much money 16 trillion dollars is, just watch this 2 minute video.
How could we be so stupid?
Yes, much of America is still experiencing "prosperity" right now. But it is a prosperity that has been fueled by the greatest debt bubble that the world has ever seen.
When that debt bubble bursts the pain is going to be unbelievable.
If you actually believe that America is going to prosper in the years to come, you are just fooling yourself.
Our economy is declining and has been declining for quite some time. If you doubt this, just read this: "34 Signs That America Is In Decline".
So that is the bad news.
But the good news is that even though the entire nation is not going to prosper, there will be those that will have prepared and that will have gotten themselves into position to take advantage of what is coming. During the coming crisis a massive amount of money and wealth will change hands. Instead of living in fear and cowering under a blanket, now is the time to figure out how you and your family can thrive during the hard times that are on the horizon.
During the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, there were some people that actually did amazingly well. So don’t lose hope just because the U.S. economy is headed for disaster.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. But if you understand what is happening and you prepare for it, the times that are coming can actually be a great adventure and a great blessing for you and your family.
But if you just stick your head in the sand and have blind faith in the system and pretend that everything is going to be okay somehow, then you will be blindsided by the coming crisis and you will only have yourself to blame.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch … s-in-a-row
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:05 pm
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
Unemployment Is Not Going Down: The Employment Rate Has Been Under 59 Percent For 39 Months In A Row
The mainstream media is heralding the decline of the official unemployment rate to 7.7 percent as evidence that the U.S. economy is improving. But it is a giant lie. The truth is that unemployment in America is not actually going down. The percentage of working age Americans with a job actually dropped slightly in November. During the last recession, the percentage of working age Americans with a job fell from about 63 percent to under 59 percent and it has stayed there for 39 months in a row. In September 2009, during the depths of the last economic crisis, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In November 2012, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans were employed. It is more then 3 years later, and we are in the exact same place! So how in the world are they able to pretend that the “unemployment rate” is going down steadily? Well, they get there by pretending that hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers “leave the labor force” each month. According to the government, another 350,000 Americans left the labor force during November, and when you keep pretending that huge chunks of workers “disappear” each month it is easy to get the “unemployment rate” to go down. But any idiot can see that there is something really funny about these numbers. Barack Obama has been president for less than four years, and during that time the number of Americans “not in the labor force” has increased by nearly 8.5 million. Something seems really “off” about that number, because during the entire decade of the 1980s the number of Americans “not in the labor force” only rose by about 2.5 million. At this point the official unemployment rate is so manipulated that it is of very little value at all.
But the mainstream media is just eating up this “good news”. They are very excited that the “unemployment rate” has fallen from its peak of 10.0 percent in October 2009 to 7.7 percent now…
But if unemployment was actually going down, we should be seeing the percentage of Americans with a job go up.
Unfortunately, that is NOT happening.
As I mentioned above, the “employment rate” fell below 59 percent during the last economic crisis and it has stayed there for 39 consecutive months…
So all of that stuff about the employment situation getting better is just a load of nonsense. The percentage of Americans with a job has stayed very, very steady since the end of 2009. It is almost as if someone has hit a “pause button” and won’t let unemployment get better or get worse.
This is the first time since the end of World War II that we have not seen the employment-population ratio bounce back in a significant way after a recession has ended.
To me, that is a very bad sign.
I also find it very interesting that the government revised the “job gains” for September and October downward in this recent report…
The government revised down job gains for September and October by a total 49,000. September’s additions were revised from 148,000 to 132,000 and October’s, from 171,000 to 138,000.
So it turns out that the glowing employment reports from those months that helped get Obama re-elected were really not that great after all.
The truth is that it takes somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with the growth of the population. So at best we are treading water.
And who is “creating” those new jobs?
According to an analysis performed by CNSNews.com, 73 percent of the jobs “created” over the past 5 months have been “created” by government.
But government does not create real wealth.
Real wealth is only created by the private sector.
It would be very nice if I could report a major employment turnaround, but it simply is not happening.
Instead, we continue to see an increase in the number of Americans living in poverty.
If things are getting better, then why are organizations like the Salvation Army seeing record numbers of families coming to them for help this holiday season?
For much more on the continued growth of poverty in the United States, just see this article.
Sadly, an increasing number of Americans find themselves forced to turn to the government for assistance, and the cost of caring for all of them has become extremely expensive…
According to the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee, welfare spending per day per household in poverty is $168, which is higher than the $137 median income per day. When broken down per hour, welfare spending per hour per household in poverty is $30.60, which is higher than the $25.03 median income per hour.
But if you think that things are bad now, you should brace yourself, because things are going to get even worse.
For example, how much worse will things get if a fiscal cliff deal is not reached and millions more Americans find themselves in desperate need of help? According to ABC News, more than 3 million Americans will lose unemployment benefits by the beginning of April if Congress does not do something…
Millions of unemployed Americans have another reason to worry about “fiscal cliff” budget talks that seek to avoid looming tax increases and dire spending cuts come January.
About 2.1 million people will stop receiving jobless benefits immediately if Congress doesn’t reauthorize federal unemployment insurance programs by year’s end. Another 1 million will lose benefits over the first three months of 2013.
2013 is already shaping up to be a very tough year.
But the mainstream media is not really talking about how the middle class is systematically being destroyed or about how our once great manufacturing cities are being turned into desolate wastelands.
They just want us all to be happy, but the cold, hard reality of the matter is that the U.S. economy no longer produces enough jobs for everybody and it never will again.
Both of our major political parties have fully embraced the emerging one world economic system which puts average American workers into direct competition for jobs with workers in third world countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.
Millions of good paying American jobs have been shipped to countries where workers work very long hours in absolutely horrific conditions for as little as 45 dollars a month.
Are you willing to work for 45 dollars a month?
Meanwhile, Americans that still do have jobs are piling up more debt than ever before. It appears that most people have not learned any lessons from the last major economic crisis. It has just been reported that consumer borrowing in the United States has hit a new record high…
Americans swiped their credit cards more often in October and borrowed more to attend school and buy cars. The increases drove U.S. consumer debt to an all-time high.
The Federal Reserve said Friday that consumers increased their borrowing by $14.2 billion in October from September. Total borrowing rose to a record $2.75 trillion.
Isn’t that lovely?
And of course the biggest offender of all is our federal government. They just keep borrowing money as if there was no tomorrow.
During the first two months of fiscal year 2013, the U.S. government has run a deficit of $292 billion dollars ($57 billion worse than last year) and during that time it has borrowed an average of $4.8 billion dollars a day.
30 years ago, the U.S. national debt was about 1.1 trillion dollars.
Now it is more than 16.3 trillion dollars.
To get an idea how much money 16 trillion dollars is, just watch this 2 minute video.
How could we be so stupid?
Yes, much of America is still experiencing “prosperity” right now. But it is a prosperity that has been fueled by the greatest debt bubble that the world has ever seen.
When that debt bubble bursts the pain is going to be unbelievable.
If you actually believe that America is going to prosper in the years to come, you are just fooling yourself.
Our economy is declining and has been declining for quite some time. If you doubt this, just read this: “34 Signs That America Is In Decline“.
So that is the bad news.
But the good news is that even though the entire nation is not going to prosper, there will be those that will have prepared and that will have gotten themselves into position to take advantage of what is coming. During the coming crisis a massive amount of money and wealth will change hands. Instead of living in fear and cowering under a blanket, now is the time to figure out how you and your family can thrive during the hard times that are on the horizon.
During the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, there were some people that actually did amazingly well. So don’t lose hope just because the U.S. economy is headed for disaster.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. But if you understand what is happening and you prepare for it, the times that are coming can actually be a great adventure and a great blessing for you and your family.
But if you just stick your head in the sand and have blind faith in the system and pretend that everything is going to be okay somehow, then you will be blindsided by the coming crisis and you will only have yourself to blame.
View full post on The Economic Collapse
Laszewski on ObamaCare: ‘Get Ready for Some Startling Rate Increases’
By Michael F. Cannon
The invaluable Robert Laszweski:
The Affordable Care Act: Ten Months to Launch “Obamacare”––Get Ready for Some Startling Rate Increases
[...]
I conducted an informal survey of a number of insurers…None of the people I talked to are academics or work for a think tank. None of them are in the spin business inside the Beltway. Every one of them has the responsibility for coming up with the correct rates their companies will have to charge…
On average, expect a 30% to 40% increase in the baseline cost of individual health insurance to account for the new premium taxes, reinsurance costs, benefit mandate increases, and underwriting reforms…
In states with the least mandates or for health insurance companies with the tightest underwriting now, the increase could be a lot more…
[E]xpect individual health insurance rates for people in their 20s and early 30s to about double…
Will the feds be ready to provide an insurance exchange in all of the states that don’t have one on October 1, 2013?
I have no idea. And neither does anyone else I talk to inside the Beltway. We only hear vague reports that parts of the new federal exchange information systems are in testing.
The former CIA director couldn’t get away with an affair in this town but the Obama administration has a complete lid on just where they are on health insurance exchanges and haven’t shown any willingness to want to talk about their progress toward launching on time––except to tell us all not to worry.
We are all worried. I would not want to be responsible for the work that remains and only have ten months to do it…
The Republicans said this would not work. If it does not launch on time, or does with serious problems, I would not want to be an incumbent Democrat.
I told them not to call this the “Affordable Care Act.”
Laszewski on ObamaCare: ‘Get Ready for Some Startling Rate Increases’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
View full post on Cato @ Liberty
American • Latino Poverty Rate Climbs to 28%
Latino Poverty Rate Climbs to 28%
Published November 14, 2012
While Latinos are gaining in political clout, they are also falling down the economic ladder, new Census numbers show.
Latinos poverty rates climbed to 28 percent after the census reconfigured its algorithm to take into account medical costs and government programs. The Hispanic poverty level rose after the government took into account safety-net programs such as food stamps and housing, which have lower participation among immigrants and non-English speakers.
Among the Findings:
—If it weren’t for Social Security payments, the poverty rate would rise to 54.1 percent for people 65 and older and 24.4 percent for all age groups.
—Without refundable tax credits such as the earned income tax credit, child poverty would rise from 18.1 percent to 24.4 percent.
—Without food stamps, the overall poverty rate would increase from 16.1 percent to 17.6 percent.
"These figures are timely given the looming expiration of two key measures that account for part of these programs’ large antipoverty impact: federal emergency unemployment insurance and improvements in refundable tax credits" such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, said Arloc Sherman, a senior researcher at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think-tank. "Letting these measures expire at year’s end could push large numbers of families into poverty."
Overall, the ranks of America’s poor edged up last year to a high of 49.7 million, based on the new census measure.
The numbers released Wednesday by the Census Bureau are part of a newly developed supplemental poverty measure. Devised a year ago, this measure provides a fuller picture of poverty that the government believes can be used to assess safety-net programs by factoring in living expenses and taxpayer-provided benefits that the official formula leaves out.
Based on the revised formula, the number of poor people exceeded the 49 million, or 16 percent of the population, who were living below the poverty line in 2010. That came as more people in the slowly improving economy picked up low-wage jobs last year but still struggled to pay living expenses. The revised poverty rate of 16.1 percent also is higher than the record 46.2 million, or 15 percent, that the government’s official estimate reported in September.
Due to medical expenses, higher living costs and limited immigrant access to government programs, people 65 or older, Hispanics and urbanites were more likely to be struggling economically under the alternative formula. Also spiking higher in 2011 was poverty among full-time and part-time workers.
The portrait of poverty broken down by state notably changed. California tops the list, hurt by high housing costs, large numbers of immigrants as well as less generous tax credits and food stamp programs to buoy low-income families. It is followed by the District of Columbia, Arizona, Florida and Georgia.
In the official census tally, it was rural states that were more likely to be near the top of the list, led by Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana.
"We’re seeing a very slow recovery, with increases in poverty among workers due to more new jobs which are low-wage," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist who specializes in poverty. "As a whole, the safety net is holding many people up, while California is struggling more because it’s relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits."
Broken down by group, poverty was disproportionately affecting people 65 and older — about 15.1 percent, or nearly double the 8.7 percent rate calculated under the official formula. They also have higher medical expenses, such as Medicare premiums, deductibles and drug costs, that aren’t factored into the official rate.
Working-age adults ages 18-64 saw an increase in poverty from 13.7 percent to 15.5 percent, due mostly to commuting and child care costs.
In contrast, the new measure showed declines in poverty for children, from 22.3 percent under the official formula to 18.1 percent. Still, they remained the age group most likely to be economically struggling by any measure.
Hispanics and Asians also saw much higher rates of poverty, 28 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively, compared with rates of 25.4 percent and 12.3 percent under the official formula. In contrast, African-Americans saw a modest decrease in poverty, from 27.8 percent under the official rate to 25.7 percent based on the revised numbers. Among non-Hispanic whites, poverty rose from 9.9 percent to 11 percent.
Economists long have criticized the official poverty rate as inadequate. Based on a half-century-old government formula, the official rate continues to assume the average family spends one-third of its income on food. Those costs have actually shrunk to a much smaller share, more like one-seventh.
The official formula also fails to account for other expenses such as out-of-pocket medical care, child care and commuting, and it does not consider noncash government aid, such as food stamps and tax credits, when calculating income.
In reaction to some of the criticism, the government in 2010 asked the Census Bureau to develop a new measure, based partly on recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences. It released national numbers based on that formula for the first time last year. This year’s release features a 50-state breakdown on poverty, prompted in part by local officials such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who have argued that the official measure does not take into account urban costs of living and that larger cities may get less federal money as a result.
The goal is to help lawmakers to better gauge the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs, although it does not replace the Census Bureau’s official poverty formula.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifest … te-climbs/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:48 am
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
Canadian • Canada pumps out the jobs, but unemployment rate rises
TAVIA GRANT
The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Oct. 05 2012
License AA
Canadian employers unexpectedly added 52,100 jobs in September, the biggest jump in five months, mostly in full-time positions.
The burst of hiring wasn’t enough to cut the country’s unemployment rate. Canada’s jobless rate rose a notch to 7.4 per cent in September as more people looked for work, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Employment levels have now risen by 175,000 in the past year, driven by growth in full-time positions in the private sector. Employment in Canada has recovered more quickly than in previous recessions, and than in other G7 countries, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Tiff Macklem said Thursday, though a still-elevated jobless rate suggests some slack in the labour market remains.
“Looking past the gyrations in the monthly jobs tally, the underlying trend in Canadian employment is surprisingly stable” despite a bumpy global economic climate, said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, in a note.
Last month’s job gains were the largest since April. Full-time jobs predominated, with 44,100 new positions, while part-time jobs grew by 8,000.
Self-employment grew. The number of self-employed people rose by 33,800 last month, while employment fell 10,800 in the public sector and rose 29,100 in the private sector.
Among industries, the retail sector added 34,000 positions last month, while construction created 29,000 jobs, reversing the prior month’s loss. Agriculture, along with the information and culture sector, also added to head count.
Ontario and Manitoba led last month’s payrolls increases. Ontario added 31,000 positions and Manitoba created 6,600 jobs. Employment fell in Saskatchewan and was little changed elsewhere.
Core-aged men led last month’s jobs gains, with employment gains of 21,000, the first sizable increase since March.
The jobs picture for youth hasn’t improved, despite employment gains elsewhere. The jobless rate for people aged 15 to 24 rose to 15 per cent in September and employment has fallen by 70,000 in the past year.
“Youths are the only demographic group that have not recovered from the employment losses observed during the recession,” the agency said.
Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected 10,000 new jobs in the month and an unchanged unemployment rate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o … le4591267/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:18 am
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U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Is Double the Average
By Chris Edwards
Cato has released a new study by scholars Duanjie Chen and Jack Mintz on corporate effective tax rates in 2012 for 90 countries. The study provides estimates of marginal effective tax rates, which are an important driver of real investment flows.
The U.S. rate of 35.6% is about double the 18.2% average rate of the 90 countries studied. The U.S. rate is also the highest of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Is Double the Average is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
View full post on Cato @ Liberty
Business • Top 10 Most Profitable Companies Paid ~9% Tax Rate
Top 10 Most Profitable Companies Paid ~9% Tax Rate
By Barry Ritholtz – August 4th, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A new NerdWallet study found the 10 most profitable U.S. companies paid an average of 9% in federal taxes last year. These low rates are particularly shocking given that the official tax rate is 35%. The study also revealed more than half of the 500 largest U.S. companies paid a lower tax rate than the average American.
To give the public easy access to this information, NerdWallet built a tax rate transparency tool. The tool allows users to select any of the 500 largest corporations in America and instantly see the tax rate that company paid. The tool also provides the name and compensation of the highest paid executive.
#1 Exxon Mobil (XOM)
Pre-tax earnings: $73.3 Billion
Tax Provision: $31.1 Billion (42%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $1.5 Billion (2%)
Exxon paid $1.5 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $1.6 billion. It paid the majority of its taxes to foreign governments where it operates ($28.8 billion).
#2 Chevron (CVX)
Pre-tax earnings: $47.6 Billion
Tax Provision: $20.6 Billion (43%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $1.9 Billion (4%)
Chevron paid $1.9 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $877 million. It paid the majority of its taxes to foreign governments where it operates ($16.5 billion). Chevron also paid $596 million to state and local government.
#3 Apple (AAPL)
Pre-tax earnings: $34.2 Billion
Tax Provision: $8.3 Billion (24%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $3.9 Billion (11%)
Apple paid $3.9 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $3.0 billion. It paid $762 million to state and local government, $769 million to foreign governments.
#4 Microsoft (MSFT)
Pre-tax earnings: $28.1 Billion
Tax Provision: $4.9 Billion (18%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $3.1 Billion (11%)
Microsoft paid $3.1 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011. It paid $209 million to state and local government, $1.6 billion to foreign governments.
#5 JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM)
Pre-tax earnings: $26.7 Billion
Tax Provision: $7.8 Billion (29%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $3.7 Billion (14%)
JPMorgan paid $3.7 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $2.1 billion. It paid $1.2 billion to state and local government, $1.2 billion to foreign governments.
#6 Wal-Mart (WMT)
Pre-tax earnings: $24.4 Billion
Tax Provision: $7.9 Billion (33%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $4.6 Billion (19%)
Wal-Mart paid $4.6 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $1.4 billion. It paid $743 million to state and local government, $1.4 billion to foreign governments.
#7 Wells Fargo & Co (WFC)
Pre-tax earnings: $23.7 Billion
Tax Provision: $7.4 Billion (31%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $3.4 Billion (14%)
Wells Fargo paid $3.4 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $3.1 billion. It paid $468 million to state and local government, $52 million to foreign governments.
#8 ConocoPhillips (COP)
Pre-tax earnings: $23.0 Billion
Tax Provision: $10.5 Billion (46%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $1.9 Billion (8%)
ConocoPhillips paid $1.9 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $943 million. It paid $413 million to state and local government, $7.1 billion to foreign governments.
#9 International Business Machines (IBM)
Pre-tax earnings: $21.0 Billion
Tax Provision: $5.1 Billion (25%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $0.268 Billion (1%)
IBM paid $268 million to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $909 million. It paid $429 million to state and local government, $3.2 billion to foreign governments.
#10 General Electric (GE)
Pre-tax earnings: $20.1 Billion
Tax Provision: $5.7 Billion (29%)
Actual Taxes Paid to U.S. federal government: $1.0 Billion (5%)
GE paid $1.0 billion to the U.S. federal government in 2011 and deferred paying an additional $1.5 billion. It paid $4.7 billion to foreign governments.
~~~
“Corporate tax rates and CEO compensation are controversial issues and finding this information can be difficult,” says Joanna Pratt, VP of Financial Markets at NerdWallet. “We think it’s important for every American to have access to this information.”
About NerdWallet Financial Markets: NerdWallet Financial Markets is designed to empower investors by providing unbiased and transparent access to financial markets information.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/08/10 … more-82288
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:07 pm
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
American • The Employment Rate In The United States Is Lower Than It
The Employment Rate In The United States Is Lower Than It Was During The Last Recession
Did you know that a smaller percentage of Americans are working today than when the last recession supposedly ended? But you won’t hear about this on the mainstream news. Instead, the mainstream media obsesses over the highly politicized and highly manipulated "unemployment rate". The media is buzzing about how "163,000 new jobs" were added in July but the unemployment rate went up to "8.254%". Sadly, those numbers are quite misleading. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in June 142,415,000 people had jobs in the United States. In July, that number declined to 142,220,000. That means that 195,000 fewer Americans were working in July than in June. But somehow that works out to "163,000 new jobs" in July. I am not exactly sure how they get that math to add up. Perhaps someone out there can explain it to me. Personally, I find that the "employment rate" gives a much clearer picture of what is actually going on in the economy. The employment to population ratio is a measure of the percentage of working age Americans that actually have jobs. When it goes up that is good. When it goes down, that is bad. In July, the employment to population ratio dropped from 58.6 percent to 58.4 percent. Overall, the percentage of working age Americans that have jobs has now been under 59 percent for 35 months in a row.
The following is a chart of the employment to population ratio in the United States over the past 10 years….
The gray shaded bar in the chart represents the last recession as defined by the Federal Reserve. As you can see, the percentage of working age Americans with a job dropped sharply from nearly 63 percent at the start of 2008 to a little above 59 percent when the recession ended.
But the "employment rate" kept on dropping even further.
It finally bottomed out at 58.2 percent in December of 2009.
Since that time, it has stayed very steady. It has not fallen below 58 percent and it has not risen back above 59 percent.
This is very odd, because after ever other recession since World War II this number has always bounced back strongly.
But this has not happened this time.
In essence, it is starting to look like 4 percent of the working age population of the United States has been removed from the workforce permanently.
The good news in all of this is that things have at least not been getting any worse over the last couple of years. Even though things have been bad, at least we have had a period of relative stability.
The bad news is that the employment rate has not rebounded despite unprecedented borrowing and spending by the federal government and despite reckless money printing by the Federal Reserve.
Considering how desperately the federal government and the Federal Reserve have been trying to stimulate the economy, I truly did expect to see the employment rate bounce back at least a little bit by now.
Unfortunately it has not and now the U.S. economy is rapidly heading for another recession.
But Barack Obama is going to prance around over the next few days and talk about how wonderful it is that the economy created "163,000 new jobs" in July.
What he isn’t going to talk about are the millions of Americans that have been unemployed for so long that they don’t even "count" in the official unemployment numbers anymore.
But those people actually exist and they are really hurting. Many of them are starting to lose their unemployment benefits and they really do not know what they are going to do. The following is from a recent USA Today article….
Since abruptly losing her $312 weekly unemployment check in June, Laurie Cullinan has depleted her savings, sought food from the Salvation Army and lit candles to save electricity.
If she can’t find a job this month, the Royal Oak, Mich., resident worries she’ll be evicted from her apartment, an unthinkable prospect for the 52-year-old, who enjoyed a solidly middle-class lifestyle until she lost her office-manager job two years ago.
"What am I going to do if I’m homeless?" says Cullinan, who collected unemployment for 1½ years. "My mind won’t let me comprehend that."
Could you imagine having to face that?
What would you do if you were about to be tossed out on to the street?
When you add up all of the working age Americans without a job in the United States today, it comes to more than 100 million.
Some people have accused me of lying about that figure, but it is actually true.
There are more than 100 million working age Americans that are not employed right now.
And even if you do have a job that does not mean that you are doing well. As I wrote about yesterday, only 24.6 percent of all jobs in the United States today are good jobs.
The cost of living continues to rise much faster than wages are. Many families are having a really hard time just paying for the basics. The inflated standard of living that we have all enjoyed for so long is starting to disappear.
An increasing number of young people are living with their parents well past the age of 18 because there are not enough good jobs and it is just so hard to make it in this economy. If you can believe it, 24 percent of all Americans in the 20 to 34 year old age bracket are living at home with their parents at this point.
But we will be seeing a lot more of this as the economy gets even worse. "Multi-generational households" will become very common, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps this will give some families a chance to do some bonding.
Meanwhile, many of our once great cities continue to rot and decay at a staggering pace. Today, I saw one report that discussed how the city of Detroit has become a dumping ground for dead bodies.
How sad is that?
Detroit was once the envy of the world and now it is a place where murder victims are dumped.
These are all indications of just how far we have fallen.
But things are going to get a lot worse, so we should actually be thankful for the period of relative stability that we are enjoying right now.
The long-term economic collapse that we are experiencing right now will soon accelerate. Eventually even the highly manipulated official "unemployment rate" will soar well up into the double digits.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch … -recession
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:04 am
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