Survey: U.S. workers suffer unprecedented anxiety

And it's all because of Obamacare and federal regulations.... Oh, and too-high taxes on corporations, can't forget that one.

Seriously though, Republicans are out of answers and Democrats are too pussy to do what's necessary, like expanding unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage, expanding Social Security, offering real child care, etc.:

More than six in 10 workers in a recent Washington Post-Miller Center poll worry that they will lose their jobs to the economy, surpassing concerns in more than a dozen surveys dating to the 1970s. Nearly one in three, 32 percent, say they worry “a lot” about losing their jobs, also a record high, according to the joint survey, which explores Americans’ changing definition of success and their confidence in the country’s future. 

And this worry is especially strong among the working poor, aka the Little Guys:

Fifty-four percent of workers making $35,000 or less now worry “a lot” about losing their jobs, compared with 37 percent of ­lower-income workers in 1992 and an identical number in 1975, according to surveys by Time magazine, CNN and Yankelovich, a market research firm. Intense worry is far lower, 29 percent, among workers with incomes between $35,000 and $75,000, and it drops to 17 percent among those with incomes above that level.

Lower-paid workers also worry far more about making ends meet. Fully 85 percent of them fear that their families’ income will not be enough to meet expenses, up 25 points from a 1971 survey asking an identical question. Thirty-two percent say they worry all the time about meeting expenses, a number that has almost tripled since the 1970s.

And it's not even polite to talk about the health and social effects of such anxiety among the working poor, that often clouds their judgment and leads to depression. We haven't even attempted, as a society, to feel that level of empathy with our fellow Americans.

Among American workers, poll finds unprecedented anxiety about jobs, economy

By Jim Tankersley and Scott Clement

November 26, 2013 | Washington Post

URL: http://wapo.st/1evjLGj

MB360: U.S. income, 'fiscal cliff,' and the Little Guy

These U.S. income stats are important for us Average Joe's to keep in mind during the so-called "fiscal cliff" negotiations that may have been resolved by Congress early this morning.  

To recap: the Republicans have been ready to impose higher income taxes on all Americans in order to exempt households earning between $250,000 and $449,000 -- that's already the top 1-2 percent of income earners -- from paying a 39.6 percent marginal tax rate instead of the current 35 percent.  (For the record, the One Percent includes anybody making more than $350 K a year). 

Meanwhile, the median U.S. wage per person is about $27 K. Sixty-six percent of individual Americans earn less than $42 K a year; and 68 percent of households earn less than $75 K a year.  If the "middle class" means the middle of the U.S. income distribution, then these are the very people we should care about, not the Two Percent!

Think about that: Republicans have been adamant to scrap any deal on taxes and spending -- to the detriment of the middle and working class! -- that raises income taxes on the top Two Percent of all Americans. They show their true colors. The GOP is not the party of the Little Guy, but rather of the selfish elitists.

UPDATE:  Said President Obama at 11:21 EST today, after the GOP-led House voted to pass a 'fiscal cliff bill:'

"I will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans while preventing a middle class tax hike that could have sent the economy back into recession and obviously had a severe impact on families all across America."

Except we know he's fudging a bit, since this bill saves mostly the One Percent, those making over $350 K a year, keeping the Bush tax cuts in place for anybody making under $400 K a year.

Let's hope our President sticks to his guns and won't let the insane Republicans in the House use the debt ceiling as negotiating leverage when this kick-the-can bill expires two months from now....

How much do Americans earn? What is the average US income and other income figures. Fiscal cliff talks only useful in context of incomes.

By mybudget360 | December 31, 2012

URL: http://www.mybudget360.com/how-much-do-americans-earn-what-is-the-average-us-income/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mybudget360%2FQePx+%28My+Budget+360%29

Here is a real man

I don't use the word hero too lightly, but Charles Howard of Kentucky is one.

He has black lung but he continues to work in coal mines, and he continues to blow the whistle -- and be vindicated -- for unsafe working conditions for himself and his fellow miners. He is not some "movement" nerd with no skin in the game; he continues to work in, and will probably die from, Kentucky's coal mines.

All you who purport to be for the working man, for the Little Guy, should bow your heads in homage to this real man.

Charles Scott Howard: The Miner Who Took On Big Coal

By Dave Jamieson

September 14, 2011 | Huffington Post

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/charles-scott-howard-whistleblower-miner_n_960180.html

Memo to Obama: Help the small biz little guy

Large companies are sitting on $ billions in cash, and how much of that is thanks to extending their payment terms from 30 days to 60, 90, or even 120 days to their small-business suppliers?

Big businesses are tying up small business's cash because they can, and its hurting job creation.

Jeffrey Leonard, CEO of the Global Environment Fund and chairman of the Washington Monthly, has a simple solution:

"[President Obama] can take a simple but meaningful unilateral action: issue an executive order mandating that all companies with federal contracts pay their suppliers within thirty days of invoice. Net 30 has long been the policy of the federal government itself in paying contractors. Virtually all major corporations today are in some way federal contractors, and they should be held to the same terms that they enjoy in their dealings with the federal government. Such an order would cost the government no money. But it would make cash flow faster down the value chain to small business suppliers across the economy, and this could free up more capital for job creation. And the symbolism of a president willing to stand up for the little guy being squeezed by big corporate America would be worth its weight in political gold!"

Memo to Obama: Do small business a simple favor

By Jeffrey Leonard

January-February 2011 | Washington Monthly

URL: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2011/1101.leonard.html

Bailed-out banks lend back to Little Guy at 455% interest

First they destroyed the economy. Then Dubya bailed them out. Then they got to borrow money at zero percent interest from the gov't to pay back their gov't loans. Then they finally started lending to the Little Guy whom they had crushed, economically -- but only through payday lenders at an average interest rate of 455 percent.

And you teabaggers are mad about mosques. Suckers.

Bailed-Out Banks Finance 'Legalized Loan Shark' Payday Lenders, Says New Report

By William Alden

September 14, 2010 | Huffington Post

Big banks that received TARP bailout money are funding payday lenders -- companies Senator Dick Durbin (D - Ill.) termed "bottom feeders" -- and which charge high interest rates and fees for short-term loans, according to a report released Tuesday.

The banks, which include Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JP Morgan, currently provide roughly $1.5 billion in credit lines to publicly-held payday loan companies and between $2.5 to $3 billion to the larger payday loan industry, says the report, which was issued jointly by community group network National People's Action and non-partisan watchdog Public Accountability Initiative.

The payday lenders, including Advance America, Cash America and ACE Cash Express, which allow customers to borrow against future paychecks, and which, according to the report, charge an average interest rate of 455 percent on top of fees of $15-18 per $100 loaned, often depend on the big banks' financing for their business.

"The very same banks that helped tank the economy and then needed hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts are now aiding the bottom-feeders of the financial industry, as they seek--the payday lenders--to strip even more wealth away from everyday Americans," NPA executive director George Goehl, who also called payday lending "legalized loan sharking," said in a telephone press conference. "If Al Capone was alive today you might even get a better loan from him." (Goehl is also a HuffPost blogger)

The report, called "The Predators' Creditors," which features a picture of three sharks on the cover, says that some banks abstain from business with payday lenders because of what Advance America itself calls "reputational risks." The report also notes, though, that some of these payday lenders have ties to Wall Street. For example, the board of Advance America includes former executives from Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.

PAI co-director Kevin Connor, who co-authored the report, said in the press conference that big banks are attracted to the payday loan industry because "Americans were losing their jobs and homes in record numbers but they still had their family treasure to borrow against"

Connor also noted that the big banks themselves pay close to zero interest when they borrow from the Fed, a stark contrast to the high interest rates paid by consumers.

NPA and PAI are calling for an end to these credit lines from banks. Goehl said a protest campaign will launch today in Ohio and continue in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois through next week, culminating in a meeting of the organizers in Chicago. "This report is really the beginning, not the end," he said.