US budget explained in simple to understand terms

Now, it does not take a rocket scientist to see that something does not add up here. Honestly, would you run your household budget like that?

How much money does it take to be in the top 1%?

Scores of fed up customers are ditching big banks

The nationwide "Move Your Money" and "Bank Transfer Day" are this Saturday, November 5. Since Bank of America and other big banks announced new debit card fees thousands of disgruntled customers across the nation started dumping their bank accounts in favor of not-for-profit community banks and credit unions which tend to have fewer and smaller fees. According to the Credit Union National Association over 650,000 new members have joined various credit unions in the last month alone and more than 4 out of 5 new credit union customers have stated the reason for the move being new bank fees and the "Bank Transfer Day". So far this amounts to a staggering $4.5 billion in new savings accounts that the big banks are not going to get their hands on. The Independent Community Bankers of America said they have seen an equally staggering increase of new inquiries and new customers. And all of this is happening even before the actual "Bank Transfer Day". With thousands more who have pledged to leave their big banks this Saturday we could see these numbers skyrocket by the end of the week. Imagine the possibilities...

In the meantime the Occupy Wall Street movement is holding its own "Dump Your Bank Day" on Tuesday, November 8. So it seems pretty likely that even more people will join this wave of defiance. Even though big banks decided not to introduce the new debit card fees after all the experts in the banking industry agree that more fees and higher existing fees will be rolling out soon as banks will need to look for other creative ways to make up for lost revenue. This may in turn push even more customers away. Is the commercial banking industry, as we know it today, heading for a speedy demise?

Here is what a few of our fellow citizens had to say about the whole situation, which really drives the point home:

"They take your deposits and use them to buy politicians to de-regulate, give them immunity, interest-free loans and bailouts. Then they turn around and charge you fees to make them even richer."

"Take your money to a credit union or a community bank that will use your money in your community and not to pervert the rule of law and fill their own pockets."

[CNN]

Haves and Have-Nots: statistics confirm growing disparity between the working classes

As the Occupy Wall Street movement embarks on its "Millionaire's March" to protest New York state's 2% millionaire tax set to expire at the end of 2011 here are a few enlightening facts about the wealthiest 1% of Americans:

- top 1% owns 40% of the national wealth (25 years ago they owned 33%)
- bottom 80% owns only 7% of national wealth
- top 1% takes home 24% of national income (in 1976 they took home only 9%)
- top 1% own half of all US stocks, bonds and mutual funds
- bottom 50% only own 0.5% of US stocks, bonds and mutual funds
- top 1% only have 5% of the national personal debt
- bottom 90% have a whooping 73% of the national debt
- top 1% take home a greater portion of national income than they ever have since 1920s

Now take a wild guess who does all the hard work for the 1% and who is underpaid and overworked?

[Yahoo Finance]

This is why Occupy Wall Street protesters are unhappy...

Still confused why Occupy Wall Street protesters are unhappy and what it is that they want? No worries this informative documentary should answer all your questions...

In short, people are fed up with the corporate America and the way most corporations have been conducting business. There is nothing wrong with making money responsibly in a way that makes this world a safer and better place for everyone, but this is hardly the case today. With their single focus been that of profiteering at any cost there is very little regard left for the environment or the people. Hiding behind hordes of scummy corporate lawyers most corporations have cut corners and engaged in unlawful activities in the name of profit alone. 'The Corporation' dwells into many different aspects of the corporate world and is perhaps one of the most important documentaries of our time. This should really be a part of the standard curriculum material taught in every school.

This is the one documentary that corporations like Nike, Monsanto, Bayer and many others do not want you to see! It is also a must see for any self-respecting citizen that likes to think on his own.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Wall Street is also a corporation that has one and only one goal in mind - to turn up a profit!



Memorable quotes from 'The Corporation':

Noam Chomsky: "Corporations were given the rights of immortal persons. But then special kinds of persons, persons who had no moral conscience. These are a special kind of persons, which are designed by law, to be concerned only for their stockholders. And not, say, what are sometimes called their stakeholders, like the community or the work force or whatever."

Michael Moore: "I believe the mistake that a lot of people make when they think about corporations, is they think you know, corporations are like us. They think they have feelings, they have politics, they have belief systems, they really only have one thing, the bottom line - how to make as much money as they can in any given quarter. That's it."

Dr. Robert Hare: "One of the questions that comes up periodically is to what extent could a corporation be considered to be psychopathic. And if we look at a corporation as a legal person, that it may not be that difficult to actually draw the transition between psychopathy in the individual to psychopathy in the corporation. We could go through the characteristics that define this disorder, one by one, to how they might apply to corporations. They would have all the characteristics, and, in fact, in many respects, the corporation of that sort is the proto-typical of a psychopath."

[IMDb]



If this is any indication of the Corporations's true intentions here is what the Bank of America's CEO Brian Moynihan had to say in defense of the new $5 monthly fee on debit card use:

"I have an inherent duty as a CEO of a publicly owned company to get a return for my shareholders" ... "they'll understand what we're doing - understand we have a right to make a profit."

What a feeble attempt to force people into a Credit Card trap! Here is how everyone can cast their vote on this issue - switch to a different bank that does not charge these fees.

[CNN Money]

1 in 6 Americans live in poverty according to Census Bureau

Points to take away from the latest Census Bureau report:
- poverty level highest since 1993
- another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in 2010
- a total of 46.2 million people are in poverty in the US (15.1% of the country)
- highest number in the 52 years that the Census Bureau has been tracking poverty
- for a family of 4 the poverty line was at $22,113 in 2010 (that's about $5k per person per year!)
- in 2010 the middle class median household income declined by 2.3% (to $49,400) as compared to 2009
- middle class income is now 7% less then it was in 1999 (when it was $53,252)
- we are well below where incomes were in the late 1990s
- median annual income for a full-time male worker in 2010 ($47,715) was less then it was in 1973 ($49,065) when adjusted for inflation
- young household members were affected the most
- for ages 15-24 the median income dropped 9%
- 45.3% of people ages 25-34 are living in poverty
- increasing numbers of Americans are doubling up in households with their friends and relatives; this is especially true for ages 25-34
- those without college degrees have been hit particularly hard
[This information is current as of September 2011]


Conclusions:
- rapidly growing and expanding lower class
- just as rapidly shrinking middle class
- the rich get richer (aka Congress)
- we are not out of the woods yet
- you can forget about economic recovery as its not happening any time soon
- young less educated adult males are not able to support their children or form families because they are jobless
- crime has been on the rise across the nation
- let's face it - no one has any idea how to fix the economy or this country's deficit - and even if they did there are plenty of people at the top that would not let this happen


Anybody else have any illusions about an economic recovery???


[read the full report at The New York Times]