How Much Money Does The U.S. Government Give to the poor?

How Much Money Does The  U.S. Government Give to the poor?

IRS estimated that in 2009 the Earned Income Tax Credit lifted nearly $7 million people out of poverty.

Nationwide in 2012, close to 26.5 million received nearly $60.7 billion in EITC for the 2011 tax year.

$2,290.00 per person.

Total annual cost of food stamp program in 2012: $71,800,000,000.

Number of Americans using the food stamp program in 2012: 46,670,373

$1.725.00 per person

Relation between interest on the public debt and money lost by companies

Relation between interest on  the public debt and money lost by companies

Ten percent of FORTUNE 500 companies  lost money last year.

The total amount of money these companies lost was 5.6 billions.

Budgeted net interest on the public debt was approximately $251 billion.

Fortune 500 generated nearly $10.8 trillion in total revenues last year and $824.5 billion in earnings (7.6%).

U.S. nominal GDP was estimated to be $15.8 trillion in 2012.

Gun control and subway train control.

Gun control and subway train control.

A woman accused of pushing a man to his death in front of a speeding subway train in Queens  has been charged with murder as a hate crime on  December 22nd.

It was the second such attack in New York City in less than a month.

“It’s unbelievable, and it only happens in America, and it happens again and again,”
 "We are killing each other, and we are the only industrialized nation doing it."
Mayor Bloomberg said on December 17th , describing a mass shooting
at a Connecticut elementary school.

Why To Pay Social Security Is Not The Investment You Think It Is

Why To Pay Social Security Is Not The Investment You Think It Is

If your social security benefits are the only income you receive, then they will not be taxed.

If you are a single filers and your  income is more than $34,000  a taxable rate of 85% will be applied to benefits received.

Number of atheists or agnostics in U.S.

Acording a Pew poll only a 20% of Americans  identify themselves as  having no religious affiliation.

53% of Canadians believe in God.

35% of people in France are atheist or agnostic,  45% in South Korea and 84% in Estonia.

Total retirement assets of US government versus total U.S. retirement assets

Total retirement assets of US government versus total U.S. retirement assets

Total U.S. retirement assets were $17.5 trillion in Fourth Quarter 2010.

The Investment Fund (G Fund) of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan
has balance approximately of $156 billion.

Home robbery per capita

Home robbery per capita

Home Robbery Per Capita Statistics (most recent)

California 70,968

=0.0018 home robberies per capita

Spain 425,000

=0.0090  home robberies per capita

Belgium 211,000

=0.0200  home robberies per capita

U.S. 447,403

=0.0013   home robberies per capita

Baja California  15,035

=0.0050 home robberies per capita

 Arizona 9,226

=0.0014 home robberies per capita

 Wyoming 72

=0.0001  home robberies per capita

Why Inequality Will Save Us | Why Innovation Will Save Us.

From 1993 to 2008, income growth among the bottom 99% of earners was 0.5 points slower than the economy's overall growth rate.

Incomes of Top 1% Increased 275% Between 1979-2007

Three-fifths of all income growth from 1979-2007 went to the top 1%.

According the CBO most of the gains in income of the 1% have come from employment and business income, not dividends, interest, and capital gains.

Technology has made highly educated and talented people more valuable, by creating jobs that demand their talents and allow them to manage larger, more-complex activities, while
it has made less-skilled people less valuable.

What happen if you place one TSA employees in each public school?

There are 58,401 employees of the TSA.

There are 23,200  public schools in the nation.

 The estimated total number of guns held by  civilians in the United States is 270,000,000

In the first seven months of the year, TSA agents seized 821 guns, rifles and pistols, which were discovered
in carry-on luggage.

What happen if you place one TSA employee in each public school?

The disappearance of the middle class in the developed countries

According to the intelligence assessmen of the National Intelligence Council, one  of the most important trends over the coming  two decades will be the growth of the middle class, which “will become the most important social and economic sector in the vast majority of countries  around the world”.

According to my intelligence assessment one of the most important trends over the coming two decades will be the disappearance of the middle class in the developed countries which shall be substituted by an unknown new "sophisticated" welfare-society class under the umbrella  of a big bureaucratic government
in which success, creation and  talent will be punished.

What is success?

Success is keeping your independence forever.

Per capita money income in cities with shootings

Per capita money income in the past 12 months  (2011 dollars) , 2007-2011 :

U.S.: $27,915

Newtown, Connecticut:    $48,922     
Portland, Oregon :  $30,631
Oak Creek, Wisconsin:  $30,235
Aurora, Colorado :   $24,257
Oakland, California : $31,675
Binghamton, New York: $20,951
Fort Hood , Texas : $15,203       
Blacksburg, Virginia : $17,899   
Brookfield, Wisconsin: $45,317   
Atlanta,Georgia : $35,884
Columbine,Colorado :  $38,203
   


Source: United States Census Bureau

The killer who killed 20 children

The suspected gunman’s parents divorced in 2009 when he was 17 years old.

His former grandmother said she remembered Adam  as a young child but didn’t know him as a teenager.

His parents had separated “years” before they divorced, she said.

The suspected gunman was a “socially awkward” teenager, a neighbor said.

The suspected gunman was kind of a loner and shy, a neighbor said.

His former grandmother ex-husband, who died in 2010, was a widower when she met him, with children and grandchildren of his own.

They married  in the 1990s and divorced in 2001, she said.

Our politicians have a hard time to figure out how it's working.

Start ups have a loss making initial development without any access to bank loans, they have many founders vs one owner, have many shareholders (founders, friends & family, angels, VCs…) vs a few. Our politicians, who are mainly civil servants or doctors and lawyers, are far away from the startup scene and have a hard time to figure out how it's working.

How Much Money Has the Fed Printed?

 At $85 billion a month, the Fed's balance sheet will  keep growing from its current $2.9 trillion, heading toward $4 trillion by the end of the year 2013. Four years ago it was less than $1 trillion.

Who works in U.S.A.?

 Who works in U.S.A.?       
       
Today total population in    U.S. 314,930,258   
       
Persons under 18 years in U.S.    72,433,959   
Public sector employees in U.S.    20,540,000   
Private sector employees in U.S.    104,347,000   
Number of retired people in U.S.    62,067,000   
Involuntary part-time workers in U.S.    8,200,000   
Unemployed in U.S.    11,970,000   
 Illegal immigrants in U.S.    11,125,000   
Armed Forces in U.S.    2,914,000   
Self employed in U.S.    14,460,000   
 Total:   308,056,959   

Why living standards will go down and inequality will go up in America in the next 30 years?

Why living standards will go down and inequality will go up in America in the next 30 years?

Because the difference between the the pensions and retirement  savings that American households ages 32-64 have today and what they should have today to maintain their living standards in retirement is $6.6 trillion based on the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Why Charitable Giving is a tax deduction?

Why Charitable Giving is a tax deduction?

Why the complete elimination of the charitable deduction has not been achieved?

Because it is the main tax break employed by Warren Buffett and other wealthy taxpayers.

Total giving to charitable organizations and foundations was $298.42 billion in 2011 (about 2% of GDP) , 90% given by individuals (because corporations have better tax breakers).

God bless the printing money machine

God bless the printing money machine

Benefits for not working:

Food stamps:

 45.8 million people,  15% of the U.S. population
 Average food stamp benefit was $133.80 monthly per person
Total full-year cost = 73,536,480,000

Disability payments:

10.7 million people
The average  monthly benefit payment was $1,190
Total full-year cost = 152,796,000,000

Unemployment insurance:

The total number of people claiming
 benefits in all programs for the week
ending November 17 was 4,959,240
 The average weekly benefit payment was $376.  
Total full-year cost= 95,931,538,560

Benefits for not working
are increasing the incentive not to work.


Number of Social Security Beneficiaries
55,404,480

The average monthly Social Security benefit
 for a retired worker was about $1,230 at the
beginning of 2012.

Total full-year cost =817,770,124,800

How to move back 15,001 years

Environment and Energy Minister Delphine Batho wants all the lights in shop windows, offices and storefronts  across France to be turned off between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Prehistoric people used  lamps to illuminate surroundings.

Hundreds of these lamps  have been found in the Lascaux caves in modern day France, dating to about 15,000 years ago.

Environment and Energy Minister Delphine Batho wants to move back 15,001 years

Average salary in Long Beach port versus average salary in China.

Average salary in Long Beach port versus average salary in China.


Clerical workers in Los Angeles, Long Beach ports make an average base salary of $87,000 a year.

When vacation, pension and other benefits are  factored in, their annual  compensation package reached $165,000 a year.

Port of Los Angeles received from China imports valued at$110,517,865,053 in 2010 (more than 50% of total imports).

Average Salary in the Manufacturing Sector in China is $ 134   monthly.

What do you need to finance the welfare state?

What do you need to finance the welfare state?

There is no way to finance the welfare state with taxes and public debt.

In order to finance the welfare state you need the printing money machine.

And the money printed for that machine must be the  reserve currency of the world.

What is the human capacity to be lazy, fat, uneducated, homeless, smoker and whatever you want to be and to pay the price for it?

 It is freedom.

Freedom is the human capacity to be lazy, fat, uneducated, homeless, smoker  and whatever you want to be and to pay the price for it.

Why university is not a good investment

Why  university is not a good investment.


Two-thirds higher education of graduates now take out loans.

9.1% of borrowers in 2011 had defaulted on their federal student loans within two  years of graduating. 

3% of US GDP is spent  in higher education.

Coursera and Udacity are free.

Elites and bureaucrats are the middlemen in the transfer of resources from the tax payer to the poor

Elites and bureaucrats are the middlemen  in the transfer of resources from the tax payer to the poor and vulnerable and the cut that elites and bureaucrats are taking for their job is becoming bigger and bigger.

Liberty creates more inequality.

People vote indicates a belief, or a whim, but not a  choice.

Economic growth is needed to improve the well-being of the poor,  and economic growth means instability.

People who cannot govern their own lives cannot afford nothing unpredictable.

Liberty  creates more inequality.

Entitlements are becoming the modern social injustice.

The best economic indicators

The best economic indicators

The number of days in a week  the van of my neighbor is in his driveway.

The number of days the usual perfect used car that my neighbor put on sale for $2.000 stays in the his driveway.

The number of days the foreclosure for sale signs in my neighborhood stay in the yard.

Pushing for raising taxes and trying to avoid tax increase

At the Democratic National Convention, Costco
 co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal provided
 his endorsement of President Obama.

He also  pushed for raising
the top marginal rates in the federal income tax code.


Months later Jim Sinegal and the rest of the Costco
 board voted to give themselves a
special dividend to avoid Mr. Obama's looming
 tax increase.

Create theories out of practice through a trial and error proces

Create theories out of practice through  a trial and error process.
Create and destroy in order to grab  opportunities.
If you want to get something you must take risk.

To Whom Does The U.S. Government Owe Money?

The Biggest Holders of US Government Debt



1. Social Security Trust Funds

U.S. debt holdings: $2.67 trillion


2. U.S. Federal Reserve

U.S. debt holdings: $1.659 trillion

3. China

U.S. debt holdings: $1.169 trillion


4. Savings Bonds & Other Investors

U.S. debt holdings $1.102 trillion

With the most recent numbers from December
 2011, this extremely diverse group includes
individuals, government-sponsored enterprises,
brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts, estates,
savings bonds, corporate and non-corporate businesses
 for a total of $1.102 trillion.


5. Japan

U.S. debt holdings: $1.083 trillion

6. Pension Funds

U.S. debt holdings: $903.4 billion


7. Mutual Funds

U.S. debt holdings: $797.9 billion

 Including money
 market funds, mutual funds and closed-end funds,
this group of investment funds manages approximately
 $797.9 billion of U.S.



8. State and Local Governments

U.S. debt holdings: $444.6 billion



9. Medicare Trust Funds

U.S. debt holdings: $324.57 billion

The trust funds supplying capital to Medicare -
the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Supplementary
 Medical Insurance Trust Fund - hold approximately
$324.57 billion in U.S. Government debt, according
to the Treasury. The Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
draws revenue mostly from payroll taxes and pays for
 Medicare Part A benefits, including inpatient

10. Depository Institutions

U.S. debt holdings: $286.3 billion

This group includes commercial banks,
savings banks and credit unions and in
2011 holdings nearly tripled from the 2008
low of $105 billion.

European banks  hold some €1.6 trillion
 ($2.1 trillion) in sovereign bonds.




11. Oil Exporters

U.S. debt holdings: $254.5 billion
Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran,
Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria.
The group combines for a total of $254.5 billion,



12. Insurance Companies

U.S. debt holdings: $253.7 billion

According to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,
 insurance companies hold $253.7 billion in Treasury
securities. This group includes property-casualty
 and life insurance firms.



13. Brazil

U.S. debt holdings: $237.4 billion

14
Caribbean Banking Centers

U.S. debt holdings: $224.8 billion
15
Taiwan

U.S. debt holdings: $184.4 billion
16
Russia's $146.7 billion and

17
Hong Kong’s $138.8 billion.

2671
1659
1169
1102
1083
903
798
445
324
286
254
254
237
225
184
146
139
TOTAL: 11879


 As of 15 November 2012, debt held by the
public was approximately $11.45 trillion
or about 72% of GDP. Intra-governmental
holdings stood at $4.83 trillion, giving
a combined total public debt of $16.28 trillion

Walmart applicants for job

Walmart has 1.3 million  associates and it had five million applicants for jobs last year and 20% of those applicants had previously worked for the company.

 Walmart's average sale Associate makes $8.81 per hour, according to IBISWorld.
 The average wage of a Walmart associate is $11.75 an hour, according to Dan Fogleman, a spokesman for Walmart,
 Walmart says the national average hourly wage for its full-time workers is $12.40.

Walmart is the biggest employer in the U.S. after the Department of Defense.

The average salary at U.S. Department of Defense is $63,846 according to  careerbliss.com.

 In 2011, federal civilian workers had an average wage of $84,671, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

58% of the 1.8 million borrowers whose student loans were began to be due in 2005 hadn't received a degree

According to a 2011 study by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based research firm, 58% of the 1.8 million borrowers whose student loans were began to be due in 2005 hadn't received a degree. Some 59% of them were delinquent on their loans or had already defaulted, compared with 38% of college graduates

Debt burden—which exceeds 100% of GDP in U.S

On 15 November 2012, debt held by the public
 was approximately $11.45 trillion or about
72% of GDP. Intra-governmental holdings stood
 at $4.83 trillion, giving a combined total
public debt of $16.28 trillion.
GDP was estimated to be almost $16 trillion in 2012.

Mental inequality versus social inequality

Mental inequality is something that government cannot do anything about

Individual responsibility

Individual responsibility is the capacity to recognize and accept the consequences of a fact made freely.

Turnout US presidential election 2012

Turnout dropped by 7.9 million voters, falling to 123.6 million this year from 131.5 million in 2008. This is the first decline in a presidential election in 16 years. Only 51.3% of the voting-age population went to the polls.

They're basically just looking for a steady job as their own boss.

Less than a quarter of America's 27 million small businesses have employees. An even smaller portion grow beyond 20 employees. And many of them don't want to. New research from the University of Chicago finds that 75% of small-business owners aren't aiming for growth at all. They're basically just looking for a steady job as their own boss.

The 2012 presidential election results in the highest income counties in the United States:

The 2012 presidential election results in the highest income counties in the United States:

Loudoun County - Virginia
Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan - 47%		R
Barack Obama/Joe Biden - 52%		D

Fairfax County - Virginia
Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan - 40%		R
Barack Obama/Joe Biden - 59%		D

Arlington County - Virginia
Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan - 29%		R
Barack Obama/Joe Biden - 69%		D

Societies that herd livestock in rugged terrain tend to develop a “culture of honor.”

Anthropologists have long noted that societies that herd livestock in rugged terrain tend to develop a “culture of honor.” Since their wealth has feet and can be stolen in an eye blink, they are forced to deter rustlers by cultivating a hair-trigger for violent retaliation against any trespass or insult that probes their resolve. Farmers can afford to be less belligerent because it is harder to steal their land out from under them, particularly in territories within the reach of law enforcement.

Jobs Shortage and Retired Shortage

Jobs Shortage and Retired Shortage

There is a Jobs Shortage in nasty jobs.

Characteristics of nasty jobs:

Three-Week Shifts of 12 hours a day

Temporary jobs

Hardworking jobs

Commodity business

There is a Retired Shortage in fancy people

Characteristics of retired fancy people:

Their financial adviser sends them about

$6,000 a month, generated from their investments.

They also collect Social Security and small pensions.

An example of the logical conundrum between quality service and free service:

Some European businesses prefer to use U.S. forecasts

because they are free, while some U.S. businesses

spend large sums for European forecasts because they

are better.

The artificial money

The artificial money, prompting low interest rates, is not being utilized because people are still in the process of repairing their balance sheets. The artificial excesses are simply being circulated through loans from institution to institution to produce artificial gains that amount to more money with nothing to back it up.

At the same time the government is running trillion-dollar annual deficits

When the Fed must, in Chairman Ben Bernanke's words, begin "removing liquidity," by selling bonds, the external debt of the federal government will rise and the Treasury will then have to pay interest on that debt to the public. Selling a trillion dollars of Treasury bonds on the market—at the same time the government is running trillion-dollar annual deficits—will drive up interest rates, crowd out private-sector borrowers and impede the recovery. Debt-service costs to the Treasury will spiral as every 1% increase in federal borrowing costs add $100 billion to the annual budget deficit.

Freedom and security never walk together.

Freedom and security never walk together.

Protection has always liberty restrictions.

Economic security with economic self-determination is a fantasy

Printing money to gamble with derivatives indexes

Printing money to gamble with derivatives indexes focused on investment-grade and junk-bond corporate debts is a smart way to transfer money from tax-payers to financial institutions.

Interesting, successful people rarely lead orderly, linear lives.

Read obituaries. They are just like biographies, only shorter. They remind us that interesting, successful people rarely lead orderly, linear lives.

Sharing and competition

Life is not about sharing.

It is about competition.

Life is incredible competitive.

The chorus of people telling you the opposite are  hypocritical liars.

The tough realities of competition for success create winners and losers.

The reality is that the competitive world is every year harder.

Demographic trends will increase portfolio returns.

Good News for Boomers

Demographic trends will increase portfolio returns.

As retirees live longer and keep stocks and bonds , there will be younger investors trying to buy those securities, keeping prices up.

Meanwhile, weak demand from boomers and a big supply of unemployed workers will bring down the prices of goods and services the boomers need.

When something of value is free

When something of value is free, it runs out fast and only the well connected get any.

Interest rates at zero cause cheap credit for those with special access but shortage for small business.

Keeping rates artificially low makes the bond market useless as indicator of risk across the economy.

Only a growing unequal society can take care of health care, education and retirement.

Only a growing unequal society can take care of health care, education and retirement.

You can buy income security and a sense of well-being and accomplishment by working harder and being self-employed.

Wealth redistribution fight income inequality however income inequality is the son of economic growth and economic growth is a prerequisite for income gains in the poor.