US unemployment crisis deepens

US employers did not add any net workers in August.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197060.html

The US economy takes another turn for the worse as newly released official statistics show that the jobless rate in the country has remained unchanged over the past month.

The US Labor Department said on Friday that employers had added no jobs in August and that the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, AFP reported.

The new information shows that August is the first month of zero job growth in the United States since 1945.

The Labor Department data also revealed little change in the private sector, the last hope for jobs growth amid layoffs by revenue-strapped government companies.

Analysts had already lowered their expectations for job growth, estimating a net average of 70,000 in August -- below the 100,000 needed to support a steady unemployment rate, Briefing.com reported.

Ron Paul: US 'out of money' and 'bankrupt'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/196604.html

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says the U.S. is "out of money" and the country is "bankrupt". The Texas Congressman made the comment in an interview with Fox News Chris Wallace on Friday.

Paul was talking about the lack of efficiency at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"We've conditioned our people that FEMA will take care of us and everything will be OK. But you try to make these programs work the best you can. But you can't just keep saying, Oh, they need money. We're out of money. This country is bankrupt," he said.

The congressman urged President Barack Obama to “quit that war in Libya that is undeclared and unconstitutional.”

“Bring those troops home, save two billion dollars. Put a billion against the deficit and tide our people over.”

FACTS & FIGURES

The U.S. Treasury is borrowing $4.22 billion per day, adding to the current debt. Real Clear Politics

A U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress forecasts that the U.S. debt will rise to $19.6 trillion by 2015. Reuters

Together with interest on the national debt, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are on course to consume the entire federal budget as soon as 2025. Orlando Sentinel

The U.S. debt deal would raise the debt ceiling by at least 2.1 trillion dollars and cut spending of roughly 2.4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. CNN

Gold hits record as dollar dips

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195288.html

As concerns grow about a slowdown in the global economy, fears of the depreciating dollar value have led to an unprecedented increase in gold price.

The price of gold crossed the $1,900 per ounce mark for the first time, the state-run BBC reported Tuesday.

The price of the precious metal rose by one percent to $1,911.46 an ounce in early Asian trade.

Fears of a meltdown in US economy as well as an economic crisis in Europe have increased the demand for gold in global markets, leading to a rise in the price of gold.

This comes as analysts say that the price of the yellow metal could further increase.

They say that demand for gold has been increasing based on speculation that the US Federal Reserve may inject more fiat money into the market in an effort to boost the country's economy.

They say that a new stimulus injection of liquidity into the market means that the United States will have to print more money and that the US dollar will further weaken.

"The underlying driver of gold prices is the depreciating US dollar value," Colin Whitehead of Fat Prophets told the state-run BBC.

"So the more money they print, the stronger gold gets," he added.

Feds gave $1.2 trillion in secret loan to banks

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/195207.html

The Federal Reserve gave $1.2 trillion in secret loans to banks during the financial crisis, from August 2007 until April 2010. This is in addition to the TARP bailouts which were publicly known. Economicpopulist.org

The $1.2 trillion peak on Dec. 5, 2008 was almost three times the size of the U.S. federal budget deficit that year and more than the total earnings of all federally insured banks in the U.S. for the decade through 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Economicpopulist.org

HIGHLIGHTS

The largest borrower was Morgan Stanley, which received as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion. Politico

By comparison, TARP, a $700 billion bank bailout fund that was passed by Congress in late 2008, gave $45 billion each to Citigroup and Bank of America, and only $10 billion to Morgan Stanley. Politico

The Fed also lent heavily to foreign banks that were struggling to fund themselves: Almost half of the Fed's top 30 borrowers, measured by peak balances, were European firms. They included Royal Bank of Scotland, Switzerland's UBS and Belgium's Dexia. Latimesblogs.latimes

A former Justice Department official, Robert Litan who has in the past served on a commission looking at the causes of the Savings and Loan crisis, is quoted by Bloomberg as saying 'These are all whopping numbers. You're talking about the aristocracy of American finance going down the tubes without the federal money.' Economicvoice

FACTS & FIGURES

The money was loaned by the Fed in an attempt to grow the U.S. economy after the crash of 2008. According to Bloomberg research, the $1.2 trillion amounts to more money than all federally insured banks earned in the last decade. Shortnews.com

The Federal Reserve claims that it has not lost money on these emergency loans, and that in fact it has netted $13 billion in interest from these programs from August 2007 through December 2009. Politico

The Fed, under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, initially refused to disclose which banks had sought financial help during the crisis, asserting that publishing the information could trigger a run on the institutions by branding them as troubled. Latimesblogs.latimes

Bloomberg had filed a Freedom of Information act in 2008 to find out the details on these loans. They finally won to be presented with 21,000 transactions and massive amounts of data to crunch. economicpopulist.org

'US July jobless rate up in 28 states'

The US says that the country's unemployment rate increased in more than half of its 50 states in July.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195106.html

New figures indicate that the US unemployment rate increased in more than half of the country's 50 states last month as the nation is gripped by economic crisis.

The US government said the jobless rate jumped in 28 states and the nation's capital, Washington, in July, VOA reported.

The US economy produced 117,000 new jobs in July, but that was a smaller monthly number than earlier in the year.

About 14 million workers are still unemployed, with millions more working part-time or at lesser jobs than they would like.

The US economy is in a critical situation as the country's national unemployment rate is stuck above 9 percent.

The Labor Department said two western states - California and Nevada - recorded the highest unemployment rates, 12 percent or more. The lowest total - 3.3 percent - was in the midwestern state of North Dakota.

Amid reports of another recession for the US, Wall Street stocks have suffered four weeks of losses because of investor insecurity.

US President Barack Obama is currently on vacation despite the economic hardships of the country.

US stock markets wind up a losing month

A woman walks past a Wall Street building in New York (stock photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194799.html

US stock markets have ended on their fourth straight weekly loss amid growing concerns that America is looking at a double-dip recession.

On Friday, Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.57 percent, the NASDAQ sunk 1.62 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 1.50 percent, AFP reported.

For the week, the Dow Jones ended down at 4 percent, the tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 6.6 percent and the S&P 500, a bellwether for the American economy, dropped 4.7 percent.

US markets have not seen greater losses over a four-week period since March 2009.

Most traders left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another US recession and a destabilization of Europe's financial system.

Closing on Friday, London's FTSE fell by 1.01 percent, Frankfurt's DAX slid 2.19 percent and Paris's CAC slumped by 1.92 percent, adding to the losses from Thursday.

European markets dropped to near two-year lows amid concerns about the continent's debt crisis - Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already received bailout packages from the European Union.

Asian markets also took steep dives with Tokyo falling 2.51 percent, Sydney shedding 3.51 percent and Seoul losing 6.22 percent.

Signs that the global economy is slowing have made investors pessimistic about the future.

US regulators close down 3 more banks

US regulators shut down three more banks in Florida, Georgia and Illinois

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194784.html

US regulators have shut down three more banks in the US states of Florida, Georgia and Illinois, bringing the total number of bank foreclosures in the country this year to 68.

On Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) seized Lydian Private Bank in Palm Beach, Florida, with approximately USD 1.70 billion in assets and USD 1.24 billion in deposits, First Southern National Bank of Statesboro, Georgia, with USD 164.6 million in assets and $159.7 million in deposits, and First Choice Bank of Geneva, Illinois, with USD 141 million in assets and USD 137.2 million in deposits, Reuters reported.

Sabadell United Bank has agreed to assume all the deposits and assets of the Florida bank. Heritage Bank of the South is assuming all the deposits and assets of the Georgia bank, while Inland Bank & Trust is to assume all the deposits and assets of the Illinois bank.

Bank failures in the United States in 2011 illustrate the problems of small community banks, many of which are hard hit by the country's sluggish economy and their exposure to the troubled commercial real estate market.

Most of the banks that have failed so far this year have had less than USD 1 billion in assets.

According to the FDIC, the total number of bank failures was 157 in 2010, 140 in 2009, 25 in 2008 and just three in 2007.

Quick Facts: US Debt and Revenue

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/194734.html

Estimates show that the United States federal debt will reach nearly $15.5 trillion by the end of 2011. The debt can be broken down into two parts: debt held by the government and debt held by the public.

Debt Held by Government Accounts

Debt held by government accounts represent balances in the federal government's accounts -- primarily trust funds -- that accumulate surpluses. Trust funds for Social Security, Medicare, Military Retirement and Healthcare, and Civil Service Retirement and Disability account for almost all of the total debt held by government accounts. GAO

Debt held by the government includes federal deficit which amounts to $1.65 trillion and total government spending that amounts to $3.8 trillion. Total spending includes:

1) Pensions: $0.8 trillion

2) Healthcare: $0.9 trillion

3) Education: $0.1
4) Defense: $1 trillion
5) Welfare: $0.5 trillion
6) Protection which includes police services, law courts and prisons: $61billion

7) Transportation: $95 billion
8) General government which includes executive and legislative organs as well as general services: $33 billion

9) Interest: $206 billion

Debt Held by Public

The Debt Held by the Public is all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments, and other entities outside the United States Government less Federal Financing Bank securities. Types of securities held by the public include, but are not limited to, Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, TIPS, United States Savings Bonds, and State and Local Government Series securities. Treasury Direct

Current U.S. federal debt held by the public is nearly $10 trillion. CS Monitor

According to the Treasury, in May 2011, around 47 percent of the debt held by the public was held outside the U.S. Congress.org

At the end of 2010, U.S. individuals held 12 percent of the public debt, the Federal Reserve held 9 percent of the public debt, and pension and retirement funds, mutual funds, and state and local governments totally held 32 percent of the public debt. CS Monitor

Federal Government Revenue (2011)

Total Direct Revenue: $2.2 trillion which includes

1. Income Taxes: $1.2 trillion
a. Individual Income Tax: $1trillion
b. Corporate Income Tax: $200 billion

2. Social Insurance Taxes: $800 billion
a. Old Age Survivors Insurance
b. Disability Insurance
c. Hospital Insurance
d. Unemployment Insurance
e. Employee Retirement Insurance
f. Railroad Retirement Insurance

3. Ad-valorem Taxes: $130 billion

Ad valorem taxes can be property tax or even duty on imported items. Property ad valorem taxes are the major source of revenue for state and municipal governments.

4. Business and Other Revenue: $80 billion

Source: U.S. Government Revenue

Federal Deficit

Total Revenue: $2.2 trillion - Total Spending: $3.8 trillion = Federal Deficit: $-1.6 trillion

Source: U.S. Government Revenue

Dow drops 172 points

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194754.html

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 172.93 points, one day after it dropped over 400 points and rattled world markets.

On Friday, the Dow closed at 10,817.65, a decline of 1.57 percent.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones plummeted 419 points, and over the three days from August 17 to 19, it has dropped 588.28 points or 5.16 percent of its value.

Lack of economic news made investors uncertain, although the possibility of a further deterioration of the US and Europe economic recession over the weekend compelled many traders to get rid of stocks and other risky assets before the market closing, AP reported.

"These things usually break out over the weekend and then you have a mad dash Monday to react to them," said Mike McGervey, the head of McGervey Wealth Management.

Other stock markets had larger drops than stock markets in the US, as European banking stocks fell to near an 18-month low.

Earlier in the day, London's FTSE and Germany's DAX were down over three percent, while France's CAC 40 was down by 1.9 percent, Japan's Nikkei dropped 225 points, markets in Taiwan hit a 14-month low, China's Shanghai Composite index lost 25 points, South Korea's Kospi shed 116 points, and India's Sensex lost 328 points.

Bank of America cutting 3,500 jobs this quarter

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/194684.html

Bank of America is cutting 3,500 jobs this quarter according to an internal memo, as the biggest U.S. bank grapples with its $1 trillion problem-loan portfolio and growing economic concerns.

The job cuts at Bank of America, expected to be completed by the end of September, are the latest in a series of lay-offs across the global finance industry.

Executives at the bank are still discussing the possible range of cuts, but one person familiar with the situation said at least 10,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated as part of a wider review, the Wall Street Journal said in a report.

Bank of America had around 280,000 employees at the start of 2011, according to its annual report. Chicago Tribune

FACTS & FIGURES

Somewhere between 15 and 27 million people, depending on how you figure it, remain unemployed. ABC

The official jobless rate in the United States is over 9 percent. Econpost

In fact, when unemployment is measured according to the formula that was used when President Bill Clinton took office, it is actually around 20%. Free Republic

Companies slashed 8.5 million jobs during the worst recession since the Great Depression. Washington Post

US, Europe stocks maintain plunge trail

Traders have lost confidence in the world's economic growth.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194574.html

The European and United States stocks suffer renewed plunges as the dire Western economy continues to steal the investors' confidence.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 276.32 points (2.4 percent) following a 4.5 percent drop in London's FTSE 100 index, Reuters reported. Germany's Dax also fell 5.8 percent.

Other US markets also sustained heavy losses. The Standard and Poor's (S&P) was down by 2.3 percent, while the tech heavy Composite Nasdaq plummeted by 3.1 percent.

Also on the day, the shares of some European banks, such as Barclays' and the Royal bank of Scotland's, fell in value by more than 11 percent. In the US, Bank of America's shares dipped 5.6 percent.

Concerns sustain that the Eurozone debt crisis and the debt-ridden US economy drags the world back into another global recession.

The Western economic doldrums has contributed to the investor diffidence that has caused the financial markets to suffer major losses over the recent weeks.

Weekly US jobless claims hit 408k

New claims for unemployment insurance benefit rises in US

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194528.html

New claims for unemployment benefits in the US have escalated beyond the official 400,000 forecast as the world's largest economy struggles with a failing economy.

The number of workers claiming benefits rose by about 9,000 to reach a weekly total of 408,000 in the week ending August 13, the US Labor Department said in a Thursday report.

The new figure topped the average analyst estimate of 400,000 benefit claims.

"This was a slightly larger increase than expected, a reminder that the labor market has yet to break into sustained improvement," said Sara Kline at Moody's Analytics.

Currently the unemployment rate in the United States stands at 9.2 percent, the worst level since President Ronald Reagan was in office in the 1980s.

However, when measured according to the formula that was used when President Bill Clinton took office in 1993, the unemployment rate is around 20 percent.

Last month, following weeks of bipartisan dispute, the Republican-controlled Congress approved a USD 2.1 trillion deficit-cutting plan over the next decade for raising Washington's borrowing limit, just hours before a pending US default.

Both Republicans and Democrats have promised that the cuts will create new jobs, and that the economy will improve.

But economic experts have warned that the new austerity measures will in fact be worse for the already sluggish US economy.

Biden visits China amid US debt crisis

US vice president Joe Biden (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194394.html

Vice president Joe Biden has arrived in Beijing in an attempt to restore China's lost confidence on US economy, amid concerns over the US ability to manage its debt and deficits.

Biden will meet with top Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-President Xi Jinping.

China is the largest foreign holder of the US debt wanting USD 1.2 trillion.

Biden tries to reassure Chinese government that US is committed to tackling its financial challenges, and also outlining the aspects of debt reduction plan agreed by congress.

Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama voted in favor of a bipartisan plan to raise the debt ceiling of the United States in exchange for spending cuts, just hours before the first ever government default in US history.

China's state news outlet reflected Beijing's dismay at the US debt crisis in a highly critical commentary, calling the US "addiction to debt" irresponsible and demanding that America live within its means.

Moreover, Dagong Global Credit Rating Company, China's top ratings agency, slashed the US credit rating from A+ to A, following a US credit downgrade by Standard and poor's, one of the world's major credit rating agencies.

Chinese state-run media have criticized the US handling of its debt crisis, calling it irresponsible.

Biden's trip to China is the first by a high-level US official since the start of the US economic crisis

Dow Jones plummets 634 points

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 634 points on Monday

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193012.html

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 634 points, or about 5.55 percent, in one of its steepest declines ever in the first full day of trading since Standard & Poor's downgraded the US credit rating on Friday.

On Monday afternoon, before the close of trading for the day, US President Barack Obama delivered a speech on the downgrade of the US credit rating, but it seems he was not able to calm the jitters on Wall Street.

Before Obama's speech, the Dow had only been down 2.5 percent, AP reported.

"Markets will rise and fall. But this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country," Obama said in his address.

The S&P 500 stock index tumbled more than 4.7 percent. Investors seeking safety drove gold prices up and treasury yields down.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note also fell to 2.35 percent from 2.57 percent late on Friday. A bond's yield drops when its price rises.

Asian stocks sink over US credit drop

A man walks past a display board showing the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192869.html

Asian stock markets have plunged over fears of a global economic recession following last week's historic downgrade of the US credit rating by a leading financial agency.

Tokyo's Nikkei stock market fell 1.4 percent before making slight gains on Monday while Australia's S&P/ASX-200 index shed almost 2 percent in early trading, and indexes in New Zealand plummeted more than 3 percent, US-based ABC News reported.

According to the report, shares in South Korea also opened 1.4 percent lower.

In Hong Kong, the main share index opened more than 2.5 percent lower as markets dropped two percent in Singapore.

The uncertainty in global markets follows a fall in US futures prices, which was brought about after the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency (S&P) downgraded the United States' triple-A rating by one notch on Friday, from the top AAA to AA+, for the first time in the history of ratings amid concerns over the country's massive debt.

This comes as stock markets in major Arab countries also experienced a sharp drop in the value of shares due to fears that the decline of America's credit rating would pose an adverse effect on an estimated USD 1 trillion of Arab holdings of US treasury bonds.

On Sunday, the Saudi stock market rose slightly after diving 5.46 percent earlier, while all other Arab stock markets plunged.

The benchmark of the Dubai stock exchange plummeted 3.7 percent and Abu Dhabi's all-share index went down 2.6 percent while Kuwait's KSE index fell 1.6 percent and Egypt's AGX 30 index shed 4.2 percent.

Credit ratings agencies such as Moody's Investors Service and S&P cautioned Washington on August 3 to promptly reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio or it will otherwise face losing its triple-A rating.

Meanwhile, China's top ratings agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating Company, slashed the US credit rating from A+ to A, casting doubt on whether the federal government is capable of repaying its debt in the long term.

In Israel, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange market plunged by seven percent in response to the downgrade of the US debt rating.

The Bank of Israel is concerned that the downgrade could harm Israeli exports because 28 percent of Israel's exports -- excluding diamonds -- go to the United States.

According to a recent default-preventing debt bill passed by the US Congress, the country's debt ceiling was raised by $2.4 trillion, to the level of $16.7 trillion, just a few hours before the August 2 deadline.

The bill was passed under public pressure, expressing intense displeasure over persistent bickering between the dominant Democratic and Republican parties over budget cuts and tax hikes and despite major reservations by members of both parties.

Some Democratic members of Congress described Republican refusal to give in to tax-hike demands for the wealthy as "terrorism" while Republicans slammed Democrats for threatening the US national security by also targeting the defense department for budget cuts.

World discards dollar: Chinese rating co.

Dagong Global Credit Rating Company's chairman Guan Jianzhong

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192850.html

Amid gloomy prospects for the United States creditworthiness, China's top ratings agency says the world is gradually disposing of the dollar as its reserve currency.

Dagong Global Credit Rating Company's chairman Guan Jianzhong said the US dollar is “gradually discarded by the world” and the “process will be irreversible,” CNBC reported on Sunday.

Earlier in the week, the firm slashed the US credit rating from A+ to A, casting doubt on whether the federal government is capable of repaying its USD 14.3 trillion public debt in the long term.

The agency's move came after interminable infighting in the US Congress over raising of the country's debt limit brought the country within an inch of defaulting on the debt.

“I think the most pressing issue facing the US at the moment is to reflect on the crisis which happened in relation with the debt ceiling," Jianzhong stated.

"They should get a clear understanding that the continuous decline of the debt service capability will inevitably result in the outbreak of a sovereign debt crisis,” he noted.

Officials in Beijing say a failure by Washington to control its massive debt could put the lives of millions of families within and beyond the US borders in danger.

Dagong downgraded the US ratings from AAA to A+ in November after the US Federal Reserve loosened its monetary policy

US may even lose AA+ rating: S&P

John Chambers, head of Standard and Poor's sovereign ratings committee (File photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192802.html

Standards & Poor's has defended its decision to downgrade the rating of the United States saying the world's leading economy could even face further downgrades.

The S&P credit rating agency downgraded US rating by one notch to AA+ and added a negative outlook for the first time in the history of the ratings on Friday.

The ratings agency offered a full-throated defense of its decision on Saturday, calling the harsh stand-off between President Obama and Congress over raising the debt ceiling a “debacle.”

“The debacle over the debt ceiling continued until almost the midnight hour,” said John B. Chambers, chairman of S&P's in a conference call with reporters.

“For those who follow the fiscal situation of the United States, this shouldn't be news to anyone,” Chambers added.

Last week, US President Barack Obama voted in favor of a bipartisan plan to raise the country's debt ceiling in exchange for the spending cuts, just hours before a government default.

According to the new bill, the debt ceiling will be raised by USD 2.4 trillion, to reach a total of USD 16.7 trillion. The bill also includes a USD 2.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.

This comes while the S&P believed USD 4 trillion was required in spending cuts over 10 years to retrain the US top notch rating, a proposal which was refused by the Republicans.

Chambers insisted that the ratings firm has not violated its bounds by focusing on the political paralysis in the US congress as much as fiscal policy in determining the new rating.

China, the largest foreign holder of the US debt, said that Washington needed to “cure its addiction to debts.” In addition Chinese leading rating agency Dagong also downgraded America's credit rating from A+ to A.

Despite the S&P decision, US congressional leaders' reaction showed that they were unlikely to force consensus on the fundamental divide over spending as they used the decision to bolster their own positions.

Report warns Pentagon of dire cuts

US defence secretary, Leon Panetta (File photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192834.html

The US Defense Department officials should be prepared for more budget cuts in case the government fails to approve further savings by the end of year, a new report warns.

“Given the abruptness of the cuts imposed under the trigger and the real possibility that congress may not be able to reach a deficit reduction compromise in time to avoid the trigger , department of defense should immediately begin contingency planning for how to handle such reduction,” the report by Todd Harrison Center for Strategic and Budget Assessment wrote.

The debt ceiling legislation, which was signed into law on Tuesday by US President Barack Obama, contains USD 350 billion in defense cuts.

The bill allows the USD 14.3 trillion borrowing ceiling to rise by up to USD 2.4 trillion and also envisages USD 900 billion in savings, USD 350 billion of it in defense.

The Defense Department could be hit with another round of USD 500 billion in spending cuts if Congress misses the yearend deadline to approve further government savings.

Should the congress fail, the pentagon budget would revert to its 2007 level of around USD 472 billion.

Leon Panetta, the United States Defense Secretary, has already warned that the second round of potential defense cuts were "completely unacceptable" and would damage US security, and the ability to protect the nation.

Many experts agree that there is waste and duplication in the Pentagon's budget - but also say there's not enough slack in the system for sustained cuts over a decade. The Pentagon's budget for fiscal year 2010 was USD 680 billion, a reminder of the vast size and reach of America's global military power.

More Americans live on food stamps

US food stamps (stock photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192796.html

Poverty-stricken American families are using more government-assisted food stamps than ever before, which could lead to an increase in homelessness.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reports that a record 46 million Americans need government assistance to afford to buy food.

“We have every reason to believe that the economic situation isn't getting better; correspondingly, it's unlikely that the number of folks receiving food assistance won't go down at all,” said Jeremy Rosen, Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

He added that “if anything, I think we can expect it to continue rising.”

A weak US economy and continued high unemployment has contributed to the growth of the food stamp program, with experts saying that cuts in the food stamp program will lead to an increase in homelessness.

“It's entirely likely that people are not going to stop feeding their families; so if they can't get food assistance from the government, they'll have to use more of their limited funds for that and they may not likely have enough for housing,” Rosen said.

In 2007, 27 million people were on food stamps; a year later, 31 million. In 2009, 37 million, and in October 2010, 43 million required food stamps.

In US, 45,000 workers go on strike

Verizon workers strike against concessions on their new contracts

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192812.html

Tens of thousands of workers at US telecommunication giant Verizon have gone on a strike after negotiations failed to reach an agreement on new contracts.

The contract that expired on Saturday covered 45,000 workers, including 10,000 electrical workers, who serve as telephone and repair technicians, customer service representatives, operators and more.

Negotiations between the unions and the corporation in Philadelphia and New York stalled on Saturday night after Verizon continued to demand more than 100 concessions on healthcare, pensions, work rules and etc.

Officials with the two unions, Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers refused to accept the concessions.

"Even at the 11th hour, as contracts were set to expire, Verizon continued to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families," CWA said in a statement.

The company called the outcome of the unions actions “regrettable” for customers and employees, adding that their services would remain unaffected by the strike.

"Tens of thousands of Verizon managers and other personnel have been trained to step in and perform emergency work assignments," Verizon spokesman Rich Young said.