From Volume 38, Issue 41 of EIR Online, Published October 21, 2011

U.S. Economic/Financial News

Household Income Fell More in 'Recovery' Than in 'Recession!'

Oct. 11 (EIRNS)—A new study by former U.S. Census Bureau officials shows that median household income fell more in the so-called "recovery" than it did during "the recession," according to Jillian Berman in today's Huffington Post.

Gordon Green and John Code, two former Census workers, showed that between December 2007 and June 2009—termed "the U.S. economic recession"—real incomes fell 3.2%. During the touted "economic recovery" between June 2009 and June 2011, real incomes fell 6.7%, the study found—more than double that rate! This is median household income adjusted for inflation.

Income figures are affected by jobless Americans who collect unemployment for a maximum of 99 weeks. They then lose any unemployment benefits, driving their incomes to zero, and that pulls down the national average income. The median income for U.S. males was worse in 2010 than in 1968 on an inflation-adjusted basis.

In some states, the so-called "recession" as well as the "recovery" only increased an income decline that prevailed for a longer time; e.g., in Wisconsin, the median household income plunged 14.5% between 1999 and 2010.

Meanwhile, lying has consistently risen. Bloomberg reported that last week's jobs report, which showed "forced part-time" work increasing four times as much as overall employment, demonstrated that the economy is growing slowly, not contracting.

California Dems Blame Obama for Inaction on Home Foreclosures

Oct. 13 (EIRNS)—An angry letter from the 33 Democratic Congressmen from California was sent to Obama Oct. 11, detailing the devastating home-foreclosure crisis and unacceptable action by mortgage servicers, saying, "...we have not seen successful efforts from your Administration in response."

The letter, also addressed to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), is getting wide attention, as the Oct. 13 new figures from RealtyTrac show the rate of home mortgage foreclosures rising for the third month-on-month in a row.

Earlier this Summer, the Obama Administration made noises indicating that it would be doing something about this, come Fall. Now, September is gone; not even a pretense-action has come out.

One of the co-signers of the letter to Obama, Rep. Mike Thompson, wrote on Oct. 12, "More than 2 million homeowners in California owe more on their homes than their homes are worth, which equals 30% of all California homes with mortgages....

"Nothing the FHFA or the Administration has done is working, and Californians are the ones who are suffering.... Doing nothing is not an option..."

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