Incomes down for 99% of Americans

The 1% profiting, again.

Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, and those earning less than $200,000 per year - roughly 99 percent of Americans - saw their earnings fall a collective $4.5 billion.

There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down -- except for the nation's wealthiest, who saw a boost.

While the incomes of the top 1percent of the country rose slightly in 2010 (from $1,909,874 in 2009 to $2,196,124 last year), their collective wage earnings rose dramatically, by about $120 billion.

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Ron Paul promotes idea of selling off 'best parts' of federal land

Um, no. What's wish this guys obsession over the so-called private market? The Federal government may not be perfect but I'd feel a lot better about the future of that property in their hands than in the hands of the likes of BP or Exxon. More extremism from Paul at ThinkProgress:

Take a look at the state of Nevada. Do the people own the property in Nevada? No. Who’s the biggest landowner? It’s the federal government. I would like to see the development of this state the way that Texas had the privilege of developing. Before we went in the Union, it was owned entirely by private owners and it has developed all the natural resources, a very big state. So you can imagine how wonderful it would be if land will be or should be returned to the states and then for the best parts sold off to private owners.

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Fewer jobs for less pay, except for the $1mill. + earners

It's good to be da' king. You really want to click through for the video and full breakdown showing just how bad things are for most working Americans. All of these ugly bits have been out there for a while but we really owe the OWS friends a lot for helping to crystallize the issue and bring it to the forefront. The GOP can smear and sneer all they like but it won't help sweep this problem under the carpet.

There were fewer jobs and they paid less last year, except at the very top where, the number of people making more than $1 million increased by 20 percent over 2009.

The median paycheck — half made more, half less — fell again in 2010, down 1.2 percent to $26,364. That works out to $507 a week, the lowest level, after adjusting for inflation, since 1999.

The number of Americans with any work fell again last year, down by more than a half million from 2009 to less than 150.4 million.

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Citibank branch closed down in DC by OccupyWallStreet

This may have happened Thursday morning, the video and the release don't really say. Read the rest of this post...

Eurozone banks told to eat losses on Greek debt

This should have been done a long time ago but at least they're finally doing it. The larger issue now is remembering that Greece is a problem, but only a very small part of the problem. A lot of banks are going to need to eat a lot of losses if anyone wants to make an attempt at getting past this financial mess.

The eurozone's 17 finance ministers have agreed that banks must accept substantially bigger losses on their Greek bonds, and a new report suggests that writedowns of up to 60 percent may be necessary.

The report from Greece's international debt inspectors, which was discussed at the finance ministers' meeting Friday, says in order to keep a second international bailout of Greece to the euro109 billion ($150 billion) level tentatively agreed upon in July, Greece's debt would have to be cut 60 percent.

Even that would leave the country's debts at 110 percent of economic output in 2020.

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Murdoch hacking scandal spreads

Labour MP Tom Watson attended the News Corp AGM today where he asked about fresh evidence that News Corp has been hacking computers as well as telephones. [BBC]

Murdoch's response was remarkably similar to the one he gave to the UK parliamentary committee. The same platitudes, the same promises to 'stop at nothing' to get to the bottom of the matter. Noticeably absent from the reports is a denial that Murdoch was aware of the criminal activities when they were being committed.

The hacking scandal has led to renewed concern about the peculiar News Corp share structure which gives Murdoch total control the company despite owning only 12% of the stock.

News Corp shareholders have seen remarkably little return in the years since Fox News was launched. $100 invested in News Corp in 1996 would have delivered a capital gain of $50 and a negligible sum in dividends. The same sum invested in the NASDAQ would have yielded over $100. Read the rest of this post...

Santorum says contraception is "not okay"

ThinkProgress:

“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country,” the former Pennsylvania senator explained. “It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”

Even if it is, it's not the government's - and it's certainly not the President's - job to make conservative Vatican doctrine the law of the land. If Rick Santorum doesn't like contraception, then let him not use it. But he should stay out of people's bedrooms, and it's one of the many reasons that the frothy former Senator from Pennsylvania won't be living in the White House, ever. Read the rest of this post...

'Misery Index' highest in 28 years

And yet another example of why the majority of Americans support Occupy Wall Street. With the old days of easy credit many could overlook the reality of a declining standard of living, but those days are gone. There's nothing left to hide the fact that the middle class is shrinking and only the select few are getting ahead and doing better than ever.

The Democrats have not done a great job addressing this issue but the GOP has not even recognized that it's an issue. They're too busy either blaming the unemployed for being unemployed or they're smearing the OWS protesters that Americans support.

The misery index — which is simply the sum of the country's inflation and unemployment rates — rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday.

The data underscores the extent that Americans continue to suffer even two years after a deep recession ended, with a weak economic recovery imperiling President Barack Obama's hopes of winning reelection next year.

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