CAREGIVERS - Indentured Servitude?

"Why some residential caregivers call their jobs ‘indentured servitude’" PBS NewsHour 5/23/2019

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SUMMARY:  Providing for the elderly has become a multi-billion dollar industry, with about 29,000 residential care facilities operating across the country.  But a new investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, finds that some of these facilities are profiting by exploiting caregivers, effectively paying them as little as $2 an hour to work around the clock.  Jennifer Gollan reports.

AMERICAN ECONOMY - Wall Street Sell-Off

"What does Friday’s sweeping sell-off mean for Wall Street?" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2018

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SUMMARY:  Stocks plunged on Friday over fears that the Federal Reserve will accelerate interest rate hikes.  The sell-off was driven by news that the economy added a net of 200,000 jobs in January, with wages rising at the fastest pace in more than eight years.  Judy Woodruff gets analysis from Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist of Charles Schwab.

"Yellen sees long-term growth as she leaves the Federal Reserve, despite bad day for the Dow" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2018

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SUMMARY:  The job market and the economy are growing stronger and at a healthy pace, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff [on] Friday as she wrapped up her four-year term on a momentous economic day.

The day started with a solid jobs report showing 200,000 new jobs last month and better wage growth.  But the Dow Jones continued plunging during a brutal week, finishing the day down more than 665 points or about 2.5 percent.  It capped the worst week for the Dow in two years.

But Yellen was focused on the long-term picture, saying that for “almost all groups in the American economy … you’re seeing plentiful jobs and wages beginning to rise at a slightly faster pace.”

In the NewsHour interview, recorded before the stock market closed, Yellen also warned that stock market valuations are elevated beyond their usual historic levels, including the ratio of price to earnings.  Yellen stopped short of characterizing the market’s rise in recent months as a bubble.

Even as the market was dropping, Yellen stressed that the financial system is more resilient now than it was during the financial crisis of 2008.  Still, she said, “investors should be careful and, I would say, diversified in their investments.”

Yellen also struck a sober tone on other trends in the economy.  She said productivity — a key barometer watched by the Fed — has been weaker than hoped.  She also said the pace of new firms being created over the past decade was slower than usual.

HOW THE DECK IS STACKED - Voters Not Trusting Data

IMHO - The reason is the American people have been addicted to a fast-paced life.  They expect everything NOW and not tomorrow, or next month, or next year.  They fail to realize that technology has made SOME things faster but not everything, including economic changes in an individual's life.

Also, yes, Wall Street stock exchanges are rigged gambling casinos.

"The economy is improving, yet these voters don't trust the data" PBS NewsHour 10/18/2016

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SUMMARY:  Unemployment in the U.S. is at 5 percent, a relative low, and 10 million jobs have been created during the Obama administration.  But a new survey finds that many Americans are experiencing high levels of economic anxiety, a factor that will play into how they vote.  For more on the state of the economy, public perception and the election, Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  One subject that's sure to come up in the final presidential debate is the state of the American economy, and, more specifically, the state of the American worker.

During the primary season, in what now seems ages ago, we looked at Americans' attitudes toward the economy.  We have an update tonight with our partners at Marketplace and Frontline, part of our series on How the Deck Is Stacked.

The unemployment rate may now stand at 5 percent officially, and more than 10 million new jobs have been created during the Obama administration.  But a new survey done by Marketplace and Edison Research found nearly a third of people are afraid of losing their jobs within the next six months, and almost 40 percent of people say they are losing sleep over their financial situation.

Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal is with us again.

Kai, when we first did this a year ago, we expected things to get better.  Why are people more anxious now and seem less financially secure?

KAI RYSSDAL, Host & Senior Editor, Marketplace:  The thing about the economy, Hari, is that we measure it in numbers, right, things like the unemployment rate, but people experience it through how they feel.

And what they're feeling now is anxiety, possibly because the election is drawing near, possibly because they sense that the headline numbers of unemployment at 5 percent and gross domestic product growing at a percent-and-a-half, plus or minus, they're not feeling that in their lives, while, at the same time, food prices are going up and gas is bopping around, $2.5, $3 a gallon, whatever it is.

People don't feel that security they really would like to feel seven years now into an economic expansion.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  All the numbers that you just rattled off, what's interesting is that your survey also reveals that there's a lack of trust in the data itself.

KAI RYSSDAL:  Oh, yes.

So, this was, to me anyway, one most of interesting and disturbing things about this entire survey.  We asked people whether they trust government economic data, the stuff that we do on Marketplace all the time, consumer spending, the unemployment rate, all of that stuff; 25 percent of all Americans completely distrust government economic data.

And then you drill down a little bit and you ask them to — who they're voting for and how they feel about government data, 48 percent of Donald Trump voters distrust government data; 5 percent of Hillary Clinton voters distrust the economic data.

And I think, if you look at what's happening out there on the campaign trail and some of the rhetoric that's coming from the Trump camp and from the candidate himself, it sort of stands to reason that his voters are going to distrust that data.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Speaking of distrust, there is also this feeling that your survey is picking up on about the system being rigged.  And a couple of the numbers that leapt out to me, 62 percent of Americans say that the system, the economy is rigged.

And then, when you break this down, 66 percent of Trump supporters say it's rigged for those who get government assistance; 62 percent of Clinton supporters say it's rigged for white Americans.  It's really depends on who you ask.  But, really, regardless of who you ask, they still think the deck is stacked against them.

KAI RYSSDAL:  Right.  They think the desk is stacked against them.

And what is interesting is who they think the deck is stacked for.  In about 90 percent of all responses, people think it's stacked for politicians, for corporations, and the rich.  And what you see here is this divide that we're seeing now out in the economy at large between those who have assets, those who have income, those who have wealth, and those (as we have been talking about for a long time now) who simply don't, and the income inequality gap in this country and how it's playing out now in this election.