The states that scored worst in the 2018 Prosperity Now Scorecard

A volunteer serves food at a ministry for the homeless and people in financial distress on January 24, 2018 in Philadelphia. The city continues to be ranked as the poorest of the 10 most populous cities in America with an estimated 25.7% of its population living in poverty.

In his State of the Union address, President Trump said “there has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.” But the new 2018 Prosperity Now Scorecard and its accompanying report says that isn’t so for low-income Americans.

“The system is, by just about all measures, stacked against those with low incomes and low wealth for the benefit of the wealthiest,” says the report from the nonpartisan but left-leaning Prosperity Now nonprofit, which provides research and recommendations regarding Americans with limited incomes. Continue reading →

On Monday, an anonymous whistleblower sent a letter via his lawyer to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charging that traders were manipulating the stock market volatility index known as the VIX. The whistleblower said that a flaw exists in the VIX that “allows trading firms with sophisticated algorithms to move the VIX up or down by simply posting quotes on S&P options and without needing to physically engage in any trading or deploying any capital.”

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) where VIX options and futures trade, quickly denied the claims.

This whistleblower claims come at a time when billions of dollars are blowing up around the globe because traders placed wrong-way bets that the VIX would maintain the low volatility levels it has enjoyed over multiple years as a result of low volatility in the stock market. As the stock market plunged more than a thousand points on two days last week and saw big intraday reversals on other days, traders nursed big losses as the VIX spiked. [Read complete report]

The current “debt ceiling” has been suspended until March 2019. The current amount of Treasury debt outstanding is $20.681 trillion. It has been estimated that the amount of Treasury outstanding by March 2019 will be as high as $22 trillion. U.S. Government has, for all intents and purposes, operated without a constraint on debt issuance since 2013… Continue reading →

“Millions of Americans will lose access to life-saving programs because the GOP gave $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to the rich.”

Those wondering how President Donald Trump plans to pay for the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for the rich he signed into law last year got their answer on Monday, when the White House unveiled its 2019 budget (pdf) blueprint that calls for $1.7 trillion in cuts to crucial safety net programs over the next decade—including $237 billion in cuts to Medicare alone. Continue reading →

What’s going on in your computer? Shutterstock

Experts reveal how to tell if hackers are using it to mine bitcoin

Nothing comes for free, especially online. Websites and apps that don’t charge you for their services are often collecting your data or bombarding you with advertising.

Now some sites have found a new way to make money from you: using your computer to generate virtual currencies. Continue reading →

U.S. homes have regained value since the Great Recession, but many households have not

Photo: Market Watch, Everett Collection

Millions of Americans are living on the edge.

One in five households has zero or negative wealth, according to a report released this week by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank based in Washington, D.C. What’s more, an even greater share of African-American (30%) and Latino (27%) households are “underwater” financially. The combined impact of $1 trillion in credit-card debt, $1.4 trillion in student loan debt, and stagnant wages are taking a toll. Continue reading →