'The American Economic Model Is Broken'

A new survey of U.S. household finances by British research firm Absolute Strategy Research suggests that Americans are not only pooh-poohing the notion that an economic recovery is at hand, they are becoming resigned to the fact that the longer-term outlook isn't all that much better.

A staggering 63% of respondents across the political spectrum feel that the American economic model is broken. Individuals surveyed do not agree that the prevailing paradigm facilitates equal opportunity, or that hard work and skill are rewarded. This grim view of the status quo is also represented in respondents' concerns about fairness and the distribution of wealth: a quarter of those surveyed say the next administration should make closing the gap between the rich and poor a top policy priority, and half want the next administration to make sure the wealthiest Americans pay a “fair share” of taxes. And a mere 20% of those polled believe wealth and income is distributed fairly.

This survey also highlights the extent to which Americans are dissatisfied with those responsible for managing the American economy. Respondents across the political spectrum agree that policymakers have not done a good job in handling the economy over the last year, and that a focus on stimulating economic growth should be the top priority for the next administration. Republicans and Independents are the most critical of economic policymakers, but two thirds of Democrats are also critical of the handling of the economy.

...

Respondents across all age groups worry that their children will face "worse" standards of living than they currently enjoy, reflecting deep-seated anxieties about the economy, unemployment, inflation and debt burdens. More than 40% of those polled believe that the children of their generation will have a lower standard of living when they are their age.

Click here to read the rest.

Comments

[Credibility Gap Widens]

While Working as Obama's Chief Economic Advisor, Austan Goolsbee Didn't Have Access to stlouisfed.org

With commentary that would make Edward Bernays proud, Goolsbee praised the President's bold actions (increasing the nation's debt, and bailing out unions & banks).

While his nose started to grow right there on camera, Goolsbee then said "the six months surrounding january 2009, is the worst six months ever. That we ever had in the data"

This is the same nonsense we heard back in 2008 as TARP was proposed, and in early 2009 as the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act was being shoved down our throats.

Moral of the story here is that you must do your own homework. Nobody will be honest with you about what's really going on

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-12-20/while-working-obamas-chief-economic-advisor-austan-goolsbee-didnt-have-access

[Real Deal]

The American economic model has become during the past 2 decades one of growth by debt. The debt is ultimately financed by issuing trillions of reserve currency, and borrowing from foreigners.

The debt economy has become entrenched culture, unstoppable. Everybody ride the gravy train. The gravy train proceeded to corrupt everything.

In the end, it was nature's laws that stopped the free lunches. The cards fall and trillions of debt, thought to be wealth, vanished.

That was the economic model. The chicken has come home, the turkey head has been chopped. It was broken during these 2 decades. But calling it broken today is nothing more than denial and delusion. Today, the economic model is working hard to call to account of the nonsense and excesses. I call it working very well.

[Blurtman]

Soviet Union, 1991:

A new survey of Russian household finances by British research firm Absolute Strategy Research suggests that Russians are not only pooh-poohing the notion that an economic recovery is at hand, they are becoming resigned to the fact that the longer-term outlook isn't all that much better.

[roger,]

US cultural image matches our financial status.
After ww2 the American way of life (read economics)
was widely envied and admired.Traveling with an
American passport made you feel like Royalty.
After Vietnam things began to change,the US financial
bubble put the final nail in the coffin of admiration.
Traveling abroad to day it is best to keep a low profile.
Been there, done that.There is rhythm in history
aka: England before ww2.

[Let the masses eat "Austerity"]

The Age of Double Standards

Robert Kuttner
March 19, 2012
American Airlines can declare bankruptcy and wipe away debt. But you can’t—and that’s just the beginning.

Petty felons and 200,000 small-time drug users do prison time, while corporate criminals whose frauds cost the rest of the economy trillions of dollars are permitted to settle civil suits for small fines, with shareholders bearing the expenses. Ordinary families pay tax at a higher rate than billionaires. When fracking contaminates a property and makes a home uninhabitable, the homeowner rather than the natural-gas company suffers the loss. The mother of all double standards is taxpayer aid and Federal Reserve advances—running into the trillions of dollars—that went to the banks that caused the collapse, while the bankers avoided prosecution, and the rest of the society got to eat austerity.

Linking all of these disparities between citizens and corporations is the political power of a new American plutocracy. Until our politics connects these dots and citizens start resisting, the financial elite will rule. Despite the Occupy movement, most regular people have yet to experience the sudden enlightenment of Captain Yossarian, who decided, unpatriotically, that he didn’t want to die. In the face of economic pillaging, we are behaving like damned fools.

http://prospect.org/article/age-double-standards

[Greed knows no bounds]

The Nonprofit 1 Percent

Neither Moran nor Maria Claro (who made $38,000 a year), an outspoken aide laid off around the same time, seemed surprised that their salaries would fail to register with the Guild, whose revenues (including affiliated organizations) can go into the hundreds of millions.

At the other end of the pay scale at the Guild, it's a different story. In 2008, the Guild was paying its CEO, Alan Morse, J.D., Ph.D., a total compensation package of $843,502. Then came 2009, the first full year after the financial crash, which compromised the Guild's revenue streams.

Instead of going down that year, however, Morse's compensation went up some 82 percent, topping $1.5 million.

Like many nonprofits, the Guild's financial model is largely based upon receiving government funds in exchange for executing government contracts (in this case, getting Medicaid in order to facilitate services for the blind).
Or more simply—as several people who have worked there have put it—it's a "Medicaid cash cow."
In a September 2011 article, the New York Daily News reported that "Michael Henderson, who once oversaw the guild's procurement, claimed he was fired in 2009 after complaining about irregularities. Henderson said the guild spent $100,000 on imported furniture for Morse's part-time White Plains office and he claimed another officer pocketed $100,000 from the sale of guild property."

http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-03-21/news/the-nonprofit-one-percent/

[Jonathan Gorman]

If we are looking for a 'rising tide' to definitively demonstrate that the American economy is improving, we've got a long way to go. On the ground, as a Small Business focused CPA / Consulting Firm, I'm seeing optimism and stability. Experienced entrepreneurs are looking to get ahead of the recovery, making sure that they can capture more of the modest growth than their competition.

[Special Entitlement Commission]

I guess the majority don't feel "Special"?

Did the SEC Facilitate Corzine's Fraud at MF Global?

I did not treat this particular issue of the MF Global scandal sufficiently when I first became aware of it thinking, perhaps foolishly, that additional facts and information from the financial press and the investigation would be forthcoming.

That does not appear to be the case. So here is the story that suggests that the SEC had been providing MF Global special treatment to mask its financial difficulties while it floated a large bond offering. They betrayed their sworn duty to make the information public, and to act to protect the average account holder by promoting transparency and the symmetrical disclosure of information to maintain the confidence in the system, and quite likely out of a deference to power and influence.

We have seen many examples of the Fed hiding information and stonewalling legitimate disclosure of key financial information to 'protect the system.' The problem is that this merely serves to allow powerful insiders to game the system, and guarantee the system's decline, while reform withers.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/03/did-sec-facilitate-corzines-fraud-at-mf.html

[Debt Model]

How Much Treasury Debt?
If this doesn’t scare the t out of you – and scare you out of paper dollars and into real assets like gold and silver – then you are either brain dead or you just don’t care anymore.

Tim Geithner (along with Bernanke) were testifying before the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform yesterday. Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) – in a display of forcing Geithner to answer a question directly that Ron Paul should take notes on – asked Geithner if he had only ONE more debt increase request that could possibly be made, how big would it be.

After trying to shuffle – very awkwardly, I might add – around answering the question, Geithner responded with, “It would be a lot – it would make you uncomfortable.” Here’s the exchange, which I found spine-chilling:

http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-much-treasury-debt.html

[rhon]

Weather reports are noting a bonus gift of higher pollen counts from a warm winter season. Another contributing sneeze factor might be found within elevated levels of spin.

[What's not to like if you're a bankster?]

Taibbi: Gangster Banks Keep Winning Public Debt Business

Matt Taibbi

A friend of mine sent this article from Bloomberg, along with the simple comment: "Perfect." What's perfect? That the banks that have been caught repeatedly ripping off communities and munipalities -- banks that have paid hefty settlements for rigging bids, bribery and other sordid misdeeds -- keep winning the most public business. Apparently, our public officials aren't concerned about whom they hire to serve as the people's investment bankers.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/03/taibbi-gangster-banks-keep-winning.html

[Supra Kids Shoes]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. *@*

[Ima Mutant]

Even as jobless claims fall the number of people actually looking for work in America continues to drop but nobody seems to notice

http://www.davecoker.info/blog/2012/03/23/liars-statisticians-us-economy/

They can make the statistics prove whatever they want, something's definitely broken

[Jim]

Have people started figuring out that SOCIALISM doesn't work?

I doubt it, they probably still think we're operating as capitalist, poor little sheeple. Sure will have a rude awakening when we go socialist full throttle.