All being engineered ON PURPOSE, and we ALL KNOW WHY!
"Confidence, home prices sliding; US consumer index falls to a 16-year low" by Bloomberg News | June 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - Confidence among Americans dropped to the lowest level in 16 years and house prices fell the most on record, raising the risk that consumers will cut back on purchases after spending their tax rebates.
If they spend them; by the way, when the hell is that thing coming?
Consumers, whose spending accounts for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product, are being hurt by the housing slump, rising unemployment, and higher food and fuel bills.
The confidence measure reached the lowest level since February 1992, when the economy was in the midst of the so-called jobless recovery following the 1990-1991 contraction.
--MORE--"
Yeah, when George Sr. was president! Like father, like son!
But CHEER UP, Americans! NOT EVERYONE is hurting:
"A well-heeled club breaks the 10-million-member mark" by Globe Staff And Wire Services | June 25, 2008
NEW YORK - Add an extra zero to the ranks of the millionaires club.
The number of people around the world with at least $1 million in assets passed 10 million for the first time last year, according to a new report. And their bank accounts are growing even faster.
The combined wealth of the globe's millionaires grew to nearly $41 trillion last year, an increase of 9 percent from a year before, Merrill Lynch & Co. and consulting firm Capgemini Group said yesterday. That means their average wealth was more than $4 million, the highest it's ever been. Home values were not included in asset totals.
The ranks of the wealthy are growing fastest in the developing economies of India, China, and Brazil. The number of millionaires in India grew by about 23 percent.
The United States still reigns supreme when it comes to fat wallets: One in every three millionaires in the world lives in America. Combined, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America account for just one in 10.
Boston stood out because, according to the report, among the eight largest US cities Boston will have the highest percentage - 75 percent - of new households that will have $1 million or more in investable assets over the next five years.
Currently, 106,503 households out of 2.4 million in the Boston area have $1 million or more in investable assets. Of the 26,464 households that will be added to the Boston area in the next five years, 19,810 will be wealthy, according Marcie Behman, a Merrill Lynch vice president for wealth management, citing figures from research firm Claritas Inc.
No wonder the Globe is such a snob paper!
The figures represent both the region's slow household growth rate and the strength of industries creating new wealth, including healthcare, financial services, and technology, she said in an interview yesterday. Behman cited GlaxoSmithKline's recent purchase of Cambridge drug developer Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $720 million, some of which went to company founders and employees. "You have an abundance of intellectual capacity here, and this breeds entrepreneurship," she said.
All told, there were about 600,000 more millionaires in the world in 2007 than in 2006, for a total of about 10.1 million. That's a 6 percent increase from the previous year.
Ten million may seem like a big number for such an elite club, but it still represents less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the world's 6.7 billion people.
The rarefied group of the superrich - those with at least $30 million in assets - got richer, too. There were 103,000 of them around the world last year, 9 percent more than the year before, and their wealth grew by nearly 15 percent."Are you NOW READY to BELIEVE in the EndGame?
"How the wealth is spread"
A look at the distribution of the world's wealthiest individuals and their wealth.
Number of wealthy individuals, by region, in 2007 (percent growth from 2006)
Total - 10.1 million
North America - 3,300,000 (4.2 percent)
Europe - 3,100,000 (3.7 percent)
Asia Pacific - 2,800,000 (8.7 percent)
Latin America - 400,000 (12.2 percent)
Middle East - 400,000 (15.6 percent)
Africa - 100,000 (10 percent)
Distribution of world's wealth, by region in 2007 (percent growth from 2006)
Total - $40.7 trillion
North America - $11.7 trillion (4.4 percent)
Europe - $10.6 trillion (5.3 percent)
Asia Pacific - $9.5 trillion (12.5 percent)
Latin America - $6.2 trillion (20.4 percent)
Middle East - $1.7 trillion (17.5 percent)
Africa - $1 trillion (14.9 percent)""More good news:
"Mass. Movers: Raytheon's sales taking off, analysts say. Waltham-based Raytheon Co., the world's largest missile maker, rose the most in five months after JPMorgan analyst Joseph Nadol lifted his rating on the shares to "overweight" from "neutral." Raytheon's 13 percent decline in the previous two months provided investors "an attractive entry point" for a stock that will have above-average earnings growth due to rising international sales, Nadol wrote. He predicts Raytheon revenue will gain 8 percent this year, from $21.3 billion in 2007, and rise 7 percent next year."
Right next to the brief is a picture with this caption:
"An engineer in a Raytheon strength-multiplying robotic soldier suit easily lifts 200 pounds."
Oh, there he is:
Real-life ‘Iron Man’ suits tested
Let MILITARISM REIGN, huh?
