Millions upon millions of Americans are struggling with paying their bloated mortgages right now. So is it fair for the U.S. government to be giving money to some people (but not to others) to help them pay their mortgages? Well, it turns out that U.S. citizens in 10 states will soon be receiving money as part of a $2.1 billion federal program to help distressed homeowners pay their mortgages. But is this fair? Why will only citizens in 10 states by getting funds? What about the other 40 states? Well, the money for this mortgage relief program is going to come from a special fund within the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) known as the “Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets”. In other words, people in the areas where housing prices have fallen the most are going to get help living the American Dream, and everyone else is out of luck. (Read More...)
10 Facts About Crime In The United States That Will Blow Your Mind
Many Americans are already painfully aware that violent crime is experiencing a massive upsurge in the United States. As the U.S. economy has tanked and as unemployment has skyrocketed, many Americans have found themselves becoming increasingly desperate. Hard economic times usually lead to an increase in crime, but what is happening across the U.S. now is absolutely stunning. In economically-troubled areas such as Detroit crime statistics are climbing into the stratosphere. In fact, there are many communities in the United States where it is simply not safe to go out at night anymore. Millions of Americans find themselves prisoners in their own homes as they lock themselves in their houses in an attempt to keep the crime out. The truth is that it is really hard to live the American Dream when there is a raging crime wave going on right outside your door. The truly frightening thing is that crime is almost certainly going to get even worse as economic conditions continue to deteriorate. (Read More...)
Generation Y: The Broke Generation
No group in America has been hit harder during the current recession than young adults. Millions of Americans are graduating from college with virtually no money, lots of debt and with very dim employment prospects. Those who don’t go to college are even worse off. All their lives these young Americans were taught if they studied hard, got an education and worked within the system that good jobs and the American Dream would be waiting for them. But now millions of them are realizing that all of their studying and hard work is not providing them with the rewards that they always thought they would get. This is causing large numbers of young American adults to become depressed and disillusioned. In fact, record numbers of them are moving back in with their parents. But without decent jobs, what are they supposed to do? (Read More...)
American Deadbeats
Is the current economic crisis creating a generation of American deadbeats? Once upon a time in America, we were taught that no matter how much financial trouble we get in we pay our debts – no matter what. But now that has fundamentally changed. Today, record numbers of Americans are filing for bankruptcy and a new term had to be invented (“strategic defaults”) to describe the large number of people who are making “business decisions” to walk away from underwater mortgages. Meanwhile, many of these same individuals who are walking away from their debts are spending big money on cruises, vacations and new cars – as if they were still entitled to all of the good things that come with living the American Dream. Below you will read some incredibly disgusting examples of this. It is as if a whole generation of Americans has decided that “financial responsibility” is a problem that they don’t care to be bothered with. But what is it going to do to the U.S. financial system if we can no longer count on people to honor their debts? (Read More...)
The Federal Reserve And U.S. Treasury Unveil The New 100 Dollar Bill
The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury have unveiled the new 100 dollar bill which will go into circulation starting on February 10th, 2011. Officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve System and the United States Secret Service held a press conference in Washington D.C. today to show off the new security features which they hope will reduce the threat of counterfeiting. The 100 dollar bill is the highest denomination of all Federal Reserve notes currently being produced, and circulation of the 100 dollar Federal Reserve note in the past 25 years has grown from $180 billion to approximately $650 billion, so maintaining the integrity of the note is absolutely critical. (Read More...)
The Foreclosure Crisis
Those who believe that the U.S. real estate crash is over are delusional. The truth is that all the numbers point to the foreclosure crisis getting worse – not better. Many of the talking heads on the major news shows want to make the American people feel better about the real estate market and are projecting that things will soon turn around, but a cold, hard look at the statistics tells an entirely different story. Foreclosures are increasing and there is every indication that they will continue to increase. According to RealtyTrac, initial foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March, an increase of almost 19 percent from the previous month. It was also the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report on initial foreclosure filings in January 2005. (Read More...)
14 Pieces Of Really Bad News For The U.S. Economy
Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh told an audience on Friday that the U.S. economy is in the midst of a cyclical recovery and that there are “encouraging” signs of improvement in financial markets. Many other governmental and media talking heads have uttered similar pronouncements about a “recovery” which will put the U.S. economy back on track. But are we really experiencing a recovery? If so, then why are foreclosures still hitting record levels? Why is unemployment so high? Why are so many cities and states on the verge of bankruptcy? Why are so many average Americans hurting so much? The truth is that what we are experiencing now is a period of stabilization before the “second dip” of the double-dip recession so many economists have been talking about hits. What the U.S. economy is actually in the midst of is a complete and total structural failure. The American Dream is going to permanently die for millions of American families. Millions more are going to lose their jobs and millions more are going to lose their homes. This is what we get for piling up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world and outsourcing much of our manufacturing and industry to places like China and India. Now we are an aging, bloated dinosaur trying to survive on a service economy and the biggest debt bubble of all time. (Read More...)
11 Examples Of How Insanely Corrupt The U.S. Financial System Has Become
If you ask most Americans, they will agree that the financial system is corrupt. It is generally assumed that just like most politicians, most big bankers are corrupt by nature. But the truth is that the vast majority of Americans have no idea just how corrupt the U.S. financial system has become. The reality is that the American Dream is literally being stolen from millions of Americans right out from under their noses and they don’t even realize it. The corruption on Wall Street has become so deep and so vast that it is hard to even find the words to describe it. The level of greed being displayed by many Wall Street firms would make Gordon Gecko blush. It seems that the major financial players will try just about anything these days – as long as they think they can get away with it. But in the process they are contributing to the destruction of the greatest economic machine that the planet has ever seen. (Read More...)