The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) today released their third (and final) estimate for the rate of U.S. economic growth during the first quarter of this year. Whilst the economy still contracted, the BEA has revised (again) the rate of this contraction, putting growth at -0.2%. Alarmingly, their report highlights(…)

In mid-June, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published its “2015 Long-Term Budget Outlook” and it makes for disturbing reading. According to the CBO, deficits, which are federal debts held by the public, are equivalent to 74% of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP); this is at its highest level since World(…)

Around $3 billion of taxpayer money has been lost from the Obamacare system as payments have been made either to the wrong people or overpaid to the correct ones. “The internal control deficiencies that we identified limited (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) CMS’s ability to make accurate payments,”(…)

As part of China’s plan to open up their financial markets on a global scale, members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are currently there to assess the suitability of the Chinese yuan (or renminbi – the people’s currency) to become one of the world’s reserve currencies. Last week, the(…)

All over America, corporations are firing staff and replacing them with “cheaper” workers, particularly in the area of information technology. Furthermore, these staff are being forced to train their replacements prior to unemployment – refusal to do so threatens their expected severance pay. A clear example of this, as recently(…)

This week, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General released a second Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspection report concerning the latter’s failure to properly background-check 73 individuals with clear “ties to terrorism”. This resulted in the 73 being given employment at various U.S. airports, some with major airlines. Following on(…)

Three weeks ago, Corinthian Colleges, one of the largest for-profit U.S. educational institutions, was forced to close all of its campuses because of bankruptcy, leaving 78,000 students out in the cold and the government with $200 million of federal student loan debt. Because the government forced Corinthian’s closure, the students(…)

Late last week, it was revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had serious concerns regarding the U.S. economy and the “over-appreciation” of the dollar. The IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, spoke of a lack of “tangible signs of wage or price inflation” and “pockets of vulnerability” within the economy(…)

During the fiscal years 2011 through to 2013, the cost of keeping federal employees on administrative leave whilst they awaited disciplinary action for work-placed malpractice totaled $3.1 billion. At the end of last month, Katherine Archuleta, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), reported that the agency would(…)

It is a common occurrence in the Eurozone, and it now appears the U.S. is to follow suit. Using the term “Balance Sheet Utilization Fee”, J.P. Morgan is now charging some customers 1% to deposit their cash with the bank. This is viewed by many financial analysts as a way(…)