A huge share of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.
A Few Companies Have Power Over Most of the Real Economy
The idea that the few dominate the many will not come as news to those gathered either to occupy wall street or to occupy everywhere. But up until now it has been just an intuition that a few corporations control the world.
Not any more. A team of Swiss mathematicians just proved that out of over 43,000 transnational corporations (TNCs), relatively few control almost 80% of the global economy. Find out who has the power below…
From credit unions to online and pawn lenders, alternative finance firms are gaining traction as banks turn off the tap for easy cash and start charging fees for services that customers have had for free.
A leading cause of trouble in the bedroom is unemployment. With the jobless rate stuck at more than 9 percent, studies show that unemployment is taking a toll on all stages of relationships – from courting to marriage, and of course, to divorce. Instead of the traditional arch of a relationship, the trajectory of unemployed love looks a whole lot different.
The number of Americans who lack access to basic necessities like food and health care is now higher than it was at the peak of the Great Recession, a survey released Thursday found. And in a finding that could worsen fears of U.S. decline, the share of Americans struggling to put food on the table is now three times as large as the share of the Chinese population in the same position.
Is this the New Normal? Incomes have fallen since the new millennium began and aren’t expected to catch up until 2021, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists’ forecasts.
Numerous studies demonstrate that 70-80% of all new products fail. Lack of relevance, lack of differentiation, inappropriate pricing and muddled messaging all factor into a brand’s struggle when launching a new product.
However, the ultimate judgment of new products falls to consumers, who, ironically, are often absent from the development process. That development stage stands the greatest chance of generating transformative new ideas early on, before the brand has made a significant investment…
It has become cheaper for banks to demolish forclosed property than to continue to hold onto it.
The sight of excavators tearing down vacant buildings has become common in the foreclosure-ravaged city of Cleveland. The housing crisis hit this area early and hard. But the story behind the recent wave of demolitions is novel — and cities around the country are taking notice.
The U.S. birth rate has fallen sharply since hitting a high in 2007.
There is further evidence to add to the theory that the nation’s economic hard times have caused some families to delay having kids, according to a new report.
More money is spent on health insurance but less money is spent on care.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show more money is being spent on health insurance but less on care. Americans are spending more money on insurance premiums, and they’re spending less out of pocket on health services. The trend doesn’t reflect patients getting more health coverage for their insurance money, experts say. It reflects patients, even those with insurance, avoiding spending cash on health care they think can be put off.
The program was supposed to train 125,000 workers, but only 53,000 have been “trained” so far.
The story of the green jobs subisdy gets more embarrassing by the day. President Obama promised three years ago that by the end of the decade America would have five million green jobs, but so far some $90 billion in government spending has delivered very few.