Food Stamps Versus Farming Subsidies

By Joe Cereola

Too many ignorant food stamp memes portray recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as scammers abusing the system to buy iPhones, alcohol, cigarettes and other products deemed inappropriate for anyone receiving assistance from the government. Whether or not these caricatures actually exist is beside the point. The argument implies that if one has enough money to buy certain goods, then one should not be entitled to government assistance. Yet these haters fail to apply the same standard to the millions of wealthy farmers collecting billions in cash payments and insurance subsidies.

Republican Plan Eliminates Employment Problem

WASHINGTON–At and early morning news conference on the steps of the U.S. Treasury, standing next to James Earle Fraser’s bronze sculpture of Alexander Hamilton, Speaker of the House John Boehner explained the latest Republican plan to slash the unemployment rate.

Serfdom, American Style

The worst thing about the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the minimum wage is that it is not definitive. Raising the minimum wage will neither decimate jobs as its opponents contend, nor will it be the panacea for poverty that its supporters had hoped, leaving plenty for both sides to argue about. If the minimum wage was raised to $10.10 and indexed to inflation, it would likely lift 900,000 workers above the poverty threshold while eliminating about 500,000 jobs. An alternative proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 without indexing would have a smaller impact. The key effects of the alternative proposals are summarized below.

How Poor Is Poor?

By Joe Cereola

A family living at the poverty level faces considerable challenges. All income is consumed by necessities, leaving little, if anything, to spend on even the small things that make life more enjoyable. But poverty is not about forgoing movies and popcorn; poverty is a life on the precipice of financial ruin. Without health insurance, a serious illness is catastrophic; a car repair, a broken refrigerator, or a traffic ticket becomes a crisis. Money for a rainy-day fund is nonexistent, and saving for retirement is an unaffordable luxury. Poverty means having to survive one's golden years on Social Security and Medicaid. 

Welfare, Ignorance, And Bigotry

By Joe Cereola
The memes captured by the images on the left are typical of many found on Facebook; they are ill-informed, devoid of compassion, and implicitly racist. There's an entire Facebook page devoted to this ignorance and bigotry. The implied message is clear: those receiving government assistance are lazy, unemployed, and don't deserve our help. Too bad we don't see as many images lambasting the many wealthy corporations receiving billions in subsidies and tax breaks.

Margin Debt Hits All-Time High

By Joe Cereola

This isn't an investing blog so I won't get into any sort of analysis or recommendations about what, if anything, you should do now that the amount of borrowed money invested in the stock market has hit an all-time high. You can draw your own conclusions from the chart below.

Click chart to enlarge

Of course, there is no way of knowing if margin debt has peaked yet, especially if the Fed keeps the party going with cheap credit, but when it turns downward – beware! 
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Chart spreadsheet: download 

The Bottom Half Of The World's Population Has the Same Wealth As Richest 85 People

By Joe Cereola

Last month, just days before the World Economic Forum began its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam International released a report titled, "Working For The Few," that delivered some stunning statistics on global inequality.