Category Archives: Business & Economy
Morgan Stanley: Ford To Announce 25,000 Job Cuts
After Ford successfully spun its latest “restructuring” as a jobs-neutral, union-endorsed shifting of employees from one factory to another, one analyst at Morgan Stanley is calling “bulls***”, writing in a report published Monday that the Detroit automaker could soon announce an even larger round of job cuts than rival GM.
Read more
Gas Prices Slide To Lowest Since March As Shale Production Soars
After months of rising prices at the pump, the American consumer is finally starting to feel some relief thanks to the drop in oil prices.
Read moreBlack Friday Has Brick-and-Mortar Stores Seeing Red
Legacy brick-and-mortar retailers have found themselves falling behind this Thanksgiving season as the Black Friday “holiday” moves closer to becoming an online exclusive event. Digital spending is estimated to possibly exceed $6.4 billion on Friday, which would be higher than last year’s Cyber Monday totals.
Read moreMiddle Class Destruction: Suicide Rates Soar Among American Workers
Suicide rates are rapidly expanding in almost every state, as it now becomes the 10th leading cause of death in the US and is one of three leading reasons that are on the rise. The CDC discovered that in recent years suicide rates were the highest among males in construction jobs and the highest for females working in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Is the evisceration of the middle class over the last thirty years finally taking its toll?
Read moreNew Report Warns Retailers Could See Weak Holiday Sales
Consumers might not be able to save the economy which is expected to enter a slowdown in early 2019. Consumer credit cards and debt have recently hit all-time highs, during a period of rising interest rates which could create a squeeze, thus reducing their ability to buy things this upcoming holiday season.
Read moreDeficits Do Matter: Debt Payments Will Consume Trillions of Dollars in Coming Years
In coming years, interest payments on debt will increasingly pull money away from programs like Medicare and military spending.
Read moreThe Pension Bomb [VIDEO]
State and local governments face a $5 trillion dollar unfunded pension liability. In other words, politicians promised workers $5 trillion in retirement benefits, but government doesn’t have the money.
Read more7 Million Americans Are About To Get An Artificial Boost To Their FICO Scores
A new FICO scoring system is about to roll out in 2019. The new score is going to be called the UltraFICO and is being designed to specifically boost the number of approvals for credit cards and loans just as consumer debt is about to reach an all-time high of $4 trillion by the end of 2018.
Read moreSubprime Loans Are Back, Proving We Have Learned Nothing from 2008
Subprime loans are back. Many are claiming that this time will be different than the last. This should concern just about everyone.
Read moreWho Will Benefit The Most From Sears’ Collapse?
According to Morgan Stanley, while Sears Holdings Corp’s market share is dwindling, the bank estimates $2.8b in Apparel, $2.7b in Appliance, ~$2b in Consumer Electronics and ~$0.6b in Home Improvement sales up for grabs. Here’s who will benefit the most from picking it up.
Read moreUS Spending On Interest Hits All Time High As Budget Deficit In Trump’s First Year Soars To $779 Billion
To fund the deficit, the U.S. government borrowed $1.08 trillion from the public in Fiscal 2018, more than double the amount borrowed in 2017 ($498.3 billion) and the most borrowed from the public in a fiscal year since FY’12.
Read moreAuto Tariffs Could Increase Cost of New Cars by $4,400
According to research by the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR), 25 percent auto tariffs will cost Americans dearly.
Read moreTrump To Announce $200 Billion In New China Tariffs As Soon As Monday
Trump plans to announce new tariffs on up to $200 billion in Chinese goods as soon as Monday in a move that will prompt an immediate retaliation from China, and may lead to a sharply lower futures open on Sunday night.
Read moreTrade War Could Affect 11 Million US Blue-Collar Workers
President Trump’s trade war with China is expected to last much longer than initially thought — extending into the second half of 2019, experts state. The Main reason: neither Washington nor Beijing want to appear politically weak at home, and both are prepared to absorb economic pain…
Read moreAverage New Car Payment Hits Record High $525 Per Month
Automotive loan amounts and monthly payments continue to reach record highs, but US consumers seem unfazed. According to Experian’s latest State of the Automotive Finance Market report, Americans are paying an all time high monthly payment for both a new and a used car and assuming a larger amount of debt to make it happen as affordability continues to decline.
Read moreOne Million Americans Default On Their Student Loans Each Year, Report Reveals
More than one million American student loan borrowers default on their debt each year, a new report says. That means by 2023, approximately 40 percent of borrowers are expected to default.
Read moreIs JCPenney The Next Big Store Chain To Disappear?
JCPenney has been around for over 100 years. But, is it going to be the next casualty in the line of mall and department store closures?
Read moreBankrupt America: A Fragile Nation Grappling With Unprecedented Debt Problems
Consumer bankruptcies are surging, corporate debt has doubled since the last financial crisis, state and local government debt loads have never been higher, and the federal government has been adding more than a trillion dollars a year to the federal debt ever since Barack Obama entered the White House. On top of everything else, everyone else around the world has been on a massive debt binge as well. Unfortunately, all debt bubbles must burst eventually, and the one that we are in right now is definitely on borrowed time.
Read more“A Stealth Mortgage On Your House” – The Reality Of The Looming Pension Crisis
State taxes are collected on four economic activities: consumption (sales tax), labor and investment (income tax) and real-estate ownership (property tax). The affluent can escape sales and income taxes by moving to a new state—but real estate stays behind. Property values must ultimately support the obligations that politicians have promised, even if those obligations aren’t properly funded, because real estate is the only source of state and local revenue that can’t pick up and move elsewhere. Whether or not unfunded obligations are paid with property taxes, it’s the property that backs the obligations in the end.
Read more“Their Wealth Has Vanished”: Baby Boomers File For Bankruptcy In Droves
An alarming number of older Americans are being forced into bankruptcy, as the rate of people 65 and older who have filed has never been higher – at three times what it was in 1991, while the rate of bankruptcies among Americans age 65 and older has more than doubled, according to a new study by the The Bankruptcy Project.
Read more