Unfortunately, one of those members used voodoo economics to meet the budget deficit rule. Basically, they cooked the books to make it look as if they only had a 3% budget deficit.
Everyone calls EU’s troubled states “the PIIGS” (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain). But again, the PIIGS only account for 14% of the total Eurozone GDP
Excerpts from Sovereign A-letter
This union defied the odds. It cleaned up its messes. Union leaders stopped members from leaving, and played referee as member states argued over how to run their economies.
Eventually, this union built the largest economy and political entity in the world. Investors not only respected this union — they suddenly wanted to hold this union’s currency.
…Well, until recently.
I’m sorry to say, this union is starting to crumble. Now each member state is in more disarray than the last. We are seeing budget deficits, protests in the street, and debt-infested governments that all need to cut spending but never do.
And now plenty of investors are snickering on the sidelines saying that this crisis will collapse the currency…
The ‘Crisis’ Story that No One Is Telling
Think I’m talking about the EU, right?
Well I’m not … I’m talking about the U.S.!
That’s right -- the U.S. is a monetary union just like the EU. We all share the same currency, same government and we can travel across state borders without taxation, a passport or changing currencies.
Lately, everyone in their brother is beating up the EU. But the fact is, the EU’s debt problems are peanuts compared to our debt issues in the United States.
The U.S. is the real danger economy (and currency), but it also provides the easiest way to protect yourself in the coming months and years.
Before we get down to business, let me give you my take on this so-called “euro crisis.”
Euro Collapse? Give Me a Break
Long ago, before there was a “euro” the European Union members agreed to the Maastricht Treaty. This treaty would govern the member countries, so eventually they could create a “one policy meets all” for the entire EU.
Among other things, the Maastricht Treaty mandated that each member state could only have a budget deficit of 3% of its GDP. To join the EU, each member must meet that limit.
Most members decided to meet the target by selling their gold, which they did in 1998 and 1999. But they made it. When the Union formed, 13 nations joined together under the Maastricht Treaty.
Today, 17 nations are EU members, and all those citizens use the euro as their currency.
Unfortunately, one of those members used voodoo economics to meet the budget deficit rule. Basically, they cooked the books to make it look as if they only had a 3% budget deficit.
Now the truth is finally coming out, years after joining the EU.
That country? I’m sure you can guess. It’s Greece.
Is this shocking? Wrong? Absolutely.
But it’s also the reason why pundits all over the world are talking about the “coming collapse of the euro.”
Now I can agree that this will definitely be a setback for the euro. But come on. The euro will NOT fall apart just because of one bad apple. It doesn’t make sense.
Greece’s total contribution to the total Eurozone GDP is just 2%. If you remove 2% of the total Eurozone’s GDP, do you really think the EU will collapse?
That’s like saying the U.S. GDP would collapse if Idaho left. Not going to happen!
To take this further, everyone calls EU’s troubled states “the PIIGS” (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain). But again, the PIIGS only account for 14% of the total Eurozone GDP
Chicken Littles Cry About Euro’s Impending Demise (Again!)
Yes, these EU member states were completely out of line when they continued deficit spending. It’s only fair that the euro suffered a bit.
However, to say that the euro is going to collapse is simply unreasonable.
Before the euro even became a real entity in 1999, there were those that did not believe it would last, and would soon collapse. However, the euro, which suffered at first, eventually came on strong.
In 2005, when Sweden and Denmark both said “no” to join the euro, pundits once again called for the euro to collapse. But the euro only came back stronger. In 2008, during the financial collapse, they said the euro would fall apart. And once again, the euro came back stronger after selling off.
So is this just another case of euro selling as various Chicken Littles run around calling for the euro’s collapse, only to see it rebound and come back stronger?
Or is this finally the hangman’s noose for the euro?
Personally, I believe it to be the former. Here’s why…
The euro is the second most liquid currency in the world, and the second most widely traded currency in the world.
It is the offset currency to the dollar — and the closest thing to the next world reserve currency.
So, if you believe that the euro will collapse, then you must believe that the U.S. dollar will continue to soar for years. You must think our deficit spending that’s gone on for over eight years now is no big deal.
There are plenty of traders who think this way. I call them the “deficits don’t matter crowd.”
This blatant disregard for a currency’s debt always reminds me of a man leaping off the Empire State building.
He passes the 56th floor and screams… “So far, so good!”
The point is long-term deficits always matter. Greece found that out. It’s only a matter of time before the U.S. does.
LESSONS FROM PIIGS's BUDGET DEFICIT
READINGS ON ISSUES IN COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CONFERENCE
COP15: Climate-Change Conference took place in in Copenhagen beginning Dec. 7, 2009
For all its limitations, however, the Copenhagen Accord is the first real step to fighting climate change in the 21st century. The real value of Copenhagen of the summit may lie in what it teaches us about dealing with climate change — and much more. Here are five lessons of the summit:
1. George W. Bush was right, sort of. After ignoring climate change for much of his tenure, Bush in late 2007 called a Washington meeting of the major economies — hoping to make headway on combatting global warming by focusing on the handful of countries, developed and developing, that produce the vast majority of carbon emissions. Environmentalists, unsurprisingly, lambasted the idea, assuming it was a ploy to undercut the U.N. system. The meeting came and went with little impact.
But last Friday morning, after two weeks of fruitless negotiations among most of U.N. member states, President Obama arrived in Copenhagen to find the summit on the verge of collapse. So, he plunged into seven hours of hard, direct bargaining with a select group of world leaders, eventually cutting a deal with those from China, India, Brazil and South Africa — the world's largest and most important emerging economies, and the leading country in Africa, the continent that will suffer most from climate change. Their agreement was presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis to the other 180 plus nations. While Copenhagen won't end the U.N. process for addressing climate change, but it marks a shift to decision making by smaller groups of powerful nations working in more manageable numbers. As undemocratic as that may be, Copenhagen showed that it may also be the only way to get something done. (Read Obama's remarks in full.)
2.China will be decisive. When Obama landed in Copenhagen, to key leader with whom he needed to huddle was China's Premier Wen Jiaobao. But Wen played hard to get, twice sending a lower-level official to meet with Obama and other world leaders. Washington and Beijing clashed throughout the summit over the issue of transparency: whether developing countries would expose their domestic climate actions to international review.
But the real battle was to persuade China, now the world's largest emitter of carbon gases, to relinquish its outdated developing-nation status under the Kyoto Protocol, and commit to targets more in line with its status as a leading industrial power. China is investing hundreds of billions in clean energy, and brought to Copenhagen pledges to improve energy efficiency. Yet, Beijing remained largely passive at Copenhagen, resistant to throwing in its lot with an international system and reluctant to use its growing power to influence the talks in a positive way. Although it looks set to become the world's second largest economy by the end of the year, it is also home to hundreds of millions of poor people — hence the developing-nation mindset. But unless China can be coaxed to play a leadership role in any future concerted global action on climate change, there simply won't be any. (See pictures of the world's most polluted places.)
3. We can agree to save the forests. Although no smart observer expected a Copenhagen accord to include legally binding emission-reduction targets, the final accord omitted even the long-term emissions goals included in earlier drafts. Expect a renewal of the same debates a year from now at the next U.N. climate summit in Mexico City. But Copenhagen's bright spot was progress on slowing deforestation. The logging and burning of tropical rainforests accounts for around 15% of global carbon emissions, and eliminates important carbon sinks such as the Amazon. A plan excluded from Kyoto — titled Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) — under which wealthier nations pay rainforest countries for preserving their trees made a comeback at Copenhagen. Stopping deforestation is a cheap way to slow carbon emissions and protects the most important wildlife habitat on the planet.
The Copenhagen negotiations on REDD made real progress, signaling that both the developed and developing nations want it to succeed. Although the lack of a more ambitious wider agreement limited the progress that could be made on REDD, the Copenhagen Accord does include a mention of it — which raises the hope that forests are at least one thing that governments may find a way to save.
4.Green schism. The Environmental Defense Fund — a U.S. green group that often works with business — praised the Copenhagen Accord as an "important step," and other mainstream environmental groups had a similarly measured response. But the new group 350.org — which demands extremely sharp and immediate carbon reductions — denounced the deal and protests outside the venue began almost immediately.
The differing response among environmentalists suggests that Copenhagen may produce splits similar to those among liberal Democrats over how to respond to compromises over health-care reform in the U.S. While most greens remain firmly in Obama's corner even if they're far from satisfied, we can expect an escalation of civil skirmishes within a movement that's generally been a happy family.
5. It's going to get harder, and that's a good thing. In the weeks preceding the summit, world leaders had downgraded expectations for a binding agreement, aiming instead for a broad political agreement while kicking tough decisions such as emission targets down the road. Logically, that should have made the talks at Copenhagen easier. Obviously that's not what happened, as the summit's final 48 hours were passed on the brink of collapse. But if Copenhagen was tough, Mexico City will be a lot more so, because there, countries will be tasked with filling in details sketched in the Copenhagen Accord.
Yet the very struggle to reach agreement at Copenhagen, and the tougher talks to come, demonstrate that climate diplomacy has finally come of age. The negotiations at Copenhagen were so contentious because of the very real impact the proposals on the table will have, not only on the environment, but also on national economies. China and the U.S. played hardball — and sent heads of government to do the talking — precisely because they had something to lose. The onset of a kind of climate realpolitik, which eschews hot air for real action, signals is a sign that global climate talks have moved beyond symbolic rhetoric.
Copenhagen also signaled a profound change in the U.S. role. During the plenary of the previous U.N. climate summit in Bali two years ago, Kevin Conrad, the delegate from the small rainforest nation of Papua New Guinea, electrified the room when he told the recalcitrant U.S. delegation: "We seek your leadership, but if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way." At the very least, Copenhagen shows the U.S. is willing to lead. The question is for how long, and who will follow.
Lessons From the Copenhagen Climate Talks
- Obama's Climate Compromise Leaves a Bitter Aftertaste
- In Copenhagen, a Last-Minute Deal That Satisfies Few
- As Time Runs Out, Obama Tries to Save a Climate Deal
- With One Day to Go, Climate Talks Remain Stalled
- In Copenhagen's Dark Mood, a Ray of Light for Forests
- Frustration Mounts in Copenhagen As Talks Stall
- A Tiny Pacific Island Faces Climate Change
- Study: Airport Noise Increases Risk of Strokes
- Crunch Time in Copenhagen: Will Week 2 Make a Difference?
- Amid Copenhagen's Climate Din, a Corporate Silence
- How Global Warming Could Change the Winemaking Map
- Q&A: The U.N.'s Ban Ki-Moon on Climate Change
- Do Rich Nations Owe Poor Ones a Climate Debt?
- Copenhagen's Real Challenge: Technology to Meet the Targets
- Refining the Projections on Global Temperature Rise
- 5 Things to Watch for at the Copenhagen Climate-Change Conference
- The Tragedy of the Himalayas
- Beyond Copenhagen
- Banking on Carbon
- Get Smart
- Network Power
- As Climate Summit Nears, Skeptics Gain Traction
- China's Pledge on Carbon Emissions: Is It Enough?
- Will 'Climategate' Cast a Shadow Over Copenhagen Summit?
- East Antarctica, Long Stable, Is Now Losing Ice
- Obama Will Promise U.S. Carbon Cuts in Copenhagen
- Are the Earth's Oceans Hitting Their Carbon Cap?
- U.S. vs. China: Working Together on Global Warming?
- World Leaders Put Off a Climate Change Treaty
- On the Copenhagen Agenda, Saving Forests May Still Work
- What if the Water Wins?
- Should Obama Attend the Copenhagen Climate Summit?
- Floods and Droughts: How Climate Change Is Impacting Africa
- Is There Any Hope for Agreement at Copenhagen?
- Why India Is Playing Hard to Get on Climate Change
- Russia Still Dragging Its Feet on Climate Change
- Getting Air Traffic Under Control
- Airport Noise Increases Risk of Strokes
- Q&A: Ban Ki-Moon
- Are Poor Nations Owed a Climate Debt?
- 5 Things to Watch For
- Temperature Rise Projections
- Meeting Carbon Targets
- Viewpoint: Beyond Copenhagen
- An E-Mail Scandal at Copenhagen?
- The Tragedy of the Himalayas
- Skeptics Gain Traction
- Are Oceans Hitting Their Carbon Cap?
- East Antarctica Is Losing Ice
ISRAEL AND USA : WHAT'S THE CONNECTION
Despite distance, Jews do feel a connection
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
JPost.com
Amid world Jewry's nail-biting over Iran, rising anti-Semitism and declining affiliation, a new survey of "Jewish attachment" offers much-needed good news.
The study reports strong feelings of connectedness and mutual concern between the world's two largest Jewish communities, in the United States and Israel, each of which accounts for some 40 percent of world Jewry.
"Both populations report substantial ties of family, friendship and communication with Jews in the other country. Israelis, in fact, report more such ties, perhaps [reflecting] the significant number of Israelis who have taken up residence in the US," report sociologists Steven Cohen of Hebrew Union College and Ephraim Ya'ar of Tel Aviv University.
Their complete report will be presented on Tuesday at a panel on Jewish peoplehood chaired by Leonid Nevzlin at the Herzliya Conference taking place at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, this week.
The mutual concern triumphs over a gap of ignorance - "on both subjective [self-evaluated] and objective measures, members of both societies demonstrate low levels of knowledge about the other" - and the lack of any significant expression of these emotions.
"Few American or Israeli Jews engage in activities designed to express and foster strong ties," the report states.
In the best news yet for a Jewish world obsessed with continuity, the researchers report that "contrary to widely held expectations, young self-identified Jews are as engaged with Jewish peoplehood feelings as their elders."
All these factors imply that "the good feelings toward one another can serve as a basis for mutual interaction and education."
The survey, funded by the NADAV Fund, was conducted simultaneously among American and Israeli Jews, incorporating over 1,000 participants in each community.
The "policy takeaway," according to Cohen and Ya'ar, is determining how to capitalize on this good feeling.
"Prior to this research, one might have thought that the major policy challenge is to design programs to strengthen goodwill and good feelings," they write.
Instead, the challenge is "to translate good feelings into real action that will strengthen mutual ties and the bonds of Jewish peoplehood."
Among the report's findings, Israeli Jews reported a slightly higher identification as "Jews".
KOMPILASI KARTOON BUSH
KLIK PADA IMEJ UNTUK DIBESARKAN. EHSAN DARI CNN DAN TIME
HAMAS DAN ISRAEL DI SEMENANJUNG GAZA
Hamas is an Islamic fundamentalist organization whose military wing has admitted responsibility for attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The group came into being in December 1987, growing out of the Muslim Brotherhood, the religious and political organization founded in Egypt. Its goal is an Islamic fundamentalist Palestinian state. It is considered a terrorist organizations by Israel and the United States.
Hamas is an acronym for "Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia" or Islamic Resistance Movement, in English. The group was primarily a religious and charitable organization between the 1960s and 1980s. It has wings devoted to religious, military, political and security activities.
Hamas has an annual budget of $70 million, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. It gets financial support from expatriate Palestinians, private donors in the Middle East, Muslim charities in the West, and Iran.
Here are some notable events in its 21-year history:
1988 - The covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement is published. The group presents itself as an alternative to the PLO.
1989 - An Israeli court convicts Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of ordering Hamas members to kidnap and kill two Israeli soldiers.
April 1994 - Hamas orchestrates its first suicide bombing. Five are killed in the Israeli city of Hedera.
February to March 1996 - The Palestinian Authority cracks down on Hamas, after a series of Hamas-orchestrated suicide bombings in Israel kill more than 50 people. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemns the bombings, referring to them as "a terrorist operation." Later, the PNA arrests approximately 140 suspected Hamas members.
1997 - Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is released from prison.
1999 - King Abdullah of Jordan closes down Hamas headquarters in Jordan.
2001 - The U.S. State Department lists Hamas on its official list of terrorist groups.
June 12, 2003 - A suicide bomber disguised as an ultra-orthodox Jew detonates himself on a Jerusalem bus, killing 16 Israelis. Hamas claims responsibility.
August 20, 2003 - A suicide bomber detonates himself on a bus killing at least 20 Israelis. Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.
January 2004 - The first Hamas female suicide bomber kills four Israelis at Erez crossing in a joint operation with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
March 14, 2004 - Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claim responsibility for a double attack at the Israeli port of Ashdod that kills 10 Israelis.
March 22, 2004 - Hamas leader Yassin is killed by Israeli air strikes.
March 23, 2004 - Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi is named as Yassin's successor.
April 17, 2004 - Rantisi is killed by an Israeli air strike on his car.
August 31, 2004 - The Islamic militant group Hamas claims responsibility for deadly simultaneous explosions on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva that killed at least 14 people and wounding more than 80.
September 26, 2004 - A leading member of Hamas, Izz Eldin Subhi Sheikh Khalil, is killed by a car bomb as he leaves his home in Damascus, Syria.
December 12, 2004 - An attack at a checkpoint on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt kills five Israelis. Hamas claims responsibility.
January 14, 2005 - A bomb at the Karni crossing at the Israel-Gaza border kills six Israelis. Hamas claims responsibility.
January 25, 2006 - Hamas, running as the "Change and Reform Party," participates for the first time in Palestinian parliamentary elections. The group is fielding 62 candidates.
January 26, 2006 - Hamas wins a landslide victory in the Palestinian legislative elections. Hamas wins 76 seats, and Fatah 43 seats in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council, giving Hamas a majority.
March 29, 2006 - The new Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, and his cabinet are sworn in. The governments of the United States and Canada say they will have no contact with the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
June 25, 2006 - Hamas militants attack an Israeli military post and kill two soldiers. A third, Gilad Shalit, is kidnapped. The Palestinian government denies any knowledge of the attack.
Early June 2007 - After a week of battles between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas seizes control of Gaza.
June 14, 2007 - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dissolves the government and dismisses Ismail Haniya as Prime Minister. Haniya rejects this and remains the de facto leader in Gaza.
April 18-19, 2008 - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter meets with exiled Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal, in Damascus, Syria.
June 2008 - Cease-fire truce between Hamas and Israel negotiated by Egypt goes into effect. Hamas agrees to stop firing rockets at Israeli border communities and Israel will allow limited trade into and out of Gaza. The cease-fire has a six-month deadlines.
December 19, 2008 - Hamas formally ends cease-fire with Israel. Attacks between the two had continued the entire time to some degree, escalating more in November.
From December 24, 2008 - The rocket attacks from Hamas increase and so do the retaliation air strikes from Israel.
Pictures and stories by courtesy of CNN
GILIRAN AMERIKA DIKEROYOK OLEH FIRMA DANA ASING
Kini tiba giliran USA mengecapi rasa bagaimana dijajah dari segi ekonomi dan kewangan. Singapura, China, UAE dan Kuwait berlumba-lumba membeli saham syarikat gergasi Amerika seperti Citigroup (citibank dll), Merril Lynch dan Morgan Stanley. Sila rujuk jadual di bawah.
Ungkapan yang sama seperti di bawah berlaku kepada mana-mana negara yang membiarkan dana asing masuk membanjiri sesebuah negara. Ini termasuk negara kita.
"The potential dangers are truly staggering.
The thought that foreign entities could control the purse strings of our country is a clear and present danger.
CONTROL.
In financing so much of our economic engine, these sovereign funds could easily gain influence over U.S. economic decisions. Where and to whom financial institutions could lend money. Where businesses should build factories. Where they should set up R&D facilities. How they should structure their investments.."
Di petik dari Sovereign Society
Myth & LIE : Foreign Capital and Sovereign Wealth Funds Don't Pose a Threat to Our Economic System
"I think that's quite constructive and I think that we should be open to allowing that kind of investment."
- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
“...there is no doubt that sovereign wealth funds are growing in size and number and are making increasingly significant investments in financial services organizations worldwide.”
- Federal Reserve Board General Counsel,
Scott Alvarez
"As we seek to open new markets abroad, America will keep our markets open at home to investment from private firms and from sovereign wealth funds."
- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
You know the government has spent our country into oblivion. And the only way to keep funding their spending is to borrow. And for years they have looked overseas for investors to purchase our debt.
But things are beginning to change. Today these Sovereign Wealth Funds are buying far more than securities. They're buying businesses who are crippled by the credit crisis. They're buying banks. Real estate. You name it, they have a hand in it.
The price of foreign money
These Sovereign Wealth Funds are making massive investments here in the U.S. The China Investment Corporation (CIC) had recently been in talks with Morgan Stanley to buy up to 49% of the investment bank. Nearly A MAJORITY INTEREST in one of our oldest financial institutions.
Other New York banks are also busy selling minority shares to foreign funds. There have been major capital infusions from both Middle East and Russian funds, among others. Why is this so troubling? One word.
CONTROL.
In financing so much of our economic engine, these sovereign funds could easily gain influence over U.S. economic decisions. Where and to whom financial institutions could lend money. Where businesses should build factories. Where they should set up R&D facilities. How they should structure their investments...
The potential dangers are truly staggering.
The thought that foreign entities could control the purse strings of our country is a clear and present danger. Countries, like China, are not neutral investors in their own markets, why should we expect them to be neutral in ours?
REMAJA AMERIKA RAMAI YANG BEKERJA SAMBILAN
Sebuah negara yang kaya seperti Amerika (sebelum kegawatan ekonomi 2008- 20xx) masih terdapat juga remaja yang insaf dan gigih membina masa depan. Salah satu caranya ialah dengan bekerja sambilan. Mereka ini tidak mengharapkan duit saku dari ibu bapa semata-mata. Sikap begini harus dicontohi oleh para remaja kita di Malaysia. Ikuti cerita -cerita penuh inspirasi remaja di USA.
As the Rich Get Poorer, Teenagers Feel the Crunch
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: December 12, 2008
New York Times
Jodi Hamilton began her senior year of high school in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., this fall on the usual prosperous footing. Her parents were providing a weekly allowance of $100 and paying for private Pilates classes, as well as a physics tutor who reported once a week to their 4,000-square-foot home.
Since her allowance was cut to $60 a week from $100, Jodi Hamilton, 17, center, has taken up tutoring. Her pupil here is Sigourney Barman, 12.
But in October, Jodi’s mother lost her job managing a huge dental practice in the Bronx, then landed one closer to home that requires more hours for less money. Pilates was dropped, along with takeout sushi dinners, and Jodi’s allowance, which covers lunch during the week, slipped to $60. Instead of having a tutor, Jodi has become a tutor, earning $150 a week through that and baby-sitting.
“I just thought it would be responsible to get a job and have my own money so my parents didn’t have to pay for everything,” said Jodi, who is 17. “I always like to be saving up for something that I have my eye on — a ring, a necklace, a handbag.”
It is impossible to quantify how many affluent parents have trimmed allowances in recent months — or how many of their offspring, in turn, have sought either formal employment or odd jobs. But interviews with dozens of teenagers, parents, educators and employers suggest that many youngsters from well-to-do families seem to have found a new work ethic as the economic crisis that has jeopardized their parents’ jobs and investments has also led to less spending money for Saturday night movies or binges at Abercrombie & Fitch.
After focusing on studies and résumé-polishing extracurricular activities in recent years, these teenagers are job-seeking at the worst possible time, however, with employment of 16- to 19-year-olds at its lowest level in 61 years as out-of-work adults compete for low-paying positions.
“We have the Mall at Short Hills a stone’s throw away, and there are a load of kids who applied,” said Nancy Siegel, head counselor at Millburn High School in New Jersey. “But they are not finding the market welcoming.”
At the marble-sheathed Westchester mall in White Plains, job applications have increased at stores including Origins, Tommy Hilfiger and the Gap, where job queries from teenagers are up 30 percent over last fall.
Julia Stark, a senior at Packer Collegiate Institute, a top private school in Brooklyn, said that this fall she and her friends are “all trying to work as much as we can” to pay for weekend restaurant dinners, a welcome break from a heavy course load and college applications.
In Greenwich, Conn., a Web-based program that connects high school students with nearby job opportunities has attracted 100 seekers each month since September, up from 40 to 60 a month last fall.
“I didn’t want to bug my parents for extra cash over the long weekend,” said Christian Rosier, a junior, who found a job on the Greenwich Student Employment Service the week before Thanksgiving that paid $50 for a few hours of moving furniture. “I like the one-shot jobs because I can do it on a Friday afternoon and still have time to hang out with my friends on the weekend.”
Teenagers from working- and middle-class families are, of course, feeling similar — if not more acute — pressure. Sumit Pal, 17, a senior at Information Technology High School in Queens, said his parents cut his $5 weekly allowance two months ago after the deli where his father works started to lose business. Sumit was interviewed two weeks ago for a job at a company that sponsors rock bands.
“I don’t mind losing my allowance,” he said. “It goes toward other things, like groceries.”
Teenage participation in the national labor force has fallen steadily since 1979, when 49 percent of all 16- and 17-year-olds had some kind of work; last year, the figure was 30 percent.
A recent study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University showed that teenage employment from 2005 to 2007 rose with household incomes that go up to $150,000 a year: 14 percent of teenagers from families earning less than $20,000 a year work, as do 26 percent of those whose families make $60,000, 32 percent of those earning $80,000 and 33 percent of those between $120,000 and $150,000.
Over $150,000, it drops to 28 percent. “Research shows that the bigger allowance you get from Mom and Dad,” explained Andrew M. Sum, director of Northeastern’s center, “the less likely you are to work."
Since the 1990s, many affluent children seeking admission to selective colleges have been discouraged from paid work, and steered instead toward volunteer service projects. Rebuilding homes in New Orleans or teaching English in developing countries, seemingly better résumé fodder, supplanted after-school or summer jobs scooping ice cream or answering phones.
“There’s been such a push to demonstrate to colleges that they’re involved with activities and charities that it’s almost too pedestrian to say that work is part of what I do,” said William S. Miron, the principal at Millburn High School.
Brent A. Neiser of the National Endowment for Financial Education, a group based in Colorado that offers financial literacy programs, said parents tend to “shortchange the benefits of scut work” but that even ho-hum employment can be valuable — and impress admissions officers.
“Dress codes, rules, punctuality and being teachable is enrichment in itself,” Mr. Neiser said. “You’re contributing to the economy, you’re contributing to your personal economy and you’re picking up skill sets and habits that will prepare you for your full-time employment.”
Michael Pollack, a vice president of CBS, said that he was happy to see his 14-year-old son, Zachary, get a job at a veterinary hospital in Scarsdale, N.Y., in September, because Zachary was learning some basic lessons about money.
“I really want him to feel it and save it and spend it so he knows that money goes away,” Mr. Pollack said. “If he wants to treat all his friends to a movie, that’s great. But he needs to see that it bottoms out. Where else are they going to get that experience?”
Zachary, who earns $80 a weekend for 11 hours feeding and caring for animals, said that he was glad to “help my parents with our financial situation.”
“Things I need, they’ll buy,” he said, “and things I want, I’ll buy.”
Jill Tipograph, who lives in Bergen County and owns Everything Summer, a company that advises parents on camp, travel and work opportunities, said she sent her son to college in Boston this fall with a lump sum in his bank account that was supposed to last the semester. “But he went through the money like water,” she said.
So Ms. Tipograph and her husband decided to deposit a set amount once a week, and told their son to use the prepaid meal plan more often. “We also said that if you feel you can’t live on the allowance we’re giving you, then please look for a part-time job,” she added.
He seems to be getting the message, choosing a 10-hour bus ride over a train or plane for a recent visit to a friend in Washington.
Kat Rosier, a single mother of boys ages 12 and 17 in Greenwich, has resisted the idea of a job for her older son, Christian, who plays hockey and rows on the crew team, even as her interior design business has suffered.
“Here’s my dilemma,” she explained. “His time is so limited, and I would hate for his grades to fall this year so he could make $100 a week and then for him to not get into as good a college as he wants.”
Still, having recently lost a job sprucing up the second home of a client who works in finance, Ms. Rosier said her family might need to adjust some habits. “The other night Christian had eight friends over and I spent $110 on pizza,” she said. “I don’t mind doing that, but he’s got to know that the pizza budget is not $500 a month.”
Christian said he was otherwise cutting back: “If I’m hungry, I won’t drive to McDonald’s. I’ll just eat something at home instead of spending $10 on lunch.”
Jodi Hamilton’s mother, Jill, said she had been impressed by her daughter’s determination to earn, noting that “she sent out a massive e-mail for baby-sitting and tutoring, and she got so many offers there aren’t enough hours in the week.”
Suddenly, the tables are turned: Two weeks ago, Ms. Hamilton borrowed $640 from Jodi.
