Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"

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America Lost 129,000 Millionaires in 2011
Published: Thursday, 31 May 2012 | 11:59 AM ET Text Size By: Robert Frank
CNBC Reporter & Editor

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
America’s millionaire population declined last year for the first time since the financial crisis, according to a new report.

The population of U.S. millionaire households (households with investible assets of $1 million or more) fell to 5,134,000 from 5,263,000 in 2011, according to The Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth study.

Total private wealth in North America fell by 0.9 percent, to $38 trillion.


The ultra-rich were the largest losers in dollar terms. Households in North America with investible assets of more than $100 million saw their wealth decline 2.4 percent. Their population declined slightly to 2,928 from 2,989.

The main reason for all this wealth loss? Stocks.



Robert Frank
CNBC Reporter
& Editor
With the wealthy today increasingly dependent on stocks for wealth, last year’s stalled stock market shrunk the population of millionaires and nicked the fortunes of existing millionaires. According to BCG, the amount of wealth held in equities declined 3.6 percent last year.

Globally, the picture looked a little brighter. Virtually all of the growth in global millionaires came from emerging markets last year. While the United States lost nearly 130,000 millionaires, the rest of the world added 175,000 millionaires. There are now 12.6 million millionaire households globally, according to BCG.

The country with the highest “millionaire density” – proportion of population who are millionaires – was Singapore. More than 17 percent of Singapore’s households are millionaires.

While 2011 saw declines in U.S. millionaires, the future looks brighter, BCG said. They expect wealth held by millionaires globally to grow at around six percent a year in Asia-Pacific. “We are in a two-speed world,” said the report. “All of the growth is being driven by developing markets.”

-By CNBC's Robert Frank
Follow Robert Frank on Twitter: @robtfrank

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U.S. PMI HITS 54, SLOWEST GROWTH IN THREE MONTHS
Eric Platt|38 minutes ago|516|1
 



UPDATE:
 
U.S. manufacturing grew at its slowest rate in three months, new data out of Markit Economics shows.
 
Click here for updates >
 
The key U.S. PMI reading registered at 54.0, slightly above a preliminary reading that pegged the figure at 53.9.
 
However, that represents a substantial dip from the 56.0 reading in April. Markit attributed the weakness to lower order books, employment needs, and output.
 
"The weakest order book trend was seen for producers of consumer goods, as has been the case over the past year, where a further easing in the rate of increase was reported in May," Markit Economics said in its release. "However, producers of investment goods, such as plant and machinery, saw an especially steep easing in growth of new orders, with the May survey showing one of the smallest inflows of new business seen since a steep downturn was reported in the sector in late-2010."
 
Below, key output from the report.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-pmi-2012-6#ixzz1wY4JncxI

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Veteran Unemployment Skyrockets In May
Walter Hickey|2 minutes ago|4|


This Collapse In US Interest Rates Is History In The Making—Here's What It Really Means

 
In an already dismal month for jobs data, with national unemployment rising to 8.2% after a miserable jobs report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that unemployment has hit 12.7% for veterans who served in the military since 2001.
 
This is a jump up from 9.2%, the unemployment rate for recent vets in April. May's figures were disastrous all around, but hit recent veterans much harder than the general workforce or veterans measured as a whole (7.8% unemployment).
 
The Department of Veteran's Affairs has tried to push a bill — a GI education benefit — which would grant assistance to veterans returning home.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/veteran-unemployment-skyrockets-in-may-2012-6#ixzz1wYa1QIJx

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766,000 More Women Unemployed Today Than When Obama Took Office
June 1, 2012   



Former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama at the White House on May 31, 2012 for the unveiling of President Bush's portrait. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

 
(CNSNews.com) - The number of American women who are unemployed was 766,000 individuals greater in May 2012 than in January 2009, when President Barack Obama took office, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 
In January 2009, there were approximately 5,005,000 unemployed women in the United States, according to BLS. In May 2012, there were 5,771,000.
 
The BLS derives its employment statistics from an overall number it calls the civilian non-institutional population. This includes all Americans 16 or over who are not on active duty in the military and who are not in an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home. From this civilian non-institutional population, BLS determines a subset it calls the civilian labor force, which includes all members of the civilian non-institutional population who are either employed or have made specific efforts to find work in the past four weeks. People who are not employed and who have not sought work in the past four weeks are considered by the BLS to have dropped out of the labor force.
 
Unemployed people are those who are in the labor force but do not have a job—despite having looked for one in the past four weeks. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the overall civilian labor force that does not have a job—that is, who have sought a job in the past four weeks and not found one.
 
In January 2009, according to BLS, the unemployment rate for American women was 7.0 percent. In May 2012, it was 7.9 percent.
 
When Obama took office in January 2009, the female civilian non-institutional population was 121,166,000. In May 2012, it hit 125,788,000—an increase of 4,622,000 since January 2012.
 
However, at the same time the female civilian non-institutional population was increasing, the percentage participating in the labor force was declining—following a long-term trend. In January 2009, 59.4 percent of women participated in the labor force, while in May 2012 it was 57.8.
 
May’s 57.8 percent female participation rate in the labor force was up from April’s rate of 57.6 percent—but that level (57.6 percent) was the lowest it had been since March 1993.Female participation in the labor force peaked at 60.3 percent in April 2000. The last time it was above 60 percent was March 2001, when it hit 60.2 percent.
 
Despite the increase in the female non-institutional population over the past three years, the actual number of women employed in the United States in May 2012 was about 83,000 lower than it was in January 2009. In January 2009, there were 66,969,000 women employed in the United States and in May 2012 there were 66,886,000.
 
The number of women employed in the United States peaked at 68,102,000 in April 2008, according to BLS.  The number of women employed in the United States today is 1,216,000 less than that.
 
BLS posts historical data on female employment going back to 1948. Since then, the female unemployment rate hit its lowest level—2.7 percent—in May 1953. At that time, however, only 34.0 percent of non-institutionalized American civilian women 16 or older participated in the labor force.

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'Beware a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008': Head of World Bank warns Europe is heading...
Daily Mail ^ | 06/01/12 | Hugo Duncan
Posted on June 1, 2012 10:53:15 PM EDT by TigerLikesRooster

'Beware a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008': Head of World Bank warns Europe is heading for 'danger zone' as world markets suffer bleakest day of the year so far

Robert Zoellick: 'Far from clear leaders ready for impending catastrophe'

Raft of dismal news from around world wreaked havoc on market

Manufacturing output crashed in Britain, jobless up in Europe and U.S.

Fast-emerging economies such as Brazil and China running out of steam

By Hugo Duncan

PUBLISHED: 15:49 GMT, 1 June 2012 | UPDATED: 22:52 GMT, 1 June 2012

The head of the World Bank yesterday warned that financial markets face a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008.

On the bleakest day for the global economy this year, Robert Zoellick said crisis-torn Europe was heading for the ‘danger zone’.

Mr Zoellick, who stands down at the end of the month after five years in charge of the watchdog, said it was ‘far from clear that eurozone leaders have steeled themselves’ for the looming catastrophe amid fears of a Greek exit from the single currency and meltdown in Spain.

The flow of money into so-called ‘safe havens’ such as UK, German and US government debt turned into a stampede yesterday.

In Berlin the two-year government bond yield fell below zero for the first time, with the bizarre result that jittery international investors are now paying – rather than being paid – for lending to Germany.

There was a raft of dismal economic news from around the world, with manufacturing output falling in Britain and Europe, unemployment jumping in the eurozone and America, and fast-emerging economies such as Brazil and China showing signs of running out of steam.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...

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“Recovery Summer” Scorecard: 170,000 More on Disability Than Decline in Unemployment
Confounded Interest ^ | June 2, 2012 | Anthony B. Sanders
Posted on June 2, 2012 1:23:01 PM EDT by whitedog57

Since President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, I will ignore the summer of 2009 since the economic policies adopted by his Administration did not have time to fully kick-in. So, I am starting the “Recovery Summer” scorecard as of July 1, 2010.

So, we have had two recovery summers (2010 and 2011) and we are entering the third recovery summer. Here is the scorecard beginning with July 1 2010 and ending with the latest BLS report for May 1, 2012.

While unemployment has fallen since the beginning of the 2010 recovery summer by 1,899,000, the number of people going of disability grew by 2,059,000 for a NET INCREASE of 170,000 going on disability.

Last month, the net increase in people going on disability was 100,000 greater than the decline in unemployment. So, the disability-to-unemployment situation is worsening.

Since the 2010 recovery summer began, the Federal debt held by the public has swelled by $2.38 trillion. And the employment to population ration has risen by 0.10% to 58.60%.

And U6 unemployment is at just under 15% after two recovery summers while labor force participation fell to 63.8 from 65.3.

So, we have $2.38 trillion MORE in debt and 170,000 MORE people going on disability than the reduction in unemployment. That is a disastrous performance record for the Obama/Romer/Summers/Goolsbee top-down, BIG government, Keynesian/Hicks-Hansen/Krugman philosophy.

I have a suggestion for The Obama Administration. Just change your mantra to “Slumber Summer.” And change the Department of Labor’s logo to Slumber Inc from the James Bond flick “Diamonds are Forever.”

(Excerpt) Read more at confoundedinterest.wordp ress.com ...

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Layoffs to Begin Monday at RG Steel(4th Largest U.S. Flat-Rolled Steel Company)
WYTV.com ^ | June 3, 2012 | WYTV.com
Posted on June 3, 2012 8:34:39 PM EDT by Son House

Layoffs will begin on Monday for workers at RG Steel in Warren.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week in Delaware. The financial problems will idle plants in Warren, West Virginia and Maryland. Over a thousand employees are effected.

RG Steel said that despite cost reductions and improvements, it has been unable to succeed in the current market.

The company is looking to sell its operations.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303552104577440342850277660.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop



Obama = typhoid Mary.

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BIG MISS: April Factory Orders Fall 0.6%, Ex-Cars Fall 1.1%
Business Insider ^ | 6/4/2012 | Joe Weisenthal

Posted on Monday, June 04, 2012 10:10:03

ORIGINAL POST: Last economic datapoint of the day: April factory orders come out at 10:00 AM ET. Analysts expect an increase of 0.2%. That compares to a decline of 1.9% in the previous month. Given all the bad news in econ data-world these days, this one will be closely watched for confirmation or negation of the trend. UPDATE: The numbers are out and bad. Factory orders fell 0.6% in April, which is way worse than the 0.2% growth anticipated. Last month was revised to a decline of 2.1% from a decline of -1.5%. And ext-transport, the decline was a solid 1.1%. Not good. Markets are at their lows of the day.


(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...

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The Lowlights Of Obamanomics
Posted 06/04/2012 07:14 PM ET

www.investors.com

The Obama Record
 
The Obama Record: May's weak jobs report further confirms the president's policies are failing to help the economy. This is, indeed, the worst recovery since the Depression.
 
Negative superlatives associated with this presidency keep piling up. The toll so far:
 
• The share of Americans who've been out of work a long time — now at 42% of the unemployed — is the highest since the Great Depression (source: Labor Department).
 
• The proportion of the civilian working-age population actually working, at 58%, is the smallest since the Carter era (Labor Department).
 
• Growth in nonfarm payroll jobs since the recovery began in June 2009 is the slowest of any comparable recovery since World War II (Hoover Institution).
 
• The rate of new business startups — the engine of job growth — has plunged to an all-time low of 7.87% of all businesses (Census Bureau).
 
• 3 in 10 young adults can't find jobs and live with their parents, highest since the 1950s (Pew Research).
 

Subscribe to the IBD Editorials Podcast

• 54% of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 are jobless or underemployed, the highest share in decades (Northeastern University).
 
• Black teen unemployment, now at 37%, is near Depression-era highs (Labor Department).
 
• Almost 1 in 6 Americans are now poor — the highest ratio in 30 years — and the total number of poor, at 49.1 million, is the largest on record (Census).
 
• The share of Hispanics in poverty has topped that of blacks for the first time, 28.2% to 25.4% (Census).
 
• The number of Americans on food stamps — 45 million recipients, or 1 in 7 residents — also is the highest on record (Congressional Budget Office).
 
• Total government dependency — defined as the share of Americans receiving one or more federal benefit payments — is now at 47%, highest ever (Hoover).
 
• The share of Americans paying no income tax, at 49.5%, is the highest ever (Heritage Foundation, IRS).
 
• The national homeownership rate, now at 65.4%, is the lowest in 15 years (Census).
 
• The 30-point gap between black and white Americans who own their own homes is the widest in two decades and one of the widest on record (Census).
 
• Federal spending, now at 23.4% of GDP, is the highest since WWII (CBO).
 
• Excluding defense and interest payments, spending is the highest in American history, at 17.6% of the economy (First Trust Economics).
 
• The federal debt, at 69% of GDP, is the highest since just after WWII (CBO).
 
• The U.S. budget deficit, now at 9.5% of the economy, is the highest since WWII (CBO).
 
• U.S. Treasury debt has been downgraded for the first time in history, meaning the U.S. government no longer ranks among risk-free borrowers (S&P).
 
This is what Obamanomics has wrought. Fiscal promiscuity. Trickle-up poverty. Shared misery.

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CBO: Debt will be double GDP by 2037

 By Erik Wasson - 06/05/12 12:19 PM ET




U.S. debt is on track to be nearly twice the size of the U.S. economy by 2037, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned Tuesday.

 The new CBO report states that increased entitlement spending driven by the retirement of the baby boomers and insufficient revenue is making the long-term outlook for the national debt increasingly dire.
 







Under CBO’s most likely scenario, in which lawmakers extend current tax rates and fail to curb entitlement spending, debt held by the public would reach 109 percent of the economy by 2026, and it would be almost 200 percent of GDP by 2037. 


 
Many economists have warned that if debt held by the public approaches 100 percent of GDP, it can bring on the kind of fiscal crisis being felt in European countries today, in which governments must suddenly slash spending and laying off workers in the face of rising interest rates caused by spooked investors. 


 
CBO’s latest prediction is similar to its 2011 report despite the $2.1 trillion in budget cuts enacted in last August’s debt-ceiling deal between the White House and Congress. 


 
CBO said last year that debt as a share of GDP would reach 109 percent of the economy by 2023 — rather than 2026 — and would approach 190 percent in 2035.


 
In its new report, CBO says that if current policies continue, including allowing the Bush-era tax rates to increase in January and going forward with large cuts in payments to doctors under Medicare, the debt path would be less explosive. In that scenario, debt held by the public moves from 73 percent of GDP this year to 61 percent by 2022 and 53 percent by 2037.


 
This prediction is slightly rosier than last year, when CBO predicted federal debt held by the public would grow from about 70 percent in 2011 to 84 percent by 2035 under the current-law scenario. The problem is that Congress is unlikely to allow scheduled spending cuts and tax increases, including an expansion of the Alternative Minimum Tax, to take effect.
 
“The explosive path of federal debt under the alternative fiscal scenario underscores the need for large and timely policy changes to put the federal government on a sustainable fiscal course,” the CBO report urges. 


 
CBO notes that the debt stood at 40 percent of GDP at the end of 2008 before Obama took office, and will rise to 70 percent this year.

 Tuesday’s report will likely provide additional campaign fodder for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Republicans, who are emphasizing the need to tackle the long-term debt as a way to create business certainty and boost jobs. 


 
“Today’s CBO report confirms that President Obama has placed us on a path to fiscal ruin," Romney for President policy director Lanhee Chen said in a statement.

"On the heels of last week’s dismal jobs report, today’s CBO report on the deteriorating fiscal situation underscores the obvious: The president’s policies are not working," House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement. "Repeating Europe’s mistakes, the president’s policies call for job-crushing tax increases and harsh disruptions for beneficiaries of government programs as the debt spirals out of control. … CBO’s report is the latest in a series of warnings for policymakers to advance principled solutions that responsibly confront our generation’s most pressing challenges."

 Already, super-PACs supporting Romney have been running television advertisements that blame President Obama for the exploding debt.


 
The White House has responded that Romney’s fiscal plans would hurt the poor while protecting tax breaks for the wealthy, and it urged Congress to adopt a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.


 
Democrats used the CBO report to call for a “balanced” debt plan that includes spending cuts and tax increases.

"CBO’s report is a warning that we must get our fiscal house in order by achieving big and balanced deficit reduction that includes both spending and revenues," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said. “However, Republican leaders’ insistence on finding savings only from cuts to essential services for the most vulnerable Americans will not get us any closer to the real, comprehensive deficit reduction solution we need."

CBO’s report focuses on Medicare and Social Security spending as major drivers of the debt increase.

 Spending on healthcare entitlements in the report rises from 5 percent of GDP today to nearly 10 percent in 2037. Together, major healthcare entitlement spending and Social Security grows from more than 10 percent of GDP to almost 16 percent in the next 25 years.


 
Obama last fall proposed modest cuts to Medicare to try to stabilize its finances, but the White House has not put forth a specific Social Security plan.


 
The House-passed budget, authored by Ryan, seeks to tackle Medicare by partially privatizing it. 


 
Future seniors would be given the option of receiving subsidies to buy private insurance rather than remain in the traditional fee-for-service program. 


 
Democrats say that this approach will actually increase costs and, because the subsidies would be capped, would result in many seniors paying more for their healthcare. They are preparing again to paint the GOP as ending Medicare “as we know it” in the fall campaign. 


 
The Ryan budget was also essentially mum on fixes to Social Security. Bipartisan panels such as the Bowles-Simpson commission have proposed lower cost-of-living increases and an increased retirement age to shore up the program.
 
— This story was posted at 9:52 a.m. and last updated at 1:39 p.m.

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[whork]

Get a job!!!

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/p-keeps-us-rating-unchanged-outlook-negative-210021912.html



Great job Thugbama

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US Deficit More Than Doubles to $125 Billion
Published: Tuesday, 12 Jun 2012 | 3:35 PM ET Text Size By: Reuters   Twitter 
 

The government posted a budget deficit of $125 billion in May, more than twice the level registered in the same month last year.

 

The budget has become a key point of political contention in Washington during this election year. Economists worry another budget impasse like the one that cost the United States its "AAA" credit rating last year could be in store at the end of 2012, potentially derailing a fragile economic recovery.

The May deficit, which was close to analyst forecasts, followed a rare month of surplus in April that was due to higher budget receipts during tax season but also other temporary factors.

So far this fiscal year, the budget deficit stands at $844.5 billion, narrower than at the same time a year ago.

Under the government's accounting system, October is the opening month of fiscal 2012. During fiscal 2011 which ended September 30, the budget deficit totaled $1.296 trillion.

[Soul Crusher]

Under Obama, New Bank Formation Has Dwindled to Nothing

http://libertarian-neocon.blogspot.com/2012/06/under-obama-new-bank-formation-has.html

 
Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 12:44:25




While listening to the Jamie Dimon testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee today, I was struck by a comment by one of the Senators.  He mentioned that he had heard, but hasn't verified, that in the last year no new bank charters were granted.  If true that is very damning.  We know that banks continue to shutter and if no new ones come on to take their place, that could explain some of our current malaise.  It looks like what that Senator had heard is true.  Here is what I got from the FDIC statistics:


 So far in 2012, there has not been a single bank charter approved.  In 2011, only three were approved (the lowest number since at least 1936!) and even they weren't actually new banks.  Those were charters given to banks specifically created to buy failed banks.  If you add up the number of new bank charters over the entire Obama administration, all 3+ years, the total is 37.  The lowest number in any one year was 50.  That is just abysmal.  To put another way, there were more banks created in the late 1930's, in the 1970's recession, in the 1980's recession and in the wake of the Savings and Loan crisis than there are today.  Also, the total number of banks shrank by 11.6% since Obama took office.  Fewer banks mean fewer places to apply for a loan and therefore less chances you'll get any money at all.

 Dodd-Frank and all those massive regulations that have been crammed down on banks is clearly a culprit.  As former FDIC Chairman Bill Isaac commented back in March on the new regulations:

 The bigger banks can absorb it, the smaller banks can’t. I would not be surprised to see half of the community banks in this country go out of business if we don’t give some relief from Dodd-Frank for them...  I think that Dodd-Frank is a terrible piece of financial legislation.  It didn’t address any of the causes of the crisis that we just went through. It won’t prevent the next crisis. It’s heaped volumes and volumes of regulations.

 As Jamie Dimon testified today, he currently has hundreds of regulators onsite at any one time at JP Morgan, but with all the changes, they aren't clear who is in charge of what or who has the authority to do anything.  And this is JP Morgan which has an army of lawyers guiding them through the regulatory jungle.  If he is lost, community banks have no hope.  No wonder there has been almost no new banks formed.

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http://www.businessinsider.com/jobless-claims-14-2012-6


Jobless claims on the rise again almost to 400k. 



HOPE AND CHANGE

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Foreclosures spike 9% in May
 CNN/ YahooFinance ^ | 6/14/12 | Les Christie

Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2012 8:41:47 AM by EBH

Foreclosure filings in May spiked 9% compared with a month earlier, according to an industry group.

RealtyTrac reported that 205,990 U.S. properties received filings last month, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, marking the first monthly increase since January.

Bank repossessions climbed steeply, up 7% to 54,844, after hitting a four-year low in April.

The industry had anticipated that there would be a new wave of foreclosures once the industry resolved the "robo-signing" issues, which came to light in late 2010. A settlement was finalized last April.

Robo-signing put the methods used by the banks to repossess homes under intense scrutiny. That forced lenders to slow the foreclosure process to make sure their paperwork was legal and proper.


(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-illinois-foreclosures-rise-29-percent-in-may-20120614,0,6903666.story


Sweet - real recovery we have going here.   

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A Brand New Troubling Sign For The Housing Market
 
Mamta Badkar|Jun. 14, 2012, 9:14 AM|1,028|5


Despite talk of a housing bottom, new data shows that foreclosure filings jumped 9 percent from April to 205,990 according RealtyTrac's latest foreclosure report.
 
While the rise in foreclosure activity above the 200,000 mark is worrying, an even more worrisome sign is the rise in foreclosure starts - default notices or scheduled foreclosure auctions.
 
Foreclosure starts were filed on 109,051 U.S. properties and were up for the first time in 27 straight months on a year-over-year basis (YoY).
 
Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac said in an email interview that the uptick in foreclosure starts is troublesome "because the real estate market has started to stabilize over the past few months, helped in part by decreasing foreclosure activity. This new batch of properties entering the foreclosure process could threaten to destabilize the market once again."
 
For now Blomquist says lenders are pushing "smaller waves of distressed loans into foreclosure rather than filling the foreclosure pipeline all at once," which should prevent a sudden drop in home prices.
 
Foreclosure starts increased on an annual basis in 33 of 50 states. Some of the biggest increases were seen in the judicial foreclosure states like New Jersey, where foreclosure starts were up 118 percent YoY, Pennsylvania, 93 percent. In Tennessee, a non-judicial foreclosure state, foreclosure starts were up a whopping 165 percent YoY.
 
Going forward, a higher percent of these foreclosure starts are likely to end up as short sales or auction sales rather thank bank repossessions according to RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore. Pre-foreclosure sales have less of a negative impact on home prices than bank-owned sales but they can benefit the lender since, pre-foreclosure sales sell at a higher average price point than bank-owned homes.
 
Here's a chart from RealtyTrac that shows the rise in foreclosure starts:
 







Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-foreclosure-starts-2012-6#ixzz1xmNCmBGj

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23% of Small Business Owners Went a Year Without Pay
by William Bigelow

 

Barack Obama has said the private sector is doing fine.
 
Tell that to small business owners; a new survey by Citigroup shows that 23% of small business owners have gone more than a year without pay. The study also says that 54% of them have gone without at least one paycheck; 38% of them said their employees had worked overtime without being compensated; and 18% of them had been unable to make a paycheck for their employees at least once.
 
During recent years, 78% of the owners have taken less profit, 70% have been working more hours, and 69% have used their own funds in order to keep their businesses afloat.
 
When asked what issues have been the most problematic for them, the owners didn’t rank their access to financing in the top five, instead claiming lack of sales and consumer confidence were the most troubling factors.
 
Maria Veltre, Citi's managing director of small business, commented:
 

“Business owners are wearing more hats, working more hours and taking less profit” to keep their businesses going. They don’t sit idle, they’re asking, ‘What do I need to do to make my business grow?’ There is a level of sacrifice small business owners take for their businesses.”
 
The small business owners are reluctant to borrow funds because they are worried about the costs of Obamacare and the financial hit the economy will take from expiring tax cuts.
 

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/14/twenty-three-percent-small-busines

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US factory production declined 0.4 pct. in May

       

CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER | June 15, 2012 09:33 AM EST |
Compare other versions »



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WASHINGTON — U.S. factories produced less in May than April, as automakers cut back on output for the first time in six months. The report indicates that manufacturing, a key driver of the economic growth, is slowing.
 
The Federal Reserve said Friday that factory output declined 0.4 percent last month, after increasing 0.7 percent in April. Auto production fell 1.5 percent, the first drop since November. Auto sales rose sharply earlier this year but slowed in May.
 
Overall industrial production, which includes mines and utilities, dipped 0.1 percent, after a solid 1 percent rise in April. Both mines and utilities increased production.
 
Separately, a survey of manufacturers showed that factory activity in the New York region grew much more slowly in June than in May. The New York Federal Reserve Bank's Empire State index fell sharply to 2.3, from 17.1 in May. That means factories barely expanded this month. A reading below zero indicated contraction.
 
A measure of new orders in the Empire State survey also fell.
 
Consumers are spending less and businesses are purchasing fewer large capital goods, such as machinery and computers. That's reducing demand for factory goods.
 
Retail sales dipped in May for the second straight month, the government said Wednesday. It was the first back-to-back drop in two years.




 
And orders from businesses for machinery, computers and other capital equipment fell in April and March, according to a report released earlier this month.
 
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said manufacturing activity grew more slowly in May. Companies kept hiring, but not as quickly as in April.
 
Factories have been adding jobs at a healthy pace in the past two of years. But the sector isn't large enough to carry the whole economy.
 
Manufacturers added 12,000 jobs last month, the eighth straight gain. But overall, the economy generated only 69,000 jobs in May, the third straight month of sluggish hiring.
 
The economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the January-March quarter. That's slower than the 3 percent growth in the October-December quarter.

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http://www.businessinsider.com/pew-china-economic-power-2012-6


Damn.   Fucking sad.   

Obama really is collapsing this nation. 

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Manufacturing In The Northeast CRUMBLES, Fed Survey At 2.29
Eric Platt|Jun. 15, 2012, 8:30 AM|1,205|6



Manufacturing in the Northeast slowed from a strong May, with new data out of the Federal Bank of New York registering tepid growth in June.
 
The headline business conditions index declined to 2.29 from 17.09 one month ago. A reading above zero indicates expansion.
 
Economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast a smaller drop to 12.50.
 
Employment conditions also worsened in the month, with the number of employees index falling 8.1 points to 12.4 and hours worked declining 9 points to 3.1.
 
However manufacturers in the Fed's second district, which includes New York, northern New Jersey, and Fairfield County in Connecticut, said they planned more robust capital expenditures over the second half of the year.
 
"Forty-three percent said that they expected to increase capital spending over the next six to twelve months, while just 16 percent planned reductions—a somewhat more positive balance than in the August 2010 survey," the Fed said in its statement.
 
Below, conditions recorded in the report over the past decade.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/empire-fed-report-2012-6#ixzz1xsLa7GcU