More people making do with less... 8/28/2011

More people making do with less
The Washington Post Business with Bloomberg
Sources: University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, Bureau of Economic Analysis, R.L. Polk.
Graphics: The Washington Post. Published August 28, 2011.























Americans have expected to see their incomes grow from year to year. But that optimism has faded since the recession, and they now expect to make no more next year than they did this year. Their caution is one of the reasons the economic recovery has been slow and tentative. They're driving their cars longer, and they're not spending the way they did before. Moreover, while consumer spending had been recovering, it has slumped in recent months, stirring fears of another recession.

SEE THE ORIGINAL GRAPHICS HERE

READ THE PARENT ARTICLE HERE:
Consumer fears put economy on the brink

The Heart of the Matter - by Invictus, Aug 26, 2011

The Heart of the Matter
By Invictus - August 26th, 2011, 11:30AM

Some of the factors that have landed us in the mess we're in have been building for decades, and there's ample evidence on which to draw to demonstrate that fact. In looking at a few of these issues, I'll draw on some charts I've presented both here and elsewhere before. A couple are replicated from this outstanding study in January's Monthly Labor Review (MLR).

Let's begin by referencing a recent piece by Stephen Roach that accurately assesses what's really wrong with our current economy, summed up in one number:

The number is 0.2%. It is the average annualized growth of U.S. consumer spending over the past 14 quarters – calculated in inflation-adjusted terms from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2011. Never before in the post-World War II era have American consumers been so weak for so long. This one number encapsulates much of what is wrong today in the U.S. – and in the global economy.

CLICK THIS LINK OR THE TITLE LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?

USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?
By Kristina Cooke
Reuters – 22 August 2011

There are now almost 46 million people in the U.S. on food stamps, roughly 15 percent of the population. That's an increase of 74 percent since 2007, just before the financial crisis and a deep recession led to mass job losses.

The cost has doubled to reach $68 billion in 2010 -- more than a third of the amount the U.S. government received in corporate income taxes last year -- which means the program has started to attract the attention of some Republican lawmakers looking for ways to cut the nation's budget deficit.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
This article documents the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots. 15% of the U.S. population is on food stamps, at an annual cost of $68 Billion. Prediction: Walmart parking lots will soon feature pay toilets, showers, laundromats and mini-hotels converted from shipping containers.

High Frequency Trading May Magnify Market Woes

Is High Frequency Trading Adding to Stock Woes?
abcnews.go.com
Some experts say that of computer driven high frequency trading is partially responsible for accelerating the market up and down

By MICHAEL ONO, ABC News
Aug. 11, 2011

This week's market flux is not identical to the flash crash of 2010 but experts believe that computer-driven high frequency trading is partially responsible for accelerating stock gyrations.

It has been a rollercoaster week for stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 600 points on Monday in reaction to U.S. debt downgrade by Standard & Poor's, then jumped 429 points on news from the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, but dove back down 520 points on Wednesday in reaction to bank stock worries in France.

My comment...
Nearly three quarters of all stock market trades are done by high-speed computers running programmed trading algorithms, taking advantage of tiny stock mispricings. Round-trip trades (buy+sell) often take less than a second. Market swings are amplified enormously.

Stop coddling the super-rich, Warren Buffett says

Stop coddling the super-rich, Warren Buffett says
Billionaire urges lawmakers to raise taxes on rich to help cut budget deficit
REUTERS News Service
8/15/2011 11:07:11 AM ET

Billionaire Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers Monday to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...

Do you think Congress is embarrassed by Warren Buffett chiding them about coddling the super-rich?

* * * * *

PRES. OBAMA SAYS WARREN BUFFETT IS RIGHT ABOUT TAXES !!
By Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Jason McLure in New Hampshire
Reuters – Mon, Aug 15, 2011

CANNON FALLS, Minnesota (Reuters) - Small-town Americans probably don't make as much money as Warren Buffett, but they pay more of their income in taxes, President Barack Obama said on Monday, citing the billionaire investor to argue that the government needs more revenues to balance the budget.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

My comment...
Isn't it nice that Pres. Obama agrees with Warren Buffett? And isn't it a shame that, when Pres. Obama had his super majority in the Senate and a majority in the House, and could pass any legislation he wanted, instead of revising and simplifying the tax code, or passing a financial regulatory bill with some teeth, he chose to give us an expensive (and controversial) universal health system bill that is now being challenged in federal court?

It's Friday and you got paid so we're even.

Jack Welch
former GE CEO, talking about corporate loyalty
on a General Electric Motivational Video

I was working for GE back then. That was actually an excerpt from a company motivational video, if you can imagine that.

Welch took over as CEO in the early 80s and he set about trying to change the company personality which was more crusty and stodgy than anything you could imagine. His first act was to cut the staff at corporate HQ by about 1/3. Then he turned to his VPs and told them to do the same starting at the top and working their way down. Boy, did they ever.

One thing he started for all the rest of us was a process called Work-Out. The idea was to break out into small teams to study some aspect of the work environment like paperwork for purchasing or stocking stationary supplies. But that wasn't all. We were told to question everything, and during one of these sessions the employee team could ask any question and management had to answer without the typical evasion dance.

There were things like three levels of parking privileges, which was a caste system that had existed for almost a century. We got that eliminated by challenging managers to answer why they thought they were more in need of closer parking spaces. Soon afterwards the senior VP and I were parking in the same lot. There were tons of things like that.

So at many of the Work-Out sessions Jack Welch himself would show up and he always had a video crew to tape his comments, which were distributed throughout the company for all see, to prove the process was working. One guy, a machinist or plumber or whatever, in a city where blue collar jobs were being cut drastically, challenged Jack Welch on why he didn't think the company owed the community and the employees for their long standing loyalty and dedication.

That's when he dropped into truth-teller mode and said there was no loyalty owed by the company or by you. You were free to go at any time because if you had been paid on Friday, you and the company were even. Easy for him to say.

old_timer, Tuesday, August 10, 2004
source of the quote

It's Friday and you got paid so we're even.
Jack Welch, GE Motivational Video, Thursday, August 21, 2008
source of the quote

Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric, said something along the lines of, You work two weeks, you get paid on Friday, and then we're even.
source of the quote

Jack Welch once said If it's Friday and you got paid, you and the company are even.
source of the quote

Jack Welch of GE, when asked about corporate loyalty, replied It's Friday, you got paid, we're even.
source of the quote

Jack Welch was the CEO who publicly said: It's Friday, you got paid, we're even when asked about company loyalty. That attitude cuts both ways, and companies are not happy that the sheeple have woken up.
source of the quote

Why do programmers job-hop so often?
You can thank Jack Welch for that one. He proclaimed It's Friday, you got paid, so we're even and every manager since then has parroted that when convenient. Jack is legendary among (wannabe) CEOs and his books and sayings are studied by the managerial class.
source of the quote
Jack Welch Wikipedia page

I think it was Jack Welch who said (something like) It's Friday and you got paid so we're even.
Also works for the employee - It's Friday and I got paid so we're even.
MT Heart, Tuesday, August 10, 2004
source of the quote