Business Headlines

Written By: USJ Staff  |  Posted: Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016

Family - The Core of America's Economy

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow

A conservative political organization has developed a new formula that demonstrates the link between economic and social policy in determining family prosperity.

Economist J. Scott Moody is director of the Family Prosperity Initiative and a senior research fellow for the American Conservative Union Foundation. He tells OneNewsNow this group has launched the "Family Prosperity Index" - using primarily government data - to measure the relationship between economic and social policies on a state-by-state basis.

Moody explains that for a long time, the U.S. has used the gross domestic product (GDP) as an economic barometer to gauge the status of America's prosperity.

"What is GDP actually really measuring?" he asks. "It's measuring all the economic activity in America into one amorphous number - but it doesn't really tell you whether ... people are prospering or families are prospering. So we really focus on the core engine of America's economy, which is the family."

Moody explains that FPI's index is a broader, more holistic view of how families and the economy impact each other. "A citizen can see how [their] state is doing for family prosperity and then hold their policymakers accountable [if their state isn't] doing as well as [a] neighboring state or with the U.S. average," he adds.

The inaugural Index ranks Utah first in family prosperity and New Mexico last.

Oregon Farms May Fail with Minimum Wage Hike

As the minimum wage in Oregon continues to grow, farmers in Oregon are hard pressed to make ends meet. According to One News Now, the current minimum wage is $9.25, and over the next six years, the wage will increase to $14.75 in metro Portland, and to $13.50 in smaller cities and $12.50 in rural communities. The only solution for many farmers is to replace workers with machines that will do the work. However, Barry Bushue, president of Oregon Farm Bureau, says that many of the specialty crops in Oregon require produce to be hand picked. Bushue also pointed out that many farmers have already contracted their crops for next year, but the minimum wage will be upgraded in July, in the middle of their growing season. This could have a devastating effect on Oregon farmers and their production of specialty crops.

U.S. Credit Card Debt Skyrockets

According to CNBC, U.S. credit card debt has skyrocketed to $917 billion, which is a surge of $71 billion from last year. CardHub CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou said in a statement that "evidence is mounting to support the notion that credit card users are reverting to pre-downturn bad habits." Scott Hoyt, senior director at Moody's Analytics, agreed saying that rising consumer debt was similar in the recession. Some financial advisors see the increase in debt as a positive sign that more Americans are working and the economy is picking up. Borrowing to money to buy things they can't afford hardly seems like an indication that the economy is improving. Rather it seems that Americans did not learn from their mistakes which resulted in the last recession.

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