Alan Simpson: Social Security Is 'A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits': Simpson's "disdain for the very program he claims he is trying to protect" makes him unfit for a leadership position on the commission, which is considering cuts to Social Security. US home sales plunge to 15-year low: Sales of existing homes fell to an annual rate of 3.83 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. That was a more than 27 per cent drop from last year, and far worse than analysts expected: The consensus forecast was for a 13 per cent decline. Florida Condo For Price Of A Car? Video report Credit card debt drops to lowest level in 8 years: Average debt on bank-issued credit cards fell 13.4 percent to $4,951 between April and June, down from $5,719 during the same period a year ago, according to TransUnion, a credit reporting agency. Consumer Spending Woes Spark Retail Store Closures: Consumer spending remains weak, and as a result major retailers across the country – including big names such as Blockbuster (PINK: BLOK), Winn Dixie (NASDAQ: WINN) and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) – are shuttering stores UK: Government urged to reveal 'true' national debt of £4.8 trillion: The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has calculated that the national debt is £4.8 trillion once state and public sector pension liabilities are included, or £78,000 for every person in the UK. US July Existing Home Sales Plunge 27.2%: -Existing home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in July as inventories soared, painting a grim picture for the housing market absent government support in a stubbornly sluggish economy. Housing in 'Double-Dip': Economist Zandi: Home prices fell 5.1 percent in June to an annualized pace of 5.37 million homes, the weakest since March. David Rosenberg: Prepare For Another 4-5 Million Job Cuts: Balance sheets, production, order books and staffing requirements are all rightsizing to this new semi- permanent landscape of reduced credit availability Georgia's tax structure doesn't bring in enough money to pay for services: The report says Georgia will come up $1.5 billion to $2.1 billion short during each of the next five years. On top of this, the state is currently using $1.6 billion in federal stimulus money that runs out next July.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
"Enron Accounting" Has Bankrupted America:
By Peter Gorenstein
The “real” deficit - including non-budgetary items like unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the defense budget - is actually $202 trillion, the professor and author calculates; or 15 times the “official" numbers. Continue
By Matthew Brown
Investors face defaults on government bonds given the burden of aging populations and the difficulty of increasing tax revenue, according to a Morgan Stanley executive director. Continue
By Naomi Wolf
I was stunned by what seemed from the emails to be a systemic practice. Why would a bank want to perpetuate bank fraud rather than fight it? Continue
Housing Holocaust:
By Mike Whitney:
Today's bleak housing numbers are not the result of a "cyclical downturn", but of a crime perpetrated on the American people. There must accountability. Someone's gotta pay! Continue
Stock Market Crash Omen Confirmed
By Steven Russolillo
The Omen has been behind every market crash since 1987, but significant stock-market declines have followed only 25% of the time. So there’s a high likelihood that the Omen could be nothing more than a false signal. Continue
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