Where the $200,000+ Crowd Lives

by Paul Toscano
Friday, February 27, 2009

The White House’s budget for fiscal year 2010 calls for tax  hikes on wealthy Americans.  In this case, that means couples making over $250,000 a  year and individuals $200,000 a year. Under the budget plan, these households  (about 3 percent of the total) would experience tax increases of $318 billion over the next 10 years.  Here’s a look at the states that will be most affected by the tax hike and how they voted in the last presidential election.

Source: US Census Bureau (Housing Data), MSNBC (Election Data)

1. District of Columbia

% of Households Earning $200K+: 8.4%
Total Households: 251,039
Median Income: $50,318
Households Earning $200K+: 21,194

Election Results:
Obama: 93%
McCain: 7%

2. Connecticut

% of Households Earning $200K+: 8.0%
Total Households: 1,320,714
Median Income: $64,158
Households Earning $200K+: 105,433

Election Results:
Obama: 61%
McCain: 38%

3. New Jersey

% of Households Earning $200K+: 7.5%
Total Households: 3,149,910
Median Income: $65,249
Households Earning $200K+: 235,278

Election Results:
Obama: 57%
McCain: 42%

4. Maryland

% of Households Earning $200K+: 6.9%
Total Households: 2,082,458
Median Income: $65,552
Households Earning $200K+: 142,694

Election Results:
Obama: 62%
McCain: 37%

5. (Tie) Massachusetts

% of Households Earning $200K+: 6.2%
Total Households: 2,449,133
Households Earning $200K+: 152,348
Median Income: $57,681

Election Results:
Obama: 62%
McCain: 36%

5. (Tie) California

% of Households Earning $200K+: 6.2%
Total Households: 12,200,672
Households Earning $200K+: 757,411
Median Income: $56,311

Election Results:
Obama: 61%
McCain: 37%

7. Virginia

% of Households Earning $200K+: 5.7%
Total Households: 2,932,234
Households Earning $200K+: 165,998
Median Income: $58,950

Election Results:
Obama: 53%
McCain: 46%

8. New York

% of Households Earning $200K+: 5.6%
Total Households: 7,099,940
Households Earning $200K+: 399,014
Median Income: $49,267

Election Results:
Obama: 62%
McCain: 37%

9. Hawaii

% of Households Earning $200K+: 4.5%
Total Households: 439,685
Households Earning $200K+: 19,876
Median Income: $63,104

Election Results:
Obama: 72%
McCain: 27%

10. Illinois

% of Households Earning $200K+: 4.4%
Total Households: 4,759,579
Households Earning $200K+: 208,385
Median Income: $51,279

Election Results:
Obama: 62%
McCain: 37%

11. New Hampshire

% of Households Earning $200K+: 4.2%
Total Households: 501,505
Households Earning $200K+: 20,899
Median Income: $65,652

Election Results:
Obama: 54%
McCain: 45%

12. Colorado

% of Households Earning $200K+: 4.1%
Total Households: 1,859,965
Households Earning $200K+: 76,216
Median Income: $59,209

Election Results:
Obama: 54%
McCain: 45%

13. Washington

% of Households Earning $200K+: 4.0%
Total Households: 2,501,509
Households Earning $200K+: 99,636
Median Income: $57,178

Election Results:
Obama: 57%
McCain: 41%

14. Texas

% of Households Earning $200K+: 3.9%
Total Households: 8,244,022
Households Earning $200K+: 313,681
Median Income: $45,294

Election Results:
Obama: 44%
McCain: 56%

15. Minnesota

% of Households Earning $200K+: 3.8%
Total Households: 2,062,681
Households Earning $200K+: 77,772
Median Income: $57,932

Election Results:
Obama: 54%
McCain: 44%

“Worst Is Yet to Come:” Americans’ Standard of Living Permanently Changed

The Worst is Yet to Come

American’s standard of living is undergoing a “permanent change” – and not for the better

There’s no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment.

But “the worst is yet to come,” according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American’s standard of living is undergoing a “permanent change” – and not for the better as a result of:

• An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.
• A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.
• A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid “exploding unemployment”, leading to “exploding bankruptcies.”

“The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car,” Davidowitz says. “A lot of that is gone.”

Going forward, the veteran retail industry consultant foresees higher savings rate and people trading down in both the goods and services they buy – as well as their aspirations.

The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.

Posted Feb 17, 2009 EST by Aaron Task

We’re On The Eve Of Financial Destruction

Eve of Destruction: How the Financial Crisis Was Built Into the System

by Robert Kiyosaki Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008

How did we get into the current financial mess? Great question.

Turmoil in the Making

In 1910, seven men held a secret meeting on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. It’s estimated that those seven men represented one-sixth of the world’s wealth. Six were Americans representing J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and the U.S. government. One was a European representing the Rothschilds and Warburgs.

In 1913, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank was created as a direct result of that secret meeting. Interestingly, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank isn’t federal, there are no reserves, and it’s not a bank. Those seven men, some American and some European, created this new entity, commonly referred to as the Fed, to take control of the banking system and the money supply of the United States.

Financial Crisis is Becoming Severe

RGE Monitor

On Nouriel Roubini’s Global EconoMonitor, Nouriel explains why the Treasury rescue plan is very poorly conceived and does not contain many of the key elements of a sound, efficient and fair rescue plan – like a HOLC-style program and the need to recapitalize the financial institutions that are badly undercapitalized. Check out: RGE Conference Call on the Economic and Financial Outlook and why the Treasury TARP bailout is flawed.

The claim by the Fed and Treasury that spending $700 billion of public money is the best way to recapitalize banks has absolutely no factual basis or justification. This way of recapitalizing financial institutions is a total rip-off that will mostly benefit – at the huge expense of the U.S. taxpayer – the common and preferred shareholders and even unsecured creditors of the banks. Check out Nouriel’s Is Purchasing $700 billion of Toxic Assets the Best Way to Recapitalize the Financial System‌ No! It is Rather a Disgrace and Rip-Off Benefitting only the Shareholders and Unsecured Creditors of Banks.

In The US and global financial crisis is becoming much more severe in spite of the Treasury rescue plan. The risk of a total systemic meltdown is now as high as ever, Nouriel explains why the risk of a total systemic meltdown is now as high as ever as the severe strains in financial markets (money markets, credit markets, stock markets, CDS and derivative markets) are becoming more severe rather than less severe in spite of the nuclear option of a $700 billion package.

The next step of this panic could become the mother of all bank runs: a run on the 1 trillion dollar plus of the cross border short-term interbank liabilities of the U.S. banking and financial system as foreign banks start to worry about the safety of their liquid exposures to U.S. financial institutions. Such a silent cross border bank run has already started as foreign banks are worried about the solvency of U.S. banks and are starting to reduce their exposure. Check out: Roubini Sees ‘Silent’ Run on Banks, Urges `Triage’: Bloomberg Radio Interview and BBC Hardtalk Interview with Roubini: “US Bail-Out Special”.

Don’t worry, tomorrow we’ll be back for more frolic and fun

Go Ahead, Borrow More Money

Spongebob Quotes:

Spongebob: “Don’t worry, tomorrow we’ll be back for more frolic and fun.”

Spongebob: “Moss always points to civilization.”

Squidward: “This city needs to be destroyed!!! Or at least painted another color.”

Squidward: “That’s it, I’m getting off the loony express.”

Patrick: “I know a lot about head injuries…belieeeve me!”

Sandy: “Stupidity isn’t a virus… but it sure is spreadin’ like one!”

Squidward: “People talk loud when they want to sound smart, right?”
Plankton: “CORRECT!!!“

FDIC Launches Campaign To Help Consumers

FDIC Rolls out Deposit Insurance Awareness Campaign
Personal Finance Expert Suze Orman Featured in PSAs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 22, 2008

Media Contact: Andrew Gray (202) 898-7192

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today launches a national campaign designed to help consumers learn about the benefits and limitations of deposit insurance. The campaign’s public service announcements (PSAs) will feature personal finance expert Suze Orman.

“For 75 years, no one has ever lost a penny of insured deposits,” said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, “but as with any type of insurance, depositors are responsible for knowing how FDIC coverage works in order to ensure their money is protected. While awareness of the FDIC is high, understanding of deposit insurance is not. We want to encourage people to learn the basics and provide reassurance that, if they are within the coverage limits, their money is 100 percent safe.”

The public awareness campaign encourages Americans to visit myFDICinsurance.gov, where they can use EDIE the Estimator, an online tool that provides customized information about their insured accounts. The estimator has been available to the public for a number of years but was simplified and made more accessible as part of this campaign. Those without online access may call toll-free 1-877-ASK-FDIC for assistance.

“No one should ever lose a penny of their deposited money, but Americans need to take the time to look at their accounts to ensure they’re covered,” said Suze Orman. “I have donated my time to this FDIC campaign because I want everyone to go to EDIE the Estimator and follow the simple steps to make sure their money is 100 percent FDIC protected.”

Basic FDIC insurance covers up to $100,000 of deposits per account holder per bank, and up to $250,000 per account holder for deposit retirement accounts. myFDICinsurance.gov provides information about how these limits work.

“We’re encouraging consumers to find out if all their money is FDIC protected, and we’re providing them the tools to do so,” said Chairman Bair.

# # #

Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation’s banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation’s 8,451 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed. The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars – insured financial institutions fund its operations.

FDIC press releases and other information are available on the Internet at www.fdic.gov, by subscription electronically (go to www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html) and may also be obtained through the FDIC’s Public Information Center (877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200). PR-83-2008

Official Launch of MoneyBob.com Coming Soon

I am excited to announce that our little MoneyBob Blog on WordPress

will soon migrate to his very own official landing page on http://www.MoneyBob.com.

Hope to see you there. Good things will be coming soon.

I would be interested to here your comments. Have any suggestions?

MoneyBob.com

Oil Could Reach $200 A Barrel

Goldman’s Murti Says Oil `Likely’ to Reach $150-$200

By Nesa Subrahmaniyan

May 6 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil may rise to between $150 and $200 a barrel within two years as growth in supply fails to keep pace with increased demand from developing nations, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts led by Arjun N. Murti said in a report.

New York-based Murti first wrote of a “super spike” in March 2005, when he said oil prices

Financial Doom – Current Best Sellers

Go ahead and read those apocalyptic books on the economy if you like a good scare. But be sure you recognize fiction when you see it.

By Jim Jubak

If fairy tales express our deepest fears, then investors must be on the verge of a psychotic breakdown.

The current crop of financial gloom-and-doom books carry titles such as “America’s Financial Apocalypse,” “Financial Armageddon” and the comparatively prosaic “The Coming Economic Collapse.”

Any way you go, it means the end of the world (the end of the financial world, anyway). And that’s scary. Really, really scary.

But we need to remember that while fairy tales may reflect real fears, they aren’t reliable guides to how the world works. That’s true whether the main character is named Snow White or Ben Bernanke.

Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Bruno Bettelheim all theorized that we read fairy tales about evil stepmothers, parental abandonment in dark woods and child-eating witches to help us express and then cope with our darkest fears.

The psychological value of these tales, in this theory, lies in the formulaic, repeated return to archetypical fears in what the reader knows — even a reader as young as my 6-year-old daughter — is a fiction. It also helps that, unlike real-life horrors, these tales usually have happy endings.

This current crop of financial-disaster books should be read the same way — as financial fairy tales that represent our darkest financial fears and then allow us to cope with those fears by offering up happy endings in the form of investment strategies that can fend off disaster.

So what are investors’ deepest fears right now?

It’s a recession to 4 out of 5 Americans

A CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that the nation is becoming more convinced the economy is in a nosedive.

By Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: May 6, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A new poll shows that more Americans than ever before think the economy is in a recession.

A national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday found that 79% of respondents – nearly 4 out of 5 – believe the economy is now in a recession. That is up from 74% of Americans in March, 66% in February and 46% just a half-year back.