We need to find a fairer way of providing Goods and Services to the rest of the people on Earth.Cryptocurrencies and/or Gold Standard of money....maybe the answer to fight hyperinflation caused by too much printing of paper/fiat currencies by Governments and Central Banks all over the World. (https://nomorefiatmoneyplease.blogspot.com)
26m Americans lack credit history, US consumer watchdog says
One in 10 American adults have no credit history, and 8 per cent are considered "unscorable" by major credit reporting agencies, a survey released on Tuesday showed.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[WASHINGTON] One in 10 American adults have no credit history, and 8 per cent are considered "unscorable" by major credit reporting agencies, a survey released on Tuesday showed.
Blacks, Hispanics and low-income community residents are most likely to be among the 26 million US adults absent from the credit reporting system and the 19 million with insufficient information to generate a credit score, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said. "This may be limiting opportunities for some of the most economically vulnerable consumers," CFPB Director Richard Cordray told reporters on a conference call.
The three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax Inc , Experian Plc and Transunion, generate credit reports and scores based on consumers' borrowing and payment habits, including bankruptcies and court judgments.
Banks, credit card issuers, mortgage companies and other lenders use credit reports to see if a consumer is financially responsible enough to repay loans.
The CFPB said it is unclear how the "credit invisible" borrow money, but noted that likely options include pawnshops and payday lenders which do not report to credit reporting agencies.
The bureau, created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, said it will use data from the report to devise initiatives to address the problem.
[WASHINGTON] The Republican-led US Congress passed a 2016 budget Tuesday, a largely symbolic policy document which would balance federal spending and slash US$5 trillion in social, education and health programmes over the next decade.
The US$3.871 trillion blueprint for the year beginning October 1, 2015, would lead to a total elimination of the US public deficit by 2024, without raising taxes, and beefs up Pentagon spending.
The Senate approved the Republican budget by a final vote of 51 to 48, with all Democrats voting against.
It passed the House of Representatives last month, also with united Democratic opposition, and despite deep divisions over military spending and other issues that threatened to split Republicans.
But the party's leaders shepherded the measure across the finish line, a rarity in Washington for a budget resolution and a victory for Republicans, who are under pressure to show that they can govern successfully in the 2016 presidential election cycle.
"No budget will ever be perfect, but this is a budget that sensibly addresses the concerns of many different members," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
"It reflects honest compromise from many different members with many different priorities." But it did expose divisions between Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul voted against the budget, while Marco Rubio and potential White House candidate Lindsey Graham supported it.
The budget was slimmer than the US$4 trillion wishlist put forward by President Barack Obama in February.
That one would blow through mandatory spending caps, raise taxes, and spend nearly US$500 billion on improving infrastructure.
The resolution has no power of law. But it is used as a guide to define the amounts appropriated to each federal agency.
That spending battle looms later this year, as lawmakers will haggle over appropriations bills that must be signed into law by the president by October 1 or else government risks a shutdown.
The budget contains key Republican priorities including a repeal of the president's signature health care law.
It sets up a fast-track vote on legislation repealing Obamacare, likely this summer in the early stages of the presidential race, but Obama is certain to veto the measure.
The budget would also trim public health care programs for the poor (Medicaid) and elderly (Medicare).
The Senate action marks the first time in six years that Congress has passed a budget, and Republicans chalked it up to their seizing control of both chambers in January following congressional elections.
More than two-thirds of federal budget expenditures relate to mandatory spending such as debt service and entitlement programs including Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and food stamps.
The rest is divided between defence (US$523 billion) and other federal agencies (US$493 billion), as well as extraordinary expenses for overseas contingency operations (US$96 billion) and natural disasters (US$7 billion).
Democrats had proposed a budget that would have run fiscal deficits for the next decade, while increasing infrastructure investment and removing tax breaks for businesses.
