The American economic crisis of the 21st century is becoming worse. Wall Street and the multinational US corporations have offshored millions of US jobs that provided middle class incomes. Americans who lost these jobs have experienced dramatic reductions in their incomes and access to medical care. They have used up their savings and now have to sell parts of their bodies for money. This crisis will worsen as the American economic collapse proceeds. Income and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few oligarchs, with 400 families having as much wealth as 150,000,000 Americans. Bloomberg is wrong about \u201cthe four-year-old economic expansion.\u201d The alleged recovery is a product of statistical manipulation, as John Williams (shadowstats.com) has made clear.<\/i><\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2013-10-15\/bodies-double-as-cash-machines-with-u-s-income-lagging-economy.html<\/a><\/p>\n Bodies Double as Cash Machines with U.S. Income Lagging: Economy Hair, breast milk and eggs are doubling as automated teller machines for some cash-strapped Americans such as April Hare. Out of work for more than two years and facing eviction from her home, Hare recalled Louisa May Alcott\u2019s 19th-century novel and took to her computer.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just trying to find ways to make money, and I remembered Jo from \u2018Little Women,\u2019 and she sold her hair,\u201d the 35-year-old from Atlanta said. \u201cI\u2019ve always had lots of hair, but this is the first time I\u2019ve actually had the idea to sell it because I\u2019m in a really tight jam right now.\u201d<\/p>\n The mother of two posted pictures of her 18-inch auburn mane on www.buyandsellhair.com, asking at least $1,000 and receiving responses within hours. Hare, who also considered selling her breast milk, joins others exploring unconventional ways to make ends meet as the four-year-old economic expansion struggles to invigorate the labor market and stimulate incomes.<\/p>\n In all but two quarters since the beginning of 2011, \u201chair,\u201d \u201ceggs,\u201d or \u201ckidney\u201d have been among the top four autofill results for the Google search query, \u201cI want to sell my\u2026,\u201d according to Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at New York-based ConvergEx Group, which provides brokerage and trading-related services for institutional investors. While Americans can legally sell hair, breast milk and eggs, the sale and purchase of a kidney in the U.S. is against the law.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that people even explore it indicates that there are still a lot of people worried about their financial outlook,\u201d said Colas, who tracks off-the-grid economic indicators. \u201cThis is very much unlike every other recovery that we\u2019ve had. It\u2019s going to be a slow-grinding, very frustrating recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Egg Donors<\/p>\n At Shady Grove Fertility Center, which has offices in Washington, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, about 13,000 women will apply this year to be an egg donor. That\u2019s roughly a 13 percent increase from 2012, Ali Williams, marketing assistant supervisor at the fertility center, said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n The clinic\u2019s own survey last year showed that 65 percent of women said there was at least some financial motivation in deciding to donate their eggs. As few as 3 percent become actual donors due to a strict screening process and lengthy time commitment associated with egg donation.<\/p>\n The slow pace of economic recovery, exacerbated by higher taxes and across-the-board federal spending cuts this year, has soured attitudes among U.S. households. Some 54 percent of Americans say their incomes have \u201chardly recovered at all\u201d from the recession, according to a September survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington.<\/p>\n Labor Sentiment<\/p>\n Sentiment regarding employment opportunities is similarly bleak, with 52 percent saying the job market has barely recovered since the recession, Pew\u2019s survey shows. Payrolls are still down 1.9 million employees from the January 2008 peak, according to Labor Department data.<\/p>\n Such figures help explain why some Americans are seeking unorthodox ways to supplement their incomes. Hare, who has a 4-month-old son and 7-year-old daughter, researched selling her breast milk online after seeing she could make as much as $5 an ounce.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are tough times,\u201d said Hare, who was last employed as a showroom sales manager at a wholesale trade center. \u201cThe rich are getting richer and everybody else is losing their jobs and their homes. It\u2019s just terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n Household Income<\/p>\n Median household income, which includes wages and investments, has fallen every year for the past five after adjusting for inflation, according to data from the Commerce Department, with Americans earning less than they did in 1996.<\/p>\n Gains in worker pay have lagged behind the previous recovery. Wages and salaries, unadjusted for changes in prices, have climbed at a 3.2 percent annualized rate since the economy emerged from the recession in June 2009, trailing the 4.5 percent pace in the four years after the 2001 slump.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve been unemployed for years, if you\u2019re on food stamps and you\u2019ve had trouble getting by, I can totally see you being very economically desperate,\u201d Colas said. \u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of people sell their kidneys. I do think a lot of people in desperation do that search to say, \u2018If worse comes to worst what could I do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While the sale of kidneys is limited to the black market, the organ could fetch $15,200 if legal monetary incentives for donations were introduced, according to 2007 research by University of Chicago economics professor Gary Becker and Julio Elias, then an economics professor at State University of New York at Buffalo.<\/p>\n Unemployment Benefits<\/p>\n Such a decision may be influenced by a labor market that\u2019s struggling to improve and unemployment benefits that are running out. The jobless rate has been above 7 percent since the end of 2008. The share of unemployed Americans out of work for 27 weeks or longer was 38 percent in August, more than double what it was before the end of the last expansion, according to Labor Department figures.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly that would be creating some pressure for people who haven\u2019t been able to work,\u201d Becker said. \u201cThey\u2019re getting unemployment compensation that was less than they had in their last job, or their unemployment compensation may have run out and they\u2019re on welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n At Shady Grove Fertility Center, egg donors receive compensation at almost every step of the process, earning $7,000 by the time they finish their first donation cycle. Women can receive $7,500 for a second donation and $8,000 for each additional cycle up to a total of six, incurring no out-of-pocket costs along the way.<\/p>\n Financial Reasons<\/p>\n Still, 73 percent of women said altruism influenced their choice more than financial reasons, the survey showed. \u201cIt is more than cutting your hair and even donating blood,\u201d Shady Grove\u2019s Williams said. \u201cThe process can take a few months. So if you don\u2019t have that altruistic motivation, if you\u2019re just doing it for money, you\u2019re probably not going to get through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n The average donor is about 27 years old, and 78 percent have a college degree or are pursuing one, Williams said. More than half of donor applications come through an online resource.<\/p>\n The Internet is probably responsible for much of the increased interest in cashing in on body parts, Becker said. Online search engines and exchanges make communications between \u201cbuyers and sellers of things like organs or hair much easier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Interest Rates<\/p>\n Bridie MacDonald in Farmington Hills, Michigan, lost her job in mortgage marketing on Sept. 27, a casualty of interest rates that have risen almost 1 percentage point since the start of May, when the Federal Reserve began signaling it could scale back its unprecedented stimulus program.<\/p>\n With naturally red hair, the 25 year-old posted an online ad on Oct. 1 looking to sell up to 18 inches of her locks for $1,500. Since then, she\u2019s received more than 100 responses.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been growing my hair out for maybe a little over two years, and I just decided now was the time since I lost my job,\u201d MacDonald said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cost anything to grow your hair out and sell it for money. It\u2019s basically profit with very little work. Anything you can do, I\u2019m sure people are willing to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n To contact the reporter on this story: Victoria Stilwell in Washington at vstilwell1@bloomberg.net<\/p>\n To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net<\/a><\/p>\n \u00ae2013 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.<\/p>\n ________________________<\/p>\n Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nBy Victoria Stilwell \u2013 Oct 15, 2013<\/p>\n