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Substance Abuse Statistics: Americans Show Increases in Substance use from 2008 to 2009

Marijuana use rises; prescription drug abuse and ecstasy use also up
U.S. Government News

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2008 America’s Best Guide to Federal Grants and Government Assistance to Small Business – Loans, Programs, Money for Americans (CD-ROM) Reviews

2008 America's Best Guide to Federal Grants and Government Assistance to Small Business - Loans, Programs, Money for Americans (CD-ROM)

Newly revised and expanded for 2008 with updated material not found in earlier editions, our unique electronic book on CD-ROM has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources on government grants plus assistance programs for small businesses. It even includes a section on getting files and records from government agencies through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act. Save time and effort by using this comprehensive resource to find grants, disaster rel

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The Economic Appeal of the Occupy Wall Street Movement to Middle-Class Americans

Seemingly out of nowhere, economic inequality is no longer the political issue that dares not speak its name. Since the days of Ronald Reagan, politicians who talk about reducing disparities in incomes or wealth have been promptly charged with “class warfare.” The stunning success of the Occupy Wall Street movement in attracting adherents and sympathizers could change that, at least for the current political season. What lies behind the movement’s surprising middle-class appeal, however, isn’t high unemployment or slow economic growth. The real reason is that the 2008 meltdown and its economic aftermath have cut the wealth of millions of average Americans by up to half — and Washington has been unwilling to do anything about it.

There is little controversy among economists that the fabled U.S. land of opportunity has become one of the world’s most unequal societies. Using the standard measure (the “Gini Coefficient”), America now ranks 93rd in the world in terms of economic equality. That puts us behind places like Iran, Russia and China. The poverty in those places is much worse, but the concentration of wealth is much greater here. According to the Federal Reserve, the top 1 percent of us in 2007 owned nearly 35 percent of everything of value, net of debt — that includes savings, stocks and bonds, real estate, art, furniture, clothing, on and on. Perhaps more important, the top 20 percent of Americans owned 85 percent of the country’s net wealth.

Yet, such striking inequality still cannot explain the appeal of Occupy Wall Streeters — I’ll call it the OWS movement — because comparable disparities of wealth have been around for a generation. Go back to 1983, and the top 1 percent of Americans owned 34 percent of the country, and the top 20 percent claimed 82 percent.

The answer here lies in the particular way that the financial and housing meltdown has affected middle-class families. Consider the following: While the bottom 80 percent held only 15 percent of the nation’s wealth in 2007, most of it was tied up in the value of their homes. We know that, because when we break down that 15 percent figure, we find that the bottom 80 percent held just 7 percent of all financial assets in 2007 but 40 percent of all residential real estate assets. And the housing boom topped out in 2007.

The reason the OWS movement resonates so broadly today lies in the subsequent loss of so much housing wealth.  The 2008 meltdown and its aftermath have driven down the value of residential real estate by about 35 percent. And that 35 percent included most or all of the equity that millions of middle class families had in their homes in 2007.  America already was a place where 80 percent of the people held only 15 percent of the country’s wealth. Now, do the math. About half of that wealth was in financial assets like savings and pensions (the Fed’s 7 percent figure), and the rest was in home equity. So, since 2007, the bottom 80 percent of Americans have lost up to half of their net wealth.

Those losses also aren’t distributed evenly:  Households in their 30’s and 40’s, for example, usually have almost everything they own tied up in their home equity, and which typically adds up to less than one-third of their homes’ value.  They’ve been wiped out, wealth-wise.  Older households, on average, have larger home equity, so they still have some modest increment of wealth. But if they’re approaching retirement or already retired, there’s also little they can ever do to make up their losses.

When middle-class Americans turn to Washington, they see the resounding success of the government’s efforts to stabilize the financial markets – where the top 1 percent derive most of their wealth. The rich are back to becoming even richer. That’s the way America has operated for at least the last generation. What grates on middle-class Americans this time is that they’ve been getting poorer. And Washington has done little to stabilize the market from which they derive most of their wealth, which is housing.

To be fair, President Obama can claim a little credit here, since he has proposed a series of initiatives to support housing, mainly by giving banks incentives to refinance more mortgages at favorable terms.  But the largest force driving down housing prices and wiping out middle-class home equity is sky-high home foreclosure rates.  The President hasn’t yet taken on those foreclosures, but he still has time to champion a new initiative.  For instance, he could call for temporary loans for families whose mortgages are in trouble, financed through lending by the Federal Home Loan Banks.

Mitt Romney, Obama’s most likely challenger, can’t call for anything.  Last week, Romney went to the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the country, Nevada, and made what may turn out to be a very costly mistake.  Embracing GOP dogma that “the right course is to let markets work,” he declared that Washington should let the foreclosure process “run its course and hit the bottom.”

Yet, this is the very process now hollowing out a good-sized slice of the American middle class.  Given Romney’s position, the issue provides a new opportunity for the Obama campaign.  Much more important, however, the problem itself presents a critical challenge for economic policy makers. If they and the next President ignore it, inequality in America almost certainly will enter a very nasty, new phase.

NDN blogs

Tags: Americans, Appeal, Economic, Middleclass, Movement, Occupy, STREET, Wall

Small Business Grants for Americans with Schizophrenia Posted By : David Hensley

Schizophrenia is the most disabling and persistent of the rigorous disorder mentally. The main focus of the research the NIMH – National Institute of Mental Health which is the world’s leading cerebral health logical organization. This federal group takes the initiative in the investigation of neurology dedicated to the indulgent of the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and causes of the schizophrenia and the various mental disabilities that affects lot of Americans.
ArticleSphere.com: Finance | Business Financing

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That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom: Team Obama’s Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans

That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans

Responsible. Independent. Hard-working. These are qualities which used to define Americans. But now we’re a nation of whiners, blamers, and excuse-makers. So says Michael Graham—radio talk show host, former GOP campaign consultant, and journalist—in his new book, That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom. That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom taps into the frustration and anxiety felt by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers at Tea Parties nationwide. Frustration that the government is ta

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That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom: Team Obama’s Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans

That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans

Responsible. Independent. Hard-working. These are qualities which used to define Americans. But now we’re a nation of whiners, blamers, and excuse-makers. So says Michael Graham—radio talk show host, former GOP campaign consultant, and journalist—in his new book, That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom. That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom taps into the frustration and anxiety felt by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers at Tea Parties nationwide. Frustration that the government is ta

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SOCCER MOMS for OBAMA pin 3in

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Tags: Americans, Angry, Assault, Obama's, TalkRadio, Team, TeaParty, Thats

Survey Finds 81% of Americans Believe the Government is NOT Doing A Good Job Of Telling About Available Money Programs

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) July 11, 2005 -

thirds of Americans indicated in a recent national survey that they believe the government has financial programs they would be eligible for but don’t know enough about them to apply – primarily because the government is not doing a sufficient enough job of letting Americans know. The survey was conducted by the University of Connecticut, Center for Survey Research and Analysis.

These recent survey results reveal that many Americans think the government is doing a poor job of letting people know about government financial assistance programs. Of the 1,000 people surveyed, nearly half (48%) earning more than $ 75,000 annually, believe they are eligible for money they don’t know about. A significant majority of both Democrats (73%) and Republications (60%) believe there is money available they are unaware of. And more people under the age of 44 (72%) than over the age of 60 (56%) believe there is unknown money due to them.

“During these tight economic times when families are watching each and every penny they earn and spend, it is crucial for Americans to know what monies are available to them,” says Matthew Lesko, New York Times Best Selling author and consumer advocate who works to educate Americans about free government money. “It is imperative for all Americans to know what they have access to.” Do You Think You Are Eligible For Gov’t Financial Programs But Don’t Know How To Get Them?*

Yes 65%

No 27%

Don’t Know 7%

U of Connecticut Survey

Recent studies by the government itself and other research organizations show that over 50 million consumers don’t know to take advantage of programs that they are legally entitled to including:

4 million senior citizens can receive up to $ 1,000 from Medicare but they don’t apply because they are unaware of the program (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04363.pdf)

6 million families are missing out on free health insurance for their kids (http://www.kff.org/medicaid/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=28333)

10 million families can get up to $ 4,000 a year for groceries but don’t apply (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04346.pdf)

8 million college students can receive grants and low interest loans but don’t apply (http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases_2004&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=3245)

Single moms can receive some of the $ 673 million in collected unclaimed child support payments (http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04377high.pdf)

29 million senior citizens don’t know they can get colonoscopies, bone mass measurement, prostate cancer and glaucoma tests paid for by Medicare (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03958.pdf)

According to the United States Government budget data for 2005*, the government gives out over $ 1.5 Trillion a year in money programs to individual taxpayers, and only 12% of this money goes to the poor**. This is an average of over $ 11,000 for every U.S. taxpayer. And this figure continues to grow every year no matter who is in the White House.

To learn more about this survey or how to access resources for government money, please call Matthew Lesko 301-929-8400 or visit www.lesko.com/survey.

Methodology:

This survey was sponsored by New York Times Best-Selling Author Matthew Lesko. The results are based on a representative national telephone survey of 1,000 adult Americans, conducted by the University of Connecticut, Center for Survey Research and Analysis. The survey was conducted April 20 to May 2, 2005 and has a margin of error of + or -3.2%”.

Budget of United States Government 2005, Historical Tables, page 117.

** “Running on Empty” by Peter G. Peterson, former Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2004 New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

# # #

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Mitchell Bard: The Wisconsin Protests Are a Battle in a Larger GOP War on Working Americans

Mitchell Bard: The Wisconsin Protests Are a Battle in a Larger GOP War on Working Americans
As I made the 10-minute walk up W. Johnson Street from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus toward the Capitol on Tuesday, it never occurred to…
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Calendar
Submissions for “Community Calendar” are required two weeks preceding the date of publication. Send to: Mary Ann Bottari, Pioneer Press, 3701 W. Lake Ave., Glenview IL 60026; mbottari@pioneerlocal.com. Information may be faxed to (847) 486-7495.
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2010 America’s Best Guide to Federal Grants and Government Assistance to Small Business, Non-Profits, and Individuals – Loans, Programs, Money for Americans, ARRA Stimulus Act (CD-ROM)

2010 America's Best Guide to Federal Grants and Government Assistance to Small Business, Non-Profits, and Individuals - Loans, Programs, Money for Americans, ARRA Stimulus Act (CD-ROM)

Newly revised and expanded for 2010 with updated material not found in earlier editions - including complete coverage of the stimulus package (ARRA) - our unique electronic book on CD-ROM has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources on government grants, loans, and assistance programs for individuals, non-profit groups, businesses, students - everyone! It is more relevant than ever! New for 2010: a comprehensive and up-to-date CFDA Program list spreadsheet, with over 1

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The Price of Admission: Rethinking How Americans Pay for College

The Price of Admission: Rethinking How Americans Pay for College

An overview of the many indirect ways in which Americans pay for college - as taxpayers, students and parents - and description of the sometimes perverse ways in which the state and federal financial aid policies interact. Thomas J. Kane evaluates alternative explanations for the rise in public and private college costs, weighing the role of federal financial aid policy, higher input costs, and competitive pressures on individual colleges. He analyzes how far we have come in ensuring access to a

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The Concise Guide to Becoming an Independent Consultant

One of the biggest names in the consulting business shows you everything you need to get started--and succeed!

Packed with expert advice, helpful tips, and industry secrets to successful self-marketing, this guide--an abridged version of the bestselling How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant--gives you the crucial tools and techniques you need to both survive and thrive in this highly competitive field. From founding your business to writing proposals to negotiating fees, The Concise

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Tags: Admission, Americans, College, Price, Rethinking