US debt hits all-time record $14 trillion

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/160352.html


US government debt has ballooned to an all-time record of more than $14 trillion, which is $45,300 for each and every US citizen if divided equally.

The US Congress must now decide whether to lift the debt limit or cut spending, although some political analysts say the real debt level is much higher than the announced figure, a Press TV correspondent reported from Washington.

US President Barack Obama has urged Congress to pass a bill allowing an increase of the debt limit to help protect the US economy.

However, the Republicans say there is too much money being spent on various programs.

After the Republicans won the majority of seats in the House of Representatives in the November election, they announced that one of their major objectives would be to cut spending.

The Democrats want the debt ceiling to be raised because they say the government programs are necessary.

They contend that in the period when the US is coming out of recession, cutting some of these spending initiatives would significantly slow down economic growth.

With the Republicans in control of the House and the Democrats in control of the Senate, political analysts predict some levels of concessions over the issue.

In 2006, when Obama was a senator, Republicans wanted to raise the national debt ceiling.

At that time, Obama argued that it was a sign of “leadership's failure” that the debt ceiling was being raised and was a sign that the US government could not pay its own bills and was dependent on financial assistance from foreign countries to finance former President George W. Bush's reckless fiscal policies.

Most experts say the debt ceiling cannot be raised until Democrats and Republicans reach an agreement on lowering federal deficit spending, reallocating funding for various programs, and making other spending cuts.

US home foreclosures hit 2.9 million: Report

A total of 1.05 million homes were seized last year

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159965.html


A recent real estate report reveals that 2.9 million homes went into foreclosure during 2010 in the US, while banks seized over one million homes.

RealtyTrac Real Estate data firm reported that a total of 1.05 million homes were seized during the past year, outnumbering the 2009 record of 980,000 homes.

The statistics also showed that 2.9 million houses went into foreclosure in 2010.

RealtyTrac has predicted that the number of US homes to be foreclosed in 2011 will increase by 20 percent.

In 2010, the three states of Nevada, Arizona and Florida had the highest foreclosure rates with 9 percent, 8 percent, and 5.5 percent respectively.

The three states have joined one another in challenging lenders' loan documentation and management processes.

"Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded three million in 2010, had it not been for the fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity -- triggered primarily by the continuing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentation and procedures that prompted many major lenders to temporarily halt some foreclosure proceedings," RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said in a statement.

The chief executive predicted that an estimated 250,000 foreclosures held up in the fourth quarter would restart in early 2011.

US state considers alternative to dollar

The state of Virginia has outlined plans to provide an alternative to the dollar should the Federal Reserve’s policies lead to a crisis in the currency. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159905.html


The Commonwealth of Virginia is planning to file a bill under which it would begin minting its own gold and silver coins as an alternative currency to the US dollar.

Virginia's Republican Delegate Bob Marshall, from Prince William County, was to ask the General Assembly to consider the idea on Wednesday when it convenes for its annual legislative session, The Washington Post reported.

It is a companion bill to a proposal Marshall has already filed to establish a study committee to examine alternative currencies to that distributed by the Federal Reserve System "in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System."

The currency alternative bill intends to inject competition into the national economy of the US and oblige the federal government to change its monetary policy, which is believed to be leading to hyperinflation, Marshall said.

"Many widely recognized experts predict the inevitable destruction of the Federal Reserve System's currency through hyperinflation in the foreseeable future," the bill says.

"State legislatures have to get a little more creative and savvy to counter the buffoonery that's been plaguing Washington," Marshall noted.

"We want to provide competition and some restraint on the profligates that have been running the Federal Reserve and the people in Congress who don't know the word 'no'," he stated.

Marshall's critique reflects that of the populist, libertarian Tea Party movement of the US, some members of which have called for an end to the Federal Reserve System.

Job openings in US continue to decrease

It's hard enough finding a job in the US right now.

And according to the US Labor Department it just got a bit tougher. Open positions fell for the third time in four months.

The number of available positions fell to 80-thousand--reducing the overall number to 3 and a quarter million job vacancies. It would seem that there are still plenty of spots open, but less than before, which means fewer opportunities for Americans to find work.

Jacob Kirkegaard says the numbers are indicative of an anemic US job market. Consumers in a post-holiday market are exhibiting a record slowdown in spending.

Job openings dropped nearly two and half percent in November from just more than 3 million in the prior month. According to the labor department, that's the most since October 2008. Americans are fearful that the trend could get worse.

According to this week's estimates there were 15 million people unemployed in November. That's nearly 5 people competing for each job opening. To put things in perspective, when the recession began in 2007 there were less than 2 people competing for a job opening.

However, there has been some encouraging news that showed the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent, the lowest since May 2009--still a far cry from a recovery.

Despite glimmers of hope and spin from the White House, the US economy still languishes and hardship continues for millions of Americans who will have to compete harder to fill an open position.

'US economy to decline for ten years'

Harvard University Professor Martin Feldstein

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159420.html


Several prominent economists have portrayed a grim outlook for the ailing economy in the US, saying the recovery remains a long way off even more than a decade.

Speaking at an annual convention on the US economy, leading thinkers in the economic sphere stated that the dire situation will drag on in 2011 and it would take even ten years for the country to regain its economic prowess, Reuters reported on Sunday.

Experts have taken a less sanguine view towards Federal Reserve's economic plan early in November to inject a 600-billion-dollar stimulus to spur the country's sluggish economic recovery.

As government stimulus measures dry up, the United States might, in the short run, face serious setbacks in terms of economic recovery, while, over the long haul, the country will perforce lose its place to China as the world's largest economy.

The world acclaimed Professor Martin Feldstein from Harvard University painted a bleak picture for the US economy, arguing that growth from government spending will be drying up in 2011.

"There's really not much help coming from fiscal policy in the year ahead," said Feldstein, adding that the existing dire situations of state and local government are widely expected to play havoc with plans to regain growth.

Feldstein, who also served as chief economic advisor under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, further referred to household worries, decline in home values and the ballooning national debt -- now standing at record high of over $14 trillion -- as the primary causes of the slugging growth in the years to come.

"People are worried, so there's a strong reason for precautionary saving," he noted.

'American people in very tough times'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159459.html


People in the United States are experiencing a “very, very difficult time,” says an expert, as the country continues to struggle with economic woes.

“This country is like a steaming kettle, [at] fever pitch almost, the anger that has pervaded, and particularly towards blacks. It is a very, very difficult time. People are hurting badly,” San Francisco-based author and lecturer Allen Roland told Press TV in a Sunday interview.

“The unemployment rate is about 17 percent and this [is] going to get worse. Foreclosures were up 35 percent last quarter. People are suffering. Social security is no longer just a safety net; it is a means for survival for most seniors. These are tough times. And basically, we have got to be careful,” Roland added.

“The majority of American people wanted universal healthcare. No one listened to them. The majority of American people wanted true financial reform. It never happened. So, a lot of people in this country are in the midst of a deep depression. A lot of people in this country don't feel they have a voice. And when they don't feel they have a voice, they get angry,” he further explained.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that “it could take four to five more years for the [US] job market to normalize fully.”

Experts say that the US economy needs to create nearly 125,000 jobs per month to keep pace with the country's population growth and avoid a rise in the jobless rate.

Several prominent economists have also predicted that the US economy recovery remains a long way off even more than a decade.

Claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped below 400,000 for the week ending December 25.

However, the recent drop in the official unemployment rate is attributed to the fact that Americans have given up looking for jobs.

US budget deficit threatens economy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159149.html


The US Federal Reserve has warned that the country's high budget deficit, unless lowered, will most likely further jeopardize the economy and the current unemployment crisis.

Speaking before the Senate Budget Committee, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged members to organize a credible program to lower the federal budget deficit.

Failing to do so would diminish investors' confidence, leading to further financial turmoil, he further explained.

The US Federal Reserve chairman also warned that the US government was on “an unsustainable fiscal path,” which could, in time, turn to financial disaster, AFP reported.

“The US economy will be moderately stronger this year than last, but it is likely to take up to five years for the jobs market to recover,” Bernanke went on to say.

Recent statistics showed that 103,000 new jobs were created in December.

During his first testimony to the new Congress, the chairman stated that an increase in evidence of a “self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending may be taking hold.”

The US Bureau of Labor's new statistics indicate that the unemployment rate has dropped from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent, but analysts have observed that these numbers could be affected by the fact that some unemployed people have stopped looking for jobs and are, therefore, no longer being on the unemployed list.

'US unemployment rate stands at 21%'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159260.html


While the recent drop in the official unemployment rate is attributed to the fact that Americans have given up looking for jobs, a former Senate candidate says that the actual jobless rate stands at 21 percent.

"When you look at the overall joblessness picture, and the fact that the true unemployment rate in the United States, as Paul Craig Roberts has pointed out is actually somewhere around 21 percent; not the 9 percent that has been advertised," former US Senate candidate Mark Dankof told Press TV.

As the aftermath of the great recession and the vaulting debt crisis continue to wreak havoc on the US economy, Dankof argued that less job opportunities that came along with "13 millions more immigrants that have come to this country to live… created a lot of tensions in the entirety of the situation."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that “it could take four to five more years for the job market to normalize fully.”

Experts say that the US economy needs to create nearly 125,000 jobs per month to keep pace with the country's population growth and avoid a rise in the jobless rate.

Claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped below 400,000 for the week ending December 25, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.

The fall was the first of its kind since mid-2008; however, it is attributed to the fact that 260,000 had given up looking for jobs, according to state-funded BBC.

US poverty higher than expected: Report

Senior citizens in the US

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158881.html


Statistics reveal that the number of poor people in America, particularly senior citizens, is millions higher than it was previously thought to be.

Recently released preliminary census figures indicate that one in every six Americans, mostly a senior citizen, is living in poverty.

The Census Bureau's new report shows that 47.8 million people in America are struggling with poverty, in comparison with the previous 2010 rate of 43.6 million, most of them 65 years of age and older.

Accordingly, over 16 percent of the 48 million people living below the poverty line are 65 years or older.

Poverty rates in the United States seem to be increasing among whites and Latinos aged 18 to 65.

An analysis done by the US Census Bureau reveals that medical expenses play a key role in the high percentage of those living in poverty.

These statistics point out that if the state had insured more citizens, poverty rates would have dropped to a 12 percent rather than the current 16 percent.

Figures released by the Bureau also show that poverty is on the rise in rural areas across the country.

Based on the figures, over 15 percent of rural Americans are living in poverty. The rate is higher than it is in urban and ex-urban counties.

Rising oil prices derail global economy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158700.html


The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that increasing oil prices are entering a "danger zone" that could threaten the fragile global economic recovery.

"Oil prices are entering a dangerous zone for the global economy," chief economist Fatih Birol from the IEA told the Financial Times newspaper on Wednesday.

"The oil import bills are becoming a threat to the economic recovery. This is a wake-up call to the oil consuming countries and to the oil producers," he further explained.

Oil prices have edged closer to $100 a barrel in recent weeks and Brent crude hit $95 a barrel for the first time in 27 months on Monday.

The economist also pointed out that it was not in the interest of any country to see such increasing oil prices.

According to Birol, the need for oil import will decrease and economies would further weaken if prices persist to rise.

The official further added that oil-consuming countries also need to reduce their reliance on oil, especially for transportation.

The warning from the IEA puts the pressure on oil producers to increase production to bring down prices but officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said recently that they did not intend to change oil quotas.

The IEA's warning comes just months after International Monetary Fund officials dismissed suggestions that rising oil prices would hamper economic recovery.

'Europe threatens US economic recovery'

The US Federal Reserve building in Washington DC.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158692.html


The US Federal Reserve says the worsening of the brewing sovereign debt crisis and the banking failures across Europe could pose a setback for America's economic recovery as well.

According to minutes obtained on Tuesday from a meeting of the Fed's policy-setting panel, the Federal Reserve is keeping a wary eye on financial difficulties facing much of Europe, spelling concerns over the slow pace of the US economic recovery partly due to the debt crisis in Europe, combined with America's own devastated housing market, AFP reported.

"The recovery remained subject to some downside risks," members of the Federal Open Market Committee stated during their meeting on December 14.

The panel stated that the likelihood of weakening activity in the US market, lower house prices and the risk of potential fall-outs from worsening European debt crisis were among the risks threatening the economic recovery in the United States.

However, the committee members stated that the overall outlook for the US economy signals "a gradual pickup in growth with slow progress toward maximum employment."

Members of the panel also threw their weight behind the Federal Reserve's economic plan, devised in early November, to inject yet another 600-billion-dollar stimulus to spur the country's sluggish economic recovery.

Participants further outlined that 9.8 percent unemployment in the US and the dire state of the housing market were regarded as major setbacks for the economic recovery.

The Fed's policy-setting panel also expressed optimisms that European authorities would ultimately rise to the challenge of the gloomy economic conditions in the eurozone.

The euro zone, comprising of 16 European Union member states that use euro as their official legal tender, entered its first recession in the third quarter of 2008, following the global financial meltdown that broke out in early 2007.

The financial crisis wreaked havoc in Greece, forcing the EU and the IMF to supply the debt-laden country with a 110-billion-euro bailout in an effort to salvage its economy.

The contagious crisis has threatened to unleash a domino effect that could jeopardize other vulnerable economies in Europe and other banking systems across the world.

US national debt climbs to $14 trillion

The US national debt is fast approaching the statutory debt limit of $14.294 trillion set by the Congress

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158695.html


The US national debt has climbed to a record high of over $14 trillion amid concerns that the figure might surpass the debt ceiling set by the Congress.

The US Treasury reported on Tuesday that the national debt gained over $1 trillion since June, soaring to $14.02 trillion on December 31 from $13 trillion on June 1, as a fresh showdown between Democrats and Republicans looms large in deciding how the government should avert defaulting on its obligations, CBS News reported.

According to new statistics, the national debt stood at a whopping $14,025,215,218,708.52 - or $126,632 for every American taxpayer.

Meanwhile, concerns are running high that the increase could finally hit the statutory debt limit of $14.294 trillion set by the Congress and signed into law by US President Barak Obama in February last year.

Republicans, who have constantly campaigned on the platform of fiscal responsibility, have vowed to block an increase in the US debt ceiling, insisting that federal spending and unfunded government liabilities on entitlement programs should be slashed.

Last year, the US Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion.

However, if the Congress does not vote to raise the debt limit this year, the likelihood of the governments' default on its financial obligations would significantly increase.

The impact on the state of the US economy would be "catastrophic" if the federal government defaulted on its financial obligations, said White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee.

"That would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity," he emphasized.

The report comes as the worsening economic recession and vaulting debt crisis continue to wreak havoc in the US economy.

US bankruptcies hit 5-year high in 2010

A report by the American Bankruptcy Institute says some 1.53 million consumer bankruptcy petitions were filed in 2010

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158698.html


The number of US consumers filing for bankruptcy protection in 2010 reached the highest in five years, as the US economy continues to face a bumpy recovery.

According to a report released by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) on Tuesday, some 1.53 million consumer bankruptcy petitions were filed last year. The new figure shows a nine percent increase compared to 2009.

It also puts the number of individuals filing for bankruptcy at an all time high since 2005.

ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano said that such filings may continue to increase throughout 2011.

The dire prediction has been brought to the fore at a time when the US economy is riddled with a soaring debt crisis.

The US Treasury has reported that America's national debt, as of the last day of 2010, surpassed 14 trillion dollars. This has led experts to predict a grim outlook for the US economy in 2011.

“The debt is ... a reflection of the fact that we (the United States) are in the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression,” said economic analyst Ethan Pollack in a Press TV interview.

Democrats and Republicans will start to battle on how to resolve the debt problem this week in a highly bipartisan Congress.

Experts also believe that steps taken by Washington to handle the economic crisis, including money printing, have put the country on the verge of "bankruptcy."

This is while a recent study by the Wall Street Journal has revealed that around one hundred US banks that have already been rescued by the federal government are facing the prospect of bankruptcy again.

America's continuing financial debacle was triggered by the global financial meltdown that initially broke out in early 2007.

Poverty on the rise in rural areas of US

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158686.html


The latest figures show that poverty is on the rise in rural areas across the United States as the country grapples with the highest national poverty rate since 1994.

According to new estimates released on Tuesday by the US Census Bureau, which is part of the Department of Commerce, poverty in rural areas rose significantly between 2006 and 2009, to the point where over 15 percent of rural US citizens are living in poverty.

The figures also indicate that the national poverty rate was over 14 percent in 2009, its highest level since 1994.

Census figures show 43.6 million US citizens lived in poverty in 2009 and 19 million lived in extreme poverty.

The figures also show that one in five children in the United States lives in poverty, with almost half of them living in extreme poverty.

Meanwhile, the Working Poor Families Project issued a report based on the new data from the Census Bureau, bringing the issue of the financial predicament facing those on the lower economic rungs into sharper focus as the country struggles with high unemployment in the wake of the recession that began in December 2007.

In 2009, there were more than 10 million low-income working families in the United States -- up 246,000 from the previous year, the report said.

It also noted that nearly 1 in 3 working families in the US have difficulty meeting basic needs such as buying groceries and paying utility bills.

"Obviously, the Great Recession has taken its toll on low-income working families," said Brandon Roberts, manager of the Working Poor Families Project, adding that "this new data says we are heading in the wrong direction."

The new assessments also show that the number of working women with an unemployed husband more than doubled from 2.4 percent to 5.4 percent between 2007 and 2009.

"This means there is a growing proportion of working families in which women -- who earn less money, on average, than men -- are the primary breadwinners," the report stated.

2011, economic apocalypse for US?

US job seekers (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158375.html


US economy faces a grim outlook in 2011 as Washington's steps taken to handle the financial crisis, including money printing, have put the country on the verge of "bankruptcy," an expert says.

In an interview with Press TV's Max Keiser, Karl Denninger of market-ticker.org noted that neither Europe's austerity measures nor United States' money printing could solve their economic crisis.

"They are both wrong in that neither of these elements proposed in taking those people who made bad loans and holding them to account," Denninger said.

"You have to take these institutions like these banks or whoever has it, and forces them to take the writedowns and mark discredit off," he added.

"The problem is if you do that they are insolvent. So, we have a political system both in the United States and in Europe that is unwilling to stand up to these bankers and say you are bankrupt," Denninger argued.

He said that the US has suffered a "total systematic indebtedness to GDP" over the past 30 years that could shape a destiny similar to Greece and Ireland for the US.

"It's just a question of how long it will go on. And what happens Max is the same thing that happened to Greece and Ireland. Everything seems to be Okay one day and the next morning you wake up and bonds are blowing out and auctions are failing. That has been the history on this crisis and it's going to continue," he concluded.

A recent study has found that around one hundred US banks, which have been rescued by the federal government, are facing the prospect of bankruptcy again.

A total of 98 unsteady banks that were bailed out by Washington authorities and received more than $4.2 billion from the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) are now sinking toward failure again, a recent analysis of federal data by The Wall Street Journal revealed.

According to the study, TARP was originally created in the middle of the US financial crisis to help only healthy banks.

'Pentagon enjoys US unemployment'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157829.html


The mounting unemployment rate in the United States has provided an opportunity for the Pentagon to recruit more people for its unpopular wars abroad, an analyst says.

In an interview with Press TV, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen referred to the high unemployment rate in the US, especially in poorer states such as Alabama.

“Unemployment there is at 33 percent. It is so bad that young people graduating from high school have no other choice but to join the military,” he said.

“That is pretty good for the Pentagon and its recruiting numbers that also creates more cannon for these senseless wars that the United States has engaged in overseas,” Madsen pointed out.

He argued that while small businesses create most of the jobs, “We hear that small businesses cannot get the credit from the banks to even think about creating more jobs and employing more people.”

Madsen expressed unease over policies of US President Barack Obama's administration, emphasizing that “is more concerned about the interests of Wall Street than the interest of Main Street.”

He said a top Democratic Party economic advisor has predicted that in case the situation in the US continues like this, “There is going to be a city after city, county after county and state after state, declaring bankruptcy.”

The latest data shows that the jobless rate in the US remained at 9.6 percent for a third consecutive month in October.

This is while the US Labor Department announced a 20,000 increase in initial claims for unemployment benefits last month. The new claims pushed up the number of seasonally adjusted benefit claims to 457,000 in October.

The US Labor Department has also announced that almost 15 million Americans currently collect unemployment benefits.

Experts are of the opinion that the outlook for the rest of the year is likely to remain bleak.

'Bailed US banks on brink of bankruptcy'

A file photo of a US bank that was closed down in June 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157488.html


Around one hundred US banks which have been rescued by the federal government are facing the prospect of bankruptcy again, a study finds.

A total of 98 unsteady banks that were bailed out by Washington authorities received more than $4.2 billion from the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a recent analysis of federal data by the Wall Street Journal reveals.

According to the study, TARP was originally created in the middle of the US financial crisis to help only healthy banks.

Seven TARP recipients have already failed, resulting in more than $2.7 billion in lost TARP funds. Most of the troubled TARP recipients are small, plagued by unregulated lending programs from which they might not recover.

The average size of the 98 banks was $439 million in assets as of Sept. 30. The median TARP infusion for each was $10 million, the study shows, citing federal filings.

The journal calculations also demonstrate that 814 of the country's 7,760 banks and savings institutions are troubled at the end of America's third-quarter financial period, which is up from 729 at the end of the second quarter.

However, figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have identified 860 financial institutions as problematic. The banks have not been publicly identified.

In October, the Government Accountability Office said 78 banks on the FDIC's troubled-bank list as of June 30 were TARP recipients, up from 47 at the end of 2009.

Dozens of TARP banks were "marginal institutions" that were financially weaker than other recipients and should have gotten more scrutiny before receiving taxpayer-funded infusions, the GAO said.

'US empire heading for collapse'

Senior US journalist Chris Hedges

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156768.html


A renowned US journalist says Washington's military and economic empire could collapse at any time as it has embarked on the same course in Afghanistan as the former USSR did back in the 1980's.

"We're losing [the war in Afghanistan] in the same way the Red Army lost it," said Chris Hedges in a December 17 interview with the Raw Story.

"It's exactly the same configuration where we sort of control the urban centers where 20 percent of the population lives. The rest of the country where 80 percent of the Afghans live is either in the hands of the Taliban or disputed," he explained.

"Foreigners will not walk the streets of Kabul because of kidnapping, and journalists regularly meet Taliban officials in Kabul because the whole apparatus is so porous and corrupt," the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist said.

Hedges predicted that US President Obama's war report due later in December would "contradict not only [US] intelligence reports but everything else that is coming out of Afghanistan."

The CIA's own assessment confirmed the long-time foreign correspondent's speculation, as it came in striking contrast with Obama's report.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, insisted that the US controlled more territory in Afghanistan than in 2009.

Hedges also referred to what it called “a corporate coup d'?tat in slow motion" as another symptom of the US decline.

"Our public education system has been gutted. Our infrastructure is corroding and collapsing. Unless we begin to physically resist, they are going to solidify neo-feudalism in this country."

Chris Hedges, the author of Death of the Liberal Class, specializes in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies.

The former New York Times journalist spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans and has reported from more than fifty countries.

Six more banks out of business in US

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155983.html


Regulators in the United States have closed six more banks in four different states, raising the bank failure toll this year to 157.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) shut down the six banks with a total of $1.23 billion in assets, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

The United Americas Bank, Appalachian Community Bank and Chestatee State Bank in Georgia, the First Southern Bank in Arkansas, Community National Bank in Minnesota, and Florida's Bank of Miami have been seized in the latest closures.

Florida has been hit the hardest by bank failures among other states, losing 29 lenders this year.

The FDIC says that the total assets of this year's failures would likely be lower even though the number of closures has exceeded that of last year.

The closures have taken place against the backdrop of a deepening financial crisis in the United States and the lenders' overflow of real estate loans.

Washington Mutual, which had $307 billion in assets when it was seized in September 2008, remains the largest bank to fail during the financial crisis.

Experts believe that more than 500 banks may fail before the economic crisis comes to a close.

The FDIC released its latest quarterly report on the state of the banking industry in November. The corporation says it expects bank closures to peak this year after 140 closures in 2009.