US Adds 300,000 New Millionaires

The rising stock market has pushed America's millionaire population close to its all-time highs before the recession.

According to data from Spectrem Group, the Chicago-based wealth research firm, there are now 8.99 million U.S. households whose net worth totals $1 million or more (not including primary residence). That's up from 8.6 million in 2011 and just short of the all-time record set in 2006, when the United States had 9.2 million millionaire households.

The stock market's rise has been the biggest driver of millionaire creation. With this year's gains, Spectrem said, the United States may have already exceeded its all-time record.

Most of the benefits from rising stocks have gone to the wealthy, since the top 10 percent of Americans own more than 80 percent of all stocks, according to research from Edward Wolff of New York University. But the recent stock surge has also created a new gap within the wealthy, or at least between millionaires and the so-called affluent. Read more >>

Median net worth at lowest level since 1969 recent study finds

There may be a temporary jubilee with the notion that the fiscal cliff has been deferred for a few months.  The media is quick to accept anything for a victory but very little has been done to stop our marching path onward on this massive debt spiral.

Many Americans continue to live in poverty with no visible exit.  The latest figures show over 47 million Americans on food assistance.  Many Americans as they enter their golden years are coming to fully rely on Social Security, a system that was on the table for being cut in the recent debates.

Since the Fed is creating asset bubbles and destroying fixed income investments, many older Americans are realizing that retirement is no longer a viable option given the rising costs in food, healthcare, and once again housing.

I see this on a monthly basis where you can spot older Americans in non-traditional and many times, temporary employment roles.  None of this intervention is ending up in household income.  In fact, when we examine real wealth the net worth of American’s is down to the lowest levels since 1969 when adjusting for inflation. Read more >>

OWS Anniversary plans citizens’ arrests of bankers - they've even got cuffs

Occupy Wall Street, the global movement against inequality that ignited in Manhattan last year, will mark its first anniversary by trying to block traffic in the financial district and encircle the New York Stock Exchange.

Planning for the Sept. 17 protest, dubbed S17, follows months of internal debate and flagging interest, according to interviews with organizers. The morning action may include attempts to make citizens’ arrests of bankers, and some activists intend to bring handcuffs, they said.

“We are here to bring you to justice,” said Sean McKeown, a 32-year-old chemist and New York University graduate who’s helping organize the demonstration. “We’re offering you the chance to repent for your sins.”

Protests against income disparity, bank greed and corporate abuse sprouted from San Francisco to Hong Kong after demonstrators established an encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park last September. Police ousted them in November, and governments around the world used concussion grenades, gas, riot gear, pepper spray and arrests to disband camps and protests. Read more>>

Roubini: 4Q GDP a Joke

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Roubini Calls U.S. Growth ‘Dismal and Poor,’ Predicts Slowing
Simon Kennedy and Erik Schatzker
Bloomberg
New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who anticipated the financial crisis, called the fourth quarter surge in U.S. economic growth “very dismal and poor” because it relied on temporary factors.

Roubini said more than half of the 5.7 percent expansion reported yesterday by the government was related to a replenishing of inventories and that consumption depended on monetary and fiscal stimulus. As these forces ebb, growth will slow to just 1.5 percent in the second half of 2010, he said.

“The headline number will look large and big, but actually when you dissect it, it’s very dismal and poor,” Roubini told Bloomberg Television in an interview at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “I think we are in trouble.”

Roubini said while the world’s largest economy won’t relapse into recession, unemployment will rise from the current 10 percent, posing social and political challenges.

“It’s going to feel like a recession even if technically we’re not going to be in a recession,” he said.