Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Depression’ Category

Personal bankruptcy up 30% nationally

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 10th, 2008

Its just the beginning:

Utah may have escaped much of the pain from the nationwide economic downturn so far, but thousands of the state’s residents have not been as lucky.
    The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah reported Wednesday that 4,216 Utahns and businesses in the state filed for bankruptcy protection during the first half of this year, a 42 percent increase over the first six months of 2007.
    “Our [bankruptcy] numbers continue to increase,” U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah clerk David Sime said, adding the number of petitions filed with the court appears to be on a steady upward trend.
    Nationally, U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings increased 30 percent during the first six months of 2008, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, a Virginia-based organization that provides research and analysis of issues related to insolvencies.
    “The overall trend of rising bankruptcies reflects the growing financial strain felt by U.S. households burdened by high debt, rising mortgage costs and falling home values,” said Sam Gerdano, the ABI’s executive director.
    Bankruptcy filings nationwide plummeted in 2005 after Congress adopted reform legislation intended to make it more difficult for consumers to avoid paying their debts. Since that initial plunge, however, bankruptcy filings in Utah and the other states have increased significantly.

Economic ‘misery’ more widespread

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 14th, 2008

Some experts argue that true inflation and unemployment - the components of the economy’s ‘Misery Index’ - are higher than the government’s official figures.

Really…

Americans are feeling a lot more economic pain than the government’s official statistics would lead you to believe, according to a growing number of experts.

They argue that figures for unemployment and inflation are being understated by the government.

Unemployment and inflation are typically added together to come up with a so-called “Misery Index.”

The “Misery Index” was often cited during periods of high unemployment and inflation, such as the mid 1970s and late 1970s to early 1980s.

And some fear the economy may be approaching those levels again.

The official numbers produce a current Misery Index of only 8.9 - inflation of 3.9% plus unemployment of 5%. That’s not far from the Misery Index’s low of 6.1 seen in 1998.

But using the estimates on CPI and unemployment from economists skeptical of the government numbers, the Misery Index is actually in the teens. Some worry it could even approach the post-World War II record of 20.6 in 1980.

“We’re looking at government numbers that are really out of whack,” said Kevin Phillips, author of the book “Bad Money.”

What I Saw in America

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 5th, 2008

Paper tiger:

According to this story appearing today, the Secretary-General of OPEC now foresees a time within the decade when oil will no longer be priced in dollars. Like kicking a lumbering giant who has fallen down, this ill- (or well-) timed disclosure could send the U.S. economy further into a severe tailspin. If not immediately, it presages the end of the American Century and the final destruction of an already broken and broke U.S. economy.

Moving back with mom and dad…at 52

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 16th, 2008

Learn to tell them “no” at a very young age:

After being laid off from her job as an events planner at an upscale resort, Jo Ann Bauer struggled financially. She worked at several lower-paying jobs, relocated to a new city and even declared bankruptcy.

Then in December, she finally accepted her parents’ invitation to move into their home — at age 52. “I’m back living in the bedroom that I grew up in,” she said.

Taking shelter with parents isn’t uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially when the job market is poor. But now the slumping economy and the credit crunch are forcing some children to do so later in life — even in middle age.

Financial planners report receiving many calls from parents seeking advice about taking in their grown children following divorces and layoffs.

Kim Foss Erickson, a financial planner in Roseville, Calif., north of Sacramento, said she has never seen older children, even those in their 50s, depending so much on their parents as in the last six months.

“This is not like, ‘OK, my son just graduated from college and needs to move back in’ type of thing,” she said. “These are 40- and 50-year-old children of my clients that they’re helping out.”

Parents “jeopardize their financial freedom by continuing to subsidize their children,” said Karin Maloney Stifler, a financial planner in Hudson, Ohio, and a board member of the Financial Planning Association. “We have a hard time saying no as a culture to our children, and they keep asking for more.”

Copper is the new underground currency

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 16th, 2008

More signs of the times:

The gang descended on the house on Penn Avenue like carrion, ripping open wall board and gutting it of copper. They severed the pipes connected to the gas furnace and water heater, then hit the kitchen sink. Piles of lath lay at the foot of the stairs, the wall torn open to expose the upstairs bathroom.

By the time officer Richard Jackson knocked down the door, the gang was gone — along with most of the home’s copper.

Jackson, who’s largely in charge of fighting the growing copper theft trade in Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct, stepped gingerly around piles of trash, beer bottles, fresh dog feces, dead mice and used condoms.

“Welcome to my world,” he said.

Copper is the new underground currency. Its price has soared to more than $3 a pound, making it a worthwhile target of both novice scavengers and highly organized rings that hit several houses a day, pulling in as much as $20,000 a month. No longer just a nuisance, copper thieves are ransacking neighborhoods and often staying one step ahead of police.

12 ways to prepare for depression #2

Posted by patriot on April 12th, 2008

A good list.

IMF says US crisis is ‘largest financial shock since Great Depression’

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 10th, 2008

More “no kidding!” reporting from the Guardian: 

America’s mortgage crisis has spiralled into “the largest financial shock since the Great Depression” and there is now a one-in-four chance of a full-blown global recession over the next 12 months, the International Monetary Fund warned today.

The US is already sliding into what the IMF predicts will be a “mild recession” but there is mounting pessimism about the ability of the rest of the world to escape unscathed, the IMF said in its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook. Britain is particularly vulnerable, it warned, as it slashed its growth targets for both the US and the UK.

The report made it clear that there will be no early resolution to the global financial crisis.

More…

3rd World Status: A Pink Slip Away

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 10th, 2008

Thanks for the hard work…YOU’RE FIRED!

The U.S. is on life support from foreign nations. The Chinese, Arabs, East Indians, Japanese et al, loan us approximately $3 Billion per day in an attempt to keep us treading water. More than 3 Million jobs have been lost in industry and farming continues its slide to corporate ownership.

There are between 12 and 15 million known illegals in the U.S.. Medicare is slated to fail within 10 years. Personal savings remain negative for the third consecutive year (never before seen in our history). The first of 78,000,000 baby boomers became eligible for social security in January.

The national debt has increased by 1000% in the last 25 years to $9 Trillion and we have become the largest debtor nation on earth. Middle America is being selectively wiped out by our own countries trade policies. What have we done?

Some how, some way, Middle America has to awaken to these and other discouraging facts; life as we know it for this class of Americans is in the balance. Not one of our current presidential candidates has a viable plan for saving Middle America. They are totally and completely beholden to special interests…rich special interests.

Continued…

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