You didn’t think that state governments would rack up all of this debt without eventually coming after your money, did you? In 2011, dozens of U.S. states are either implementing tax increases that have already been passed or are debating new tax increases that have recently been proposed. In most states, the actual state income tax is not being raised. State politicians have learned that voters really tend to get angry when that happens. Rather, our politicians on the state level are looking for taxes and fees that won’t be “noticed” that they can raise. For example, cigarette taxes, alcohol taxes, gas taxes, carbonated beverage taxes and phone taxes get raised a lot because the voters do not pay them directly to the government and typically they do not get noticed as much. Another huge area where state politicians love to raise money is through various “fees”. For instance, millions of Americans have noticed that car registration fees and license fees have absolutely soared in recent years. Instead of our politicians coming at us with one big, huge tax increase that we would surely notice, they are hitting us with dozens of smaller tax hikes and fee increases that they are hoping we will not get upset about. The truth is that the average American pays literally dozens of different kinds of taxes each year, and it still isn’t nearly enough to cover the horrific debts that our politicians have piled up. (Read More...)
Economic Crisis
For Millions Of Senior Citizens The Only Future They Have To Look Forward To Is One Filled With Debt And Poverty
In America today, millions upon millions of senior citizens are very deep in debt. In fact, more elderly Americans than ever before are going bankrupt. Millions of others are living in extreme poverty or are just barely getting by on meager fixed incomes. Meanwhile, the price of food is going up, the price of gasoline is going up, the cost of heating homes is going up and health insurance premiums are absolutely soaring. Millions of our senior citizens suddenly find themselves financially squeezed more than they ever have been in their entire lives. Unfortunately, at the same time all of this is happening, our government officials are realizing that they simply don’t have the money to keep the financial promises that they have been making to our retirees. Sadly, what this all means is that for millions of our senior citizens, the only future they have to look forward to is one filled with debt, poverty and financial pain. (Read More...)
30 Reasons Why 2011 Is Going To Be Another Crappy Year For America’s Middle Class
Do you think that 2011 will be a good year for America’s middle class? Well, you might not be so optimistic after you read the 30 statistics posted below. The truth is that 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America’s middle class, and there is not a whole lot that you or I can do about it. Sadly, what we are facing as a nation is not just a short-term economic downturn. Rather, there are some very serious long-term economic trends that are absolutely ripping apart the U.S. middle class. For example, did you know that even though our population has been growing at a brisk pace we have lost about ten percent of our middle class jobs over the past decade? The vast majority of jobs that have been created have been low paying service jobs. We now have hordes of highly educated young people that are waiting tables and that are welcoming customers to Wal-Mart. Without good paying jobs there is no middle class, but today American corporations are actually creating more jobs overseas than they are inside the United States. This has helped pad the profits of the big corporate fatcats, but it has been devastating for middle class communities across the United States. Every time a factory gets closed down in America and gets set up in some other country instead, it means that the U.S. middle class is shrinking just a little bit more. The new “global economy” has been good for the bottom line of the largest U.S. corporations, it has been great for countries like China and India, but it is absolutely wiping out the U.S. middle class. (Read More...)
In 2011 The Baby Boomers Start To Turn 65: 16 Statistics About The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Drop Your Jaw
Do you hear that rumble in the distance? That is the Baby Boomers – they are getting ready to retire. On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turn 65. Millions upon millions of them are rushing towards retirement age and they have been promised that the rest of us are going to take care of them. Only there is a huge problem. We don’t have the money. It simply isn’t there. But the millions of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire are counting on that money to be there. This all comes at a really bad time for a federal government that is already flat broke and for a national economy that is already teetering on the brink of disaster. (Read More...)
9 Signs That The Price Of Oil In 2011 Will Soar Well Beyond 100 Dollars A Barrel
Will we see the price of oil rise significantly in 2011? Unfortunately, that appears to be precisely where we are headed. Despite stubbornly high unemployment and a very sluggish economy in the United States, the price of oil continues to creep upward. Part of it can be attributed to the fact that the U.S. dollar and other major currencies are continuing to lose value relative to all commodities, and part of it can be attributed to the continuing rise in the global demand for oil. But those factors alone do not explain what we are seeing. Expectations are a very powerful thing, especially for financial markets, and right now there is an overwhelming consensus that oil prices are going to rise in 2011. The big oil companies, the big oil exporting nations and the big investment banks are nearly all in agreement that a higher price for oil is coming and the speculators smell money and are starting to jump on to the bandwagon. (Read More...)
Bye Bye American Pie: 10 Reasons Why America’s Economic Pie Is Rapidly Shrinking
All over the mainstream media today, the wealthy are being pitted against the poor. Those advocating for the wealthy claim that if we could just cut the taxes for the rich and make things easier for them that they will create lots of jobs for the rest of us. Those advocating for the poor claim that the gap between the rich and the poor is now larger than ever and that if we could just get the workers to fight for their rights that we could get things back to how they used to be. It is a very interesting debate, but it totally ignores a reality that is even more important. America’s economic pie is rapidly shrinking. As part of the new globalist economy, every single month massive amounts of U.S. wealth is being transferred out of the United States and into foreign hands in exchange for oil and cheap plastic trinkets. In addition, every single month our national government goes into more debt, our state governments go into more debt and our local governments go into more debt. The interest on all of this debt represents a tremendous transfer of wealth. What most Americans fail to grasp is that our collective wealth is getting smaller. There is now less of an “economic pie” for all of us to divide up. (Read More...)
16 Shocking Facts About The Student Loan Debt Bubble And The Great College Education Scam
As you read this, there are over 18 million students enrolled at the nearly 5,000 colleges and universities currently in operation across the United States. Many of these institutions of higher learning are now charging $20,000, $30,000 or even $40,000 a year for tuition and fees. That does not even count living expenses. Today it is 400% more expensive to go to college in the United States than it was just 30 years ago. Most of these 18 million students have been told over and over that a “higher education” is the key to getting a good job and living the American Dream. They have been told not to worry about how much it costs and that there is plenty of financial aid (mostly made up of loans) available. Now our economy is facing the biggest student loan debt bubble in the history of the world, and when our new college graduates enter the “real world” they are finding out that the good jobs they were promised are very few and far between. As millions of Americans wake up and start realizing that the tens of thousands of dollars that they have poured into their college educations was mostly a waste, will the great college education scam finally be exposed? (Read More...)
Will The Obama Tax Cut Deal Save The Economy? NO!!
All over Washington D.C., top Republicans and Obama administration officials are running around declaring that the tax cut deal that was just passed will save the U.S. economy. But is this even partially true? Of course not! Mostly, what the “tax cut deal” does is keep tax rates exactly where they already are. Now, many of us are extremely thankful that we will not be paying higher taxes, but the truth is that if these tax cuts were going to “save the economy” they would already be saving it. Yes, this tax cut deal will provide a minor short-term stimulus to the economy, but it will also add $858 billion (some say closer to $1 trillion) to the projected federal budget deficits over the next two years. You see, this tax cut deal contained “all candy and no spinach”. In other words, the tax cuts were not accompanied by corresponding spending cuts, and that is going to lead to big trouble in the long run. (Read More...)