How to judge the effectiveness of the economic recovery since 2008 is a challenge?
Many laud the Federal Reserve for it's actions to stave off a possible depression. The Federal Reserve's policies have certainly helped to promote new record highs in financial assets across the spectrum. These policies have resulted in a great rise in household net worth yet has created the fewest net new full time jobs and real income increases since WWII. The chart below shows the household net worth (the combined valuation of all privately held stock, real estate, bonds, etc.) as a percentage of disposable income (what is left after paying taxes) and calls out the decelerating full time job creation.
But as Ray Dalio noted yesterday HERE, the recovery is only a recovery for the wealthy. As the chart below from the Fed's own Survey of Consumer Finances shows, all the record growth in household net worth has gone to the top 20% of income earners since 2007 while the remainder have seen declining net worth.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Central Banks Are Now Cornered
Central Banks are in VERY serious trouble.
By creating a bubble in sovereign bonds, which I call The Everything Bubble, they were hoping to corner all risk.
The problem with this, is that in order to create this bubble, they had to print trillions of dollars worth of money and use this money to buy bonds. And that money printing (now to the tune of $15 trillion) has unleashed inflation.
Why is this a problem?
Because inflation makes bond prices FALL as bond yields rise to accommodate the higher inflation rate. And when bond prices fall, the bond bubble bursts.
Take a look at high yield/junk bonds. We’re right at the bull market trendline.
More
By creating a bubble in sovereign bonds, which I call The Everything Bubble, they were hoping to corner all risk.
The problem with this, is that in order to create this bubble, they had to print trillions of dollars worth of money and use this money to buy bonds. And that money printing (now to the tune of $15 trillion) has unleashed inflation.
Why is this a problem?
Because inflation makes bond prices FALL as bond yields rise to accommodate the higher inflation rate. And when bond prices fall, the bond bubble bursts.
Take a look at high yield/junk bonds. We’re right at the bull market trendline.
More
Fusion GPS scandal: Clinton, DNC broke campaign finance law with dossier funding, complaint says
The revelation that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund a salacious anti-Trump dossier last year is raising new legal questions for the Clinton team — with a watchdog group filing a formal complaint alleging they hid the payments from public view.
The Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the DNC and Clinton’s campaign committee of breaking campaign finance law by failing to accurately disclose the money spent on the Trump-Russia dossier.
“Questions about who paid for this dossier are the subject of intense public interest, and this is precisely the information that FEC reports are supposed to provide,” Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center said in a statement to Fox News.
The Washington Post reported this week — and Fox News confirmed — that the political consulting firm Fusion GPS was retained last year by Marc E. Elias, an attorney representing the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The firm then hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to write the now-infamous dossier.
More
The Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the DNC and Clinton’s campaign committee of breaking campaign finance law by failing to accurately disclose the money spent on the Trump-Russia dossier.
“Questions about who paid for this dossier are the subject of intense public interest, and this is precisely the information that FEC reports are supposed to provide,” Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center said in a statement to Fox News.
The Washington Post reported this week — and Fox News confirmed — that the political consulting firm Fusion GPS was retained last year by Marc E. Elias, an attorney representing the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The firm then hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to write the now-infamous dossier.
More
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/26/fusion-gps-scandal-clinton-dnc-broke-campaign-finance-law-with-dossier-funding-complaint-says.html
Krieger Rages "'America First' Is A Joke. Wall Street Wins Again"
I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but Wall Street owns the U.S. economy and until that’s dealt with, the American public will continue to be preyed upon voraciously and lawlessly by some of the most unethical parasites the world has ever seen. Obama was a historical disaster on this issue, coddling and protecting banker oligarchs every step of the way. Trump’s no different.
The latest evidence that things are getting even worse came last evening when the U.S. Senate voted to deliver Wall Street another gift on a silver platter.
Rather than summarize what happened, let’s turn to two of the best resources on such topics, journalist David Dayen and finance focused website Wall Street on Parade.
First, here are a few excerpts from David’s latest article published at The Intercept, After Day of Feuding, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker Join Trump to Upend a Major Consumer Protection:
With national attention focused Tuesday morning on a mushrooming feud between President Trump and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., followed by a feud in the afternoon between Trump and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., the Senate gift-wrapped the biggest present Congress has so far bestowed upon Wall Street in the Trump era.
With a razor-thin margin, the Senate passed a resolution to nullify a signature regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which banned forced arbitration provisions. Such clauses, tucked into the fine print of contracts that nobody reads, deny consumers the ability to contest claims through a class-action lawsuit, and can allow banks and other financial institutions to rip off their customers with virtual impunity.
Both Sens. Corker and Flake, along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joined in the effort to give Trump a major win, even if it will hurt many of his own voters. Consumer advocates had hoped that moderate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine would block the GOP effort. They did not.
The vote was split 50-50, which required Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie.
More
The latest evidence that things are getting even worse came last evening when the U.S. Senate voted to deliver Wall Street another gift on a silver platter.
Rather than summarize what happened, let’s turn to two of the best resources on such topics, journalist David Dayen and finance focused website Wall Street on Parade.
First, here are a few excerpts from David’s latest article published at The Intercept, After Day of Feuding, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker Join Trump to Upend a Major Consumer Protection:
With national attention focused Tuesday morning on a mushrooming feud between President Trump and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., followed by a feud in the afternoon between Trump and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., the Senate gift-wrapped the biggest present Congress has so far bestowed upon Wall Street in the Trump era.
With a razor-thin margin, the Senate passed a resolution to nullify a signature regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which banned forced arbitration provisions. Such clauses, tucked into the fine print of contracts that nobody reads, deny consumers the ability to contest claims through a class-action lawsuit, and can allow banks and other financial institutions to rip off their customers with virtual impunity.
Both Sens. Corker and Flake, along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joined in the effort to give Trump a major win, even if it will hurt many of his own voters. Consumer advocates had hoped that moderate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine would block the GOP effort. They did not.
The vote was split 50-50, which required Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie.
More
Farmer dead after cow rebels against him
This was one mad cow.
A Georgia farmer was killed Wednesday morning when a cow he was attempting to move ultimately turned against him, according to the Rome-News Tribune.
The cow reportedly rammed farmer Nathan William Paris against a fence, causing massive chest trauma.
First responders attempted to revive the 72-year-old farmer to no avail. He was rushed to an emergency room where he was pronounced dead.
“It’s the first time in a long time that I can recall a death attributed to a farm animal,” Floyd County Coroner Gene Proctor told the Rome-News Tribune.
More
A Georgia farmer was killed Wednesday morning when a cow he was attempting to move ultimately turned against him, according to the Rome-News Tribune.
The cow reportedly rammed farmer Nathan William Paris against a fence, causing massive chest trauma.
First responders attempted to revive the 72-year-old farmer to no avail. He was rushed to an emergency room where he was pronounced dead.
“It’s the first time in a long time that I can recall a death attributed to a farm animal,” Floyd County Coroner Gene Proctor told the Rome-News Tribune.
More
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/26/farmer-dead-after-cow-rebels-against-him.html
J. Edgar Hoover: "Need To Convince Public That Oswald Is Real Assassin"
Amid the thousands of new files released yesterday - though less than expected - were two intriguing memos to, and from, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover on November 24th, 1963 - the day that Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman was being transported to the Dallas County Jail after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In a memo issued by Hoover, he appeared to be particularly concerned that the public would have to be compelled to believe that Oswald was a lone actor - not part of a larger conspiracy.
"There is nothing further on the Oswald case except that he is dead."
In the 1964 Warren Report on Kennedy's assassination, NBC notes, Hoover was firm in stating that he hadn't seen "any scintilla of evidence" suggesting a conspiracy - a sentiment he expressed in other public forums, as well, but not in words as blunt as those he used the day Oswald was killed.
Referring to Nicholas Katzenbach, the deputy attorney general at the time, Hoover dictated:
"The thing I am concerned about, and so is Mr. Katzenbach, is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin."
More
In a memo issued by Hoover, he appeared to be particularly concerned that the public would have to be compelled to believe that Oswald was a lone actor - not part of a larger conspiracy.
"There is nothing further on the Oswald case except that he is dead."
In the 1964 Warren Report on Kennedy's assassination, NBC notes, Hoover was firm in stating that he hadn't seen "any scintilla of evidence" suggesting a conspiracy - a sentiment he expressed in other public forums, as well, but not in words as blunt as those he used the day Oswald was killed.
Referring to Nicholas Katzenbach, the deputy attorney general at the time, Hoover dictated:
"The thing I am concerned about, and so is Mr. Katzenbach, is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin."
More
Which Major U.S. Cities Have the Highest Sales Tax Rates?
The Tax Foundation issued the ranking, which looks at rates as of July 1 in U.S. cities with populations over 200,000.
Combined state and local sales tax rates in Long Beach and Chicago check in at 10.25 percent, according to the foundation's report. Contributing to that total rate is a local sales tax of 3 percent in Long Beach and 4 percent in Chicago. State tax accounts for the rest.
Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama are next on the list with combined sales tax rates of 10 percent. In both of the Alabama cities, 6 percent of the total rate is local and 4 percent is state. In the Louisiana cities, the rate is evenly divided at 5 percent state, 5 percent local.
The chart below shows the 13 cities with the highest combined rates.
More
The End of Ron Burgundy? FCC Kills Local Newsroom Requirement
Over the last six months, the Federal Communications Commission has eliminated requirements that have kept local news broadcasting a mainstay of local television, culminating with a vote on Tuesday that removed a requirement for local broadcasters to maintain newsrooms in the communities they serve. The outcome will likely be the elimination of many American communities’ primary lens for understanding the impact of local politics and policies, as well as a primary source of guidance when emergencies occur.
Until today, the so-called “main studio rule” required “each AM, FM, and television broadcast station to maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license … to ensure stations would be accessible and responsive to their communities,” according to the FCC. In Tuesday’s 3-to-2 party line vote, the FCC chose to eliminate that rule two years shy of its 80th birthday.
Without the main studio rule, national corporations that own most local television broadcast stations—NBC Universal, Tribune Media and Sinclair Broadcast Group—can eliminate the overhead costs of a local studio and produce programming out of their main offices in New York, Chicago, and the Baltimore suburbs, respectively.
More
Until today, the so-called “main studio rule” required “each AM, FM, and television broadcast station to maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license … to ensure stations would be accessible and responsive to their communities,” according to the FCC. In Tuesday’s 3-to-2 party line vote, the FCC chose to eliminate that rule two years shy of its 80th birthday.
Without the main studio rule, national corporations that own most local television broadcast stations—NBC Universal, Tribune Media and Sinclair Broadcast Group—can eliminate the overhead costs of a local studio and produce programming out of their main offices in New York, Chicago, and the Baltimore suburbs, respectively.
More
Think you have a housing problem? Why Philly says it doesn't
Does your city have an affordable housing shortage? Many cities think they have one, but one Philadelphia councilman says if you’re focused on housing, you’re focusing on the wrong problem.
He says a housing problem is really a jobs problem. If you could raise the standard of living through better jobs, homes, he says, would be affordable.
Of course, that may be an over-simplification. A city can’t survive with tech workers alone. But he does have a point that’s worth exploring. There are two sides to the affordable housing equation, and the jobs side often has untapped potential.
Philadelphia was one of the five inaugural winners of our Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grants. Act now to apply for one of our 2018 grants. — Kevin Ebi
If your city had a shortage of affordable housing in 2010, it’s probably in an affordable housing crisis today, according to a new analysis by mortgage lender Freddie Mac.
The report finds that the number of apartments within reach of very low income people has dropped by 60% over that period of time. In some states — North Carolina, Washington, Florida, Georgia and California, in particular — it found almost no units they could afford.
More
He says a housing problem is really a jobs problem. If you could raise the standard of living through better jobs, homes, he says, would be affordable.
Of course, that may be an over-simplification. A city can’t survive with tech workers alone. But he does have a point that’s worth exploring. There are two sides to the affordable housing equation, and the jobs side often has untapped potential.
Philadelphia was one of the five inaugural winners of our Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grants. Act now to apply for one of our 2018 grants. — Kevin Ebi
If your city had a shortage of affordable housing in 2010, it’s probably in an affordable housing crisis today, according to a new analysis by mortgage lender Freddie Mac.
The report finds that the number of apartments within reach of very low income people has dropped by 60% over that period of time. In some states — North Carolina, Washington, Florida, Georgia and California, in particular — it found almost no units they could afford.
More
WSJ Editorial Board: Robert Mueller Should Resign from Russia Probe
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called Thursday for FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller to step down from his role in investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying that he lacks the “critical distance” to analyze recent revelations about the FBI’s role in the saga.
“It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran for a dozen years,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote. “He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.”
The board was writing in response to recent reports that suggest the FBI uncovered evidence of the Russian bribery and money laundering in the U.S. ahead of a 2010 decision by the Obama administration to green-light the partial sale of the Canadian firm Uranium One to Russian energy giant Rosatom. The deal transferred control of 20 percent of U.S. uranium stocks to the Russians.
More here
“It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran for a dozen years,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote. “He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.”
The board was writing in response to recent reports that suggest the FBI uncovered evidence of the Russian bribery and money laundering in the U.S. ahead of a 2010 decision by the Obama administration to green-light the partial sale of the Canadian firm Uranium One to Russian energy giant Rosatom. The deal transferred control of 20 percent of U.S. uranium stocks to the Russians.
More here
Trump Temporary Travel Ban Ends
Donald Trump’s temporary ban on refugees came to an end on Tuesday, but with it came a new executive order from the president that enacts “extreme vetting” on individuals seeking to enter the U.S. from 11 nations deemed hostile to America. As a senior official further explained, “There will be a general resumption of refugee admissions under this exec order, while that review is ongoing refugee admissions from the 11 countries will be considered on a case by case basis and poses no threat to the welfare of the United States.”
Recall that Trump’s initial order was aimed at reviewing and strengthening the refugee vetting process that had come under increased criticism during Barack Obama’s time in office. The new vetting process comes with enhanced screening and security protocols, with officials prioritizing cracking down on drug offenders, human traffickers, smugglers and individuals tied to terrorist organizations or activities.
The new vetting measures include the addition of new fraud detection officers who will be deployed overseas to help assist current vetting officials. “It’s not in our interest to bring people into our country with views hostile to the United States,” said a senior administration official. That should be a no-brainer, but it wasn’t under Obama.
More
Kimberley Strassel: The Fusion GPS bombshells have just begun to drop
The confirmation this week that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid an opposition-research firm for a “dossier” on Donald Trump is bombshell news. More bombshells are to come.
The Fusion GPS saga isn’t over. The Clinton-DNC funding is but a first glimpse into the shady election doings concealed within that oppo-research firm’s walls. We now know where Fusion got some of its cash, but the next question is how the firm used it. With whom did it work beyond former British spy Christopher Steele ? Whom did it pay? Who else was paying it?
This probe of the Democratic Party’s Russian dalliance has a long, long way to go.
The answers are in Fusion’s bank records. Fusion has doggedly refused to divulge the names of its clients for months now, despite extraordinary pressure. So why did the firm suddenly insist that middleman law firm Perkins Coie release Fusion from confidentiality agreements, and spill the beans on who hired it?
More
The Fusion GPS saga isn’t over. The Clinton-DNC funding is but a first glimpse into the shady election doings concealed within that oppo-research firm’s walls. We now know where Fusion got some of its cash, but the next question is how the firm used it. With whom did it work beyond former British spy Christopher Steele ? Whom did it pay? Who else was paying it?
This probe of the Democratic Party’s Russian dalliance has a long, long way to go.
The answers are in Fusion’s bank records. Fusion has doggedly refused to divulge the names of its clients for months now, despite extraordinary pressure. So why did the firm suddenly insist that middleman law firm Perkins Coie release Fusion from confidentiality agreements, and spill the beans on who hired it?
More
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/10/27/kimberley-strassel-fusion-gps-bombshells-have-just-begun-to-drop.html
John Lewis wishes a 'Happy Birthday' to 'Madame President' Hillary Clinton
Democratic Rep. John Lewis (Ga.) wished a happy birthday to "Madame President Hillary Clinton" on Tuesday afternoon, even though Clinton is not actually president of the United States.
President Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, defeating Clinton with an upset victory in November. But that did not stop Lewis from describing Clinton as the commander in chief on her 70th birthday.
Happy Birthday, Madame President @HillaryClinton
Lewis was one of dozens of members of Congress who boycotted Trump's inauguration in January.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/27/john-lewis-wishes-happy-birthday-to-madame-president-hillary-clinton.html
DoD Plans Solar-Storm-Based National Blackout DRILL In November
According to The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL), elements of the US Department of Defense (DOD) will simulate a “communications interoperability” training exercise across the United States on November 04-06.
The announcement released on October 24 has not been widely distributed to the media, because the drill is simulating a total grid collapse and could spark public fear.
Explained by Army MARS Program Manager Paul English,
“This exercise will begin with a national massive coronal mass ejection event which will impact the national power grid as well as all forms of traditional communication, including landline telephone, cellphone, satellite, and Internet connectivity,”
In July, we warned about the US government quietly preparing for a massive coronal mass ejection with the passage of an Executive Order - “Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events”.
Back in April 2017, we wrote an article titled ‘Yesterday’s Broad Power Outage Likely Caused By Geomagnetic Storm‘. While everyone thought terrorism was to blame, we correctly pointed out that large power failures in major US cities were due to an intense geomagnetic storm registering 8-10 on K-Planetary Index.
The US Department of Defense headquarters entity will work with the US Army and US Air Force-MARS organizations and the Amateur Radio community to request status reports for 3,143 US counties. During the exercise, communication frequencies will use HF NVIS, VHF, UHF, and non-internet-linked Amateur Radio repeaters.
More here
[This is the same weekend that Antifa protests are planned. --Editor]
The announcement released on October 24 has not been widely distributed to the media, because the drill is simulating a total grid collapse and could spark public fear.
Explained by Army MARS Program Manager Paul English,
“This exercise will begin with a national massive coronal mass ejection event which will impact the national power grid as well as all forms of traditional communication, including landline telephone, cellphone, satellite, and Internet connectivity,”
In July, we warned about the US government quietly preparing for a massive coronal mass ejection with the passage of an Executive Order - “Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events”.
Back in April 2017, we wrote an article titled ‘Yesterday’s Broad Power Outage Likely Caused By Geomagnetic Storm‘. While everyone thought terrorism was to blame, we correctly pointed out that large power failures in major US cities were due to an intense geomagnetic storm registering 8-10 on K-Planetary Index.
The US Department of Defense headquarters entity will work with the US Army and US Air Force-MARS organizations and the Amateur Radio community to request status reports for 3,143 US counties. During the exercise, communication frequencies will use HF NVIS, VHF, UHF, and non-internet-linked Amateur Radio repeaters.
More here
[This is the same weekend that Antifa protests are planned. --Editor]
Gulf War Syndrome DNA Damage Found by Rutgers, VA Scientists
Gulf War Syndrome is one of the medical mysteries of our time. Thousands of veterans of the 1990-1991 conflict have debilitating fatigue, insomnia, cognitive problems, and headaches – but there’s never been a definitive explanation, diagnostic – or treatment.
But the damage has now been identified in the DNA of affected veterans – potentially leading to cures,reports a team of scientists from Rutgers Medical School and the Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System in the online journal PLoSONE.
The deepest dive into the mitochondrial DNA may help explain how elusive the symptoms are, they write.
“Mitochondrial dysfunction among veterans with (Gulf War Illness) may help explain, in part, the persistence of this illness for over 25 years,” they write. “Chemical and environmental exposures during deployment may have provided the initial insult to mtDNA and accumulation of damage.
“Damaged mtDNA may subsequently impact the efficiency of electron transport chain complexes and activity, resulting in enhanced reactive oxygen species and further damage of mtDNA,” they write.
More
But the damage has now been identified in the DNA of affected veterans – potentially leading to cures,reports a team of scientists from Rutgers Medical School and the Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System in the online journal PLoSONE.
The deepest dive into the mitochondrial DNA may help explain how elusive the symptoms are, they write.
“Mitochondrial dysfunction among veterans with (Gulf War Illness) may help explain, in part, the persistence of this illness for over 25 years,” they write. “Chemical and environmental exposures during deployment may have provided the initial insult to mtDNA and accumulation of damage.
“Damaged mtDNA may subsequently impact the efficiency of electron transport chain complexes and activity, resulting in enhanced reactive oxygen species and further damage of mtDNA,” they write.
More
Britain OKs Making Babies From DNA of 3 People in Some Cases
Britain's fertility regulator has approved controversial techniques allowing doctors to create babies using DNA from three people - what it called a "historic" decision to help prevent a small number of children from inheriting potentially fatal diseases from their mothers.
The regulator's chair, Sally Chesire, on Thursday described it as a "life-changing" moment for families who might benefit from the treatment.
"Parents at very high risk of having a child with a life-threatening mitochondrial disease may soon have the chance of a healthy, genetically related child," she said in a statement.
The new procedures are intended to fix problems linked to mitochondria, the energy-producing structures outside a cell's nucleus. Faulty mitochondria can result in conditions including muscular dystrophy, major organ failure and severe muscle weakness.
More
The regulator's chair, Sally Chesire, on Thursday described it as a "life-changing" moment for families who might benefit from the treatment.
"Parents at very high risk of having a child with a life-threatening mitochondrial disease may soon have the chance of a healthy, genetically related child," she said in a statement.
The new procedures are intended to fix problems linked to mitochondria, the energy-producing structures outside a cell's nucleus. Faulty mitochondria can result in conditions including muscular dystrophy, major organ failure and severe muscle weakness.
More
More Expensive National Parks May Threaten Access to Nature
The proposed entrance fee increase could price out minority and low-income Americans, experts warn.
Under a new proposal from the National Park Service, 17 of the most popular U.S. national parks could see entrance fees for weeklong passes increase from around $25 to $30 to $70 for a single private vehicle.
Fees would also increase to $50 per motorcycle and $30 per person on bike or foot. The near doubling in park fees is expected to generate an additional $70 million annually, which the NPS says would pay for the parks' neglected infrastructure.
Fee increases would go into effect during the five-month season that parks are most visited. The exact duration of these peak seasons vary by park but generally begin in late spring.
More
Under a new proposal from the National Park Service, 17 of the most popular U.S. national parks could see entrance fees for weeklong passes increase from around $25 to $30 to $70 for a single private vehicle.
Fees would also increase to $50 per motorcycle and $30 per person on bike or foot. The near doubling in park fees is expected to generate an additional $70 million annually, which the NPS says would pay for the parks' neglected infrastructure.
Fee increases would go into effect during the five-month season that parks are most visited. The exact duration of these peak seasons vary by park but generally begin in late spring.
More
What Is Considered Middle Class? Are You in America's Middle Class?
Middle-class income is between 67 percent and 200 percent of the average median income. That's according to the Pew Research Center. There's no official U.S. government definition of middle-class income, as there is of the federal poverty level.
The average median income is exactly in the middle of the range of incomes. Half of Americans make more and the other half make less. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the average median income was $56,516 per household in 2015.
A household is any group of people who live together.
Using the Pew Research percentages, that means households making less than $37,866 are low income. Households earning at least $113,032 are high income.
Current Middle-Class Income Range
What proportion of the 125.8 million U.S. households falls into each income range? The Census Bureau ranges don't coincide exactly with the Pew definitions, but this will give you a general idea.
The table below shows that 32 percent of households are low income. They earn less than $35,000 a year. They fall within Pew's low-income range of $0-$37,866 per year. Within this low-income group are those who live below the federal poverty line. That means 22 percent of all households earn less than $25,000 a year.
Around 42 percent of households are middle class. They earn between $35,000 and $100,000 a year.
A little more than 26 percent of households earn more than $100,000 a year.
More
The average median income is exactly in the middle of the range of incomes. Half of Americans make more and the other half make less. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the average median income was $56,516 per household in 2015.
A household is any group of people who live together.
Using the Pew Research percentages, that means households making less than $37,866 are low income. Households earning at least $113,032 are high income.
Current Middle-Class Income Range
What proportion of the 125.8 million U.S. households falls into each income range? The Census Bureau ranges don't coincide exactly with the Pew definitions, but this will give you a general idea.
The table below shows that 32 percent of households are low income. They earn less than $35,000 a year. They fall within Pew's low-income range of $0-$37,866 per year. Within this low-income group are those who live below the federal poverty line. That means 22 percent of all households earn less than $25,000 a year.
Around 42 percent of households are middle class. They earn between $35,000 and $100,000 a year.
A little more than 26 percent of households earn more than $100,000 a year.
More
Noncitizens Voted In PA Elections
A Pennsylvania election official confirmed Wednesday that noncitizen immigrants illegally voted in elections hundreds of times since 2000, casting doubt on the state’s ability to screen out ineligible voters on its election roles.
Jonathan Marks, commissioner for Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation, told a state legislative committee that an agency analysis found 544 improper ballots cast between 2000 through 2017.
More
Jonathan Marks, commissioner for Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation, told a state legislative committee that an agency analysis found 544 improper ballots cast between 2000 through 2017.
More
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)