America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
This post is an update to previous posts concerning food stamps. The program is officially called “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or SNAP. As stated on the SNAP website, “As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program.” The data was last updated September 1, 2011, reflecting June 2011 levels. …
Yesterday (September 19) The Wall Street Journal had an article titled “Wall Street’s Optimism Fades.” The article contains a variety of forecasts and commentary regarding the stock market and earnings. Here are two excerpts of forecasts: Goldman Sachs last Wednesday ratcheted down its end-of-year prediction for the S&P 500 to 1250, from its previous forecast …
In at least two past posts on short-term Treasury yields, those of July 20, 2010 (“2-Year Treasury: Odd Occurrences”) and November 23, 2009 (“Two Notable Developments”) I have discussed the significance of the ultra-low yields seen on the 2-Year Treasury Note and the 3-Month Bill. Here are updated charts of each, as of Friday’s close. …
The following chart is from the CalculatedRisk blog post of September 16, 2011 titled “Q2 Flow of Funds: Household Real Estate assets off $6.6 trillion from peak.” It depicts Total Household Net Worth as a Percent of GDP. The underlying data is from The Federal Reserve Flow of Funds 2Q 2011 report: (click on chart to enlarge image) …
The September Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published today, September 16, 2011. The headline is “Economists Say That U.S. Recession Looks More Likely.” I found various aspects of the survey to be interesting, including the following excerpts: Economists see a one in three chance the U.S. will slip into recession over the next twelve …
On March 28 I wrote a post (“The STLFSI“) about the STLFSI (St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index) which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system. Here is the most recent chart. This chart was last updated on September 15, incorporating data from 12-31-93 to 9-9-11 on a weekly basis. The present level …
On September 13, Gallup released a poll titled “Upper-Income Americans’ Economic Confidence Shaken.” I find this poll interesting for a variety of reasons. A few excerpts of note: Upper-income Americans’ economic confidence was badly shaken in August, with 80% saying the economy is “getting worse,” up from 66% in July. This is the first month since …
In the September 20, 2010 post (“Real Median Household Income & Poverty Measures“) I highlighted the lack of significant long-term growth in Real Median Household Income. As I stated in that post: …Real Median Household Income has experienced anemic growth for decades. Doug Short, in his September 13 blog post titled “U.S. Household Incomes: A …
Yesterday saw the release of “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2010″ (pdf) from the U.S. Census Bureau. Real Median Household Income was $49,445 in 2010, as seen on page 5. On page 14, the Poverty Rate is seen at 15.1%, encompassing 46.2 million people. As seen on the chart on page …
On January 10 I wrote an article on the Seeking Alpha site titled “10 ‘Front and Center’ Problem Areas That Pose a Threat to the Economy.” From time to time I like to revisit this list as these threats remain very relevant to our current and future economic situation. The European Debt Crisis was listed …