The 'Main Street Journal'?

Because so much of the world is engrossed with the machinations of the Wall Street-Washington nexus, designed to ensure the eventual transformation of the United States into the world's leading banana republic, it seems like some have lost sight of the meltdown occurring in the real economy.

In today's Wall Street Journal -- which I've temporarily renamed the Main Street Journal because of the plethora of reports about the problems infecting that part of the economy that the man on the street really understands -- there were at least four stories detailing what appears to be an unfolding economic meltdown.

Here they are (with snippets from each):

"Consumers Cut Health Spending, As Economic Downturn Takes Toll"

As the credit crunch threatens to throw the economy into a deep slump, Americans are already cutting back on health care, a sector once thought to be invulnerable to recession. Spending on everything from doctors' appointments to preventive tests to prescription drugs is under pressure.

The number of prescriptions filled in the U.S. fell 0.5% in the first quarter and a steeper 1.97% in the second, compared with the same periods in 2007 -- the first negative quarters in at least a decade, according to data from market researcher IMS Health. Despite an aging and growing U.S. population, the number of physician office visits also has been declining since the end of 2006. Between July 2007 and 2008, the most recent month for which data are available, visits fell 1.2%, according to IMS.

In a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners last month, 22% of 686 consumers said that economy-related woes were causing them to go to the doctor less often. About 11% said they've scaled back on prescription drugs to save money. Some of the areas being hit include hip and knee replacements, mammograms, and visits to the emergency room, according to a survey conducted by D2Hawkeye Inc., a Waltham, Mass., medical data analytics firm, on behalf of The Wall Street Journal.

Since sales at the Sebring, Fla.-area car dealership where Christopher Pye works have dwindled, so have the commissions that were 40% of his income in good times. Barely able to afford his $850 monthly mortgage and pay for groceries, he says something had to give: his two young sons' annual medical checkups.

"It's just a little too expensive right now," says Mr. Pye, 32 years old, who says he can't afford to have his family on the company health plan or to pay up front for the visits. This month, Mr. Pye is canceling his own insurance, hoping the $56 he'll save in weekly premiums will pay for the exams of his boys, ages 3 and 4, later.

Health-policy experts say that patients' short-term care cutbacks could lead to more medical problems and higher spending down the road. As more people forgo screenings or wait until minor medical problems blow up into serious complications, hospital and emergency-room admissions could eventually spike.

"Once you've had that heart attack and end up in the hospital, that's when the expensive stuff begins," says Dana Goldman, director of health economics at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit research institute in Santa Monica, Calif.

Health-care companies say the current economic slump's impact on demand for medical services has been surprisingly swift. Laboratory Corp., the country's second-largest clinical lab-testing company by sales after Quest Diagnostics Inc., says the number of blood tests and other types of lab work it does for uninsured customers fell 8% in the second quarter, compared with the 1% quarterly growth it usually sees....

"Baby Boomers Delay Retirement"

Declines in Assets Force a Generation to Face New Reality

Nancy Davis, a 59-year-old senior marketing manager for a law firm in San Diego, had hoped to ease into her retirement after her son finishes college in two years.

But "I may be 70 before I retire at this point," she said Friday, after watching the markets take their toll on her 401(k). "It's very unnerving."

For millions of Americans approaching retirement, events of recent weeks are delivering a clear message: Not so fast. With nest eggs shrinking, housing prices still falling and anxieties about their financial future growing, the oldest members of the baby-boom generation are putting the brakes on plans to leave the office.

"We'll see more and more people postpone" their retirement dates, says Helga Cuthbert, a certified financial planner in Decatur, Ga., who spent a good part of last week fielding telephone calls from nervous investors. "Their expectations about the future and the kinds of returns they would get were simply unrealistic."

As discouraging as that message might sound, it's exactly what many baby boomers need to hear, according to financial planners and researchers. Most people underestimate how much money they will need for retirements that could easily last two or three decades, and are leaving the work force with nest eggs that are likely to expire long before they do.

Consider: Less than one-quarter of workers age 55 and older -- just 23% -- have savings and investments totaling $250,000 or more, according to a study published in April by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington. About 60% have less than $100,000.

The average retirement age in the U.S. is 63 -- but most investors don't recognize the benefits from working even just two or three additional years, financial advisers say. According to research from T. Rowe Price, the Baltimore-based mutual-funds company, a 62-year-old with a $100,000 salary and a $500,000 nest egg will see his annual retirement income from investments and Social Security rise by 6% for every additional year he remains in the work force.

Working longer "gives people time to build up their 401(k) balance, can result in a bigger benefit from Social Security, and reduces the amount of time people will have to depend on their savings," says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and author of a recent book about the value of extending time in the work force. "The arguments in favor of working longer are overwhelming. We just need to convince people."

Even before events of the past two weeks, some older adults had begun adjusting their sights. In a survey published in May, 27% of surveyed workers age 45-plus said the economic slowdown had prompted them to postpone plans to retire, according to AARP, the Washington-based advocacy group....

"Nonprofits Brace for Slowdown in Giving"

The turmoil on Wall Street could further curb a giving environment that was already slowing down.

The failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and pain at other big firms threaten to cut into the corporate and individual donations that more than a million nonprofit organizations rely on for basic operations and charitable programs. It is particularly true in New York, where nonprofits rely heavily on the financial industry.

Officials at charities are trying to devise creative ways to stand out. They are making urgent appeals through direct-mail and email campaigns and taking to the airwaves. Charities also are gearing up to tap their wealthy board members and other well-off supporters for extra cash. If they fail, charities may have to cut staff or seek loans.

At Covenant House New York, the nation's largest adolescent-care agency, which serves homeless, runaway and at-risk youths, board members convened Thursday and discussed a possible "doomsday" scenario in case they lose upwards of 40% of their income, said Georgia Boothe, the nonprofit's associate executive director. The charity needs to raise about $3 million through direct mail in December, she said, adding, "We're worried." Direct-mail giving in July was off 15%, she said.

New York-based City Harvest, which feeds the hungry and has counted Lehman among its top five corporate donors, had set a goal of raising $5.7 million between November and January and $3 million in December alone. Much of that was expected to come from Wall Street bonuses.

"Things have changed drastically in the last week or two," said executive director Jilly Stephens, who said the need for her group's services is rising. "We're heading into a period of the unknown."

Still, she said she was encouraged that about 525 people turned out for the group's first silent auction of photographs on Thursday night. The event raised about $217,000.

Gordon J. Campbell, president and chief executive of the United Way of New York City, said he began working on Thursday with other United Way officials in the New York area to arrange a town hall meeting on the future of nonprofits.

"There will be fewer dollars coming in the doors," he said. "There needs to be thought given to strategic alliances, partnerships, back office consolidation, mergers and acquisitions. In many ways, it's a variation on what's going on Wall Street."

The collapse of corporate balance sheets, along with strained household budgets, could start cutting into the more-than-$300 billion national charitable-giving pie. U.S. charitable donations only grew by 1% adjusted for inflation in 2007, according to the Giving USA Foundation. That was before the worst of the housing correction and the current Wall Street crisis.

In a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of 77 businesses, 50 said they expected giving to remain flat in 2008. U.S. companies donated an average of 0.8% of their pretax profits in 2007, down from 1.4% in 2004, according to Mark Shamley, president of the Association of Corporate Contribution Professionals in Mount Pleasant, S.C. "Companies are looking to cut expenditures across" the board "and corporate giving is going to be part of that," he said.

Worse for charities, the height of the financial crisis is hitting just before the end of the year, when nonprofits typically bring in the largest amount of revenue as Americans open their wallets around the holidays...

"Stores Plan for Weak Holiday Sales"

Retailers Respond to Shaky Economy With Earlier Ads, Fewer Seasonal Workers

As economists predict the worst holiday sales season since the recession of 1991, retailers are fighting back with an arsenal of new selling strategies, staff cutbacks and more emphasis than ever on low prices.

Retailers are planning bigger, bolder and earlier ad campaigns to lure shoppers as early as possible, racing to make the most of the shorter holiday season this year-five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than in 2007. Some chains, including Macy's Inc. and Costco Wholesale Inc. already have put out holiday merchandise.

Stores are expected to hire fewer part-time staffers during the holidays, to control labor costs. Gift cards will be fancier, and companies, such as Target Corp. say they'll be emphasizing affordability with a range of gifts under $25.

"We're not naive about the sentiment that's out there," says Myron E. Ullman III, chairman and chief executive of J.C. Penney Co. Last week, the department store chain launched an ad campaign emphasizing good values in the clothing it sells.

Costco says it expects to be selling more branded merchandise -- from Lily Pulitzer dresses to Tag Heuer watches -- as sales in full-price luxury stores soften, and distributors unload surplus products on the wholesale clubs.

Last week, predictions for the holiday selling period began trickling out -- and they weren't pretty. Several retail market research and consulting companies forecast sales gains to be the weakest in 17 years.

Market research firm TNS Retail Forward Inc. predicts sales to rise a meager 1.5% in the fourth quarter, lower than even the tepid sales gains in the third quarter.

While TNS took into account higher unemployment, the housing slowdown and difficulty of obtaining credit, none of the forecasts had yet factored in the latest turmoil in global finance, which could drive consumer confidence even lower.

Last week's financial crisis could put more pressure on luxury-goods sales, as the financial sector employs a big base of affluent customers, analysts say. Saks Inc. gets about 20% of its total sales from its New York City flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store. Tiffany & Co. gets about 10% from its New York City flagship, estimates Goldman Sachs Group. "The psychological impact goes beyond just people who are laid off," says Raphael Moreau, a retail analyst with Euromonitor International based in London.

Retailers are prepared for bad news, having spent a year coping with sluggish sales by tightening inventories and deploying job-scheduling software. Fourth-quarter hiring expectations in wholesale and retail businesses are at a 17-year low, according to a survey of 14,000 employers released earlier this month from staffing firm Manpower Inc.

"Retailers have done a good job managing controllable expenses such as inventory and labor," says Carl Steidtmann, economist at consultants Deloitte Consulting LLP. "If things turn from bad to really bad, they are still well positioned to handle it," he says.

That preparation could help retailers avoid the big markdowns used in recent years to clear unsold merchandise. Though with a shorter holiday season, some retail chains may choose aggressive promotions to get people into their stores earlier, says TNS Retail Forward senior economist Frank Badillo.

Wendy Liebmann, chief executive officer of research and consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail, New York, says she expects retail advertising during the holiday season to increasingly emphasize value and emotional comfort.

The economic climate will force more high-end retailers, in particular, to run sales promotions earlier, she says....

Comments

[roger]

Instead of a Mount FUJI of junk under the Xmas tree,a "few"presents
for the kids only,a nice table setting with good food and all the
family around makes for a much happier life,result no divorce
(married 58 years) no kids on drugs, one family united with absolute
trust in each other,and we did this without any religion.The only
secret is SHARING /CARING and respect.

[bort]

http://iamned.com/blog/

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's the largest government bailout in U.S. history and two days after it was introduced to the Americans paying for it, the proposal is still largely a mystery.

Among the unanswered questions: How will the government mop up the bad mortgage debt on banks' books, who will run the process and how much will it cost?

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Key elements of the plan remain in flux as behind closed doors Democrats demand modifications that would provide more help for ordinary Americans in return for bailing out the country's financial giants.

[Anthony Teamson]

I cannot understand why everyone keeps calling the $700,000,000,000 "bailout" a bailout. It is a tax increase who's proceeds will go to the bond holders of large banks. Every cent of the $700,000,000,000 will be paid for by the taxpayer and his family. It should be called the Billionaire Bailout Tax Increase. In addition, it is going to be glorious to watch the scam unfold. First, the government takes the "bad debt" using taxpayer money. Next, the Treasury is going to discount this junk, again at taxpayer expense, and sell it back to the banks, for 12 cents on the dollar. The banks will then place the discounted debt instruments on their books and start loaning out to the taxpayers. Would someone please tell me how forcing the US taxpayer deeper in debt going to fix this crisis. This is no different then the hogwash about taking out a second second mortgage to consolidate debt. If the second mortgage scheme worked so well why are we having a debt crisis. All this is and all it will ever be is throwing good money after bad and ensuring that American taxpayers subsidize not only the "poor" but the rich.

[Pete]

Get active now !-

Write your congressmen and get involved in local protests .

Some suggestions here -

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/09/treasury-relents-on-key-points-shelby.htm

http://www.fedupusa.org/

http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?forum=FedUp

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure that women pay taxes, too... (Believe it or not, I think there are even a few in Congress these days, as well!)