To: Anthony Ressler
From: Jiefu Luo
Date: March 31, 2015
Subject: Suggestions for improving Ares in Motion (A.I.M.) Initiative
Dear Mr. Ressler,
Aimed at promoting employee engagement and community relationships, Ares Management LP launched “Ares in Motion” (A.I.M.) as a global corporate social responsibility campaign in 2011. The program, although well received among participants, lacks a focus that would enable it to create lasting social impact.
Studies have shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans lacks proper skills to manage their finances. And the distribution of those Americans skews heavily to the lower income population. According to a St. Louis Federal Reserve research, US household debt to GDP in 2014 was as high as 79%. And household debt as a percentage of disposable income looks even bleaker, with the 2013 number being over 102%. This means, in 2013, an average American borrowed over 102 dollars for every 100 dollars he or she made. Further exacerbating the situation is the rapidly growing income inequality that created a long-term systematic threat to social stability.
Given the severity of the underlining economic issues, Ares should help alleviate the above mentioned problems as a responsible member of the society. Therefore, I propose that, instead of spreading out its efforts, the firm concentrates resources on promoting of financial literacy to lower income families through launching an educational website.
Summary of current
There is a widespread concern about rising levels of debt. Debt can become disastrous for those who live alone or those families who are already having problems with supporting their family. The people who might be struck by debt, they might have trouble recovering. Debt can cause Americans to lose their homes and stability they need to feed, and shelter their families. Although debt comes upon us Americans quickly, people can see debt as terrible thing to be stuck with. It has many disadvantages that can devastate to people.
In The United States these past few years everything has gone from bad to worse dealing with spending money; which has developed economical problems, such as debt. Currently people are spending their money on things that they do not need such as iPods, MTV, and so on. They buy things to satisfy their
Problems in the student loan market are not just harming students but are also exacerbating problems with the United States’ recovery from the Great Recession. New York Federal Reserve Bank data has found that outstanding student debt topped $1 trillion in the third quarter of 2013, and the share of loans delinquent 90 days or more rose to 11.8 percent. Furthermore, the share of 25-year-old Americans with student debt increased to 43 percent in 2012 from 25 percent in 2003, while the average loan balance rose 91 percent, to $20,326 from $10,649 (Gage and Lorin). More than 40 million Americans are in student loan debt and because of this, more than 40 million Americans are not able to stimulate the economy as they are not able to buy houses or cars, or start businesses or families (Applebaum). In Wisconsin alone, student loan debt has resulted in a loss of over $200 million annually from new car purchases, while also resulting in middle class households with student loan debt overwhelmingly renting homes instead of owning them (Vanegeren).
1 Edward N. Wolff. “Recent trends in household wealth in the United States: Rising debt and the middle-class squeeze - an update to 2007,” Working Paper No. 589. Accessed January 13, 2013, http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_589.pdf
While so many people are struggling, even those on the higher end of the middle class have relatively little after paying the bills: on average, some $1,300 a month. One leaky roof and they’re in trouble.’
Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being.
Many United States' citizens are unaware of the country's current financial state. Many assume that one of the world's wealthiest countries could never be in debt. This is untrue however, and, in fact, the country with the greatest income per capita is in major debt. This study will examine possible solutions to reducing the United States' national budget deficit.
Here in the United States, there are many forms of consumer debt, which help contribute to the large sums of debt countless Americans find themselves faced with. Directly effecting many college students is student loan debt. Student loan debt is now the second largest form of consumer debt behind housing” declares the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Grisales). This is due to the fact that student loan debt grew 7.1% in 2014 to $1.2 trillion (Grisales). If this statistic alone is not worrisome this next one is sure to be. The amount of debt in the housing market that helped to spark the last recession was only $1.3 trillion (Grisales). Due to the increased amount of debt required by students to attend college many students are feeling the wrath. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “In 2014, 11.7 percent of females and 17.7 percent of males between the ages 25 and 34 were living with their parents” (Grisales). The fear of obtaining massive amounts of debt is driving the current generation of student’s to put off many future hopes and dreams. While causing them to move back home to save money. The current student loan crisis is crippling the economy and ruining the lives of American students.
Americans today live in a distinctly unequal society. Inequality is now wider than it used to be in the last century, and the division in income, wages, and wealth are broader than they are in other developed economies of the world. Wealth inequality is the imbalance of wealth or income within a society, and it is one of the most vital economic challenge the US is facing today because the distribution of wealth is more dispersed, making the inequality in wealth distribution at its highest. While the matter has been discussed for many years, the actual income disparity in the U.S. has heightened and is now verging on an extreme gap that portends to impede long-term economic growth. The huge gap between the wealthy and poor is squeezing the U.S. economy, the wealth gap threatens economic growth by diminishing social mobility and producing a less-educated workforce who are not able to compete in the global economy. unrestrained level of income inequality causes political pressures, it discourages trade, investment, and hiring. The present level of income inequality in the U.S. is shrinking GDP growth, and the world's largest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession.
According to federal agencies, student debt is crushing the middle class. According to the author, “the debt is stopping a growing proportion of families form buying homes, saving for retirement, and making purchases that will keep our economy on the road to recovery.” Different financial crisis have caused families to use their savings and home equities, which is usually how some families help pay for
Living in debt has become the norm for most U.S citizens, with nearly 80% of the population in some kind of financial dilemma. Even the national government is trillions of dollars in debt, and the main cause is spending money we don't have. If everyone would stop using credit cards, taking out huge loans, and buying houses that they really can't afford, the economy might slowly regenerate. Many people don't understand how fast debt can build up and how much interest rates can increase that debt. Yes, life would be a lot more difficult for many people if they could only use money they actually have instead of paying it back later and adding on debt, but sometimes change is needed. No matter how difficult this change may be to implement, it may
The Levy Institute: Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze: an Update to 2007 Statistics
This “middle-class nation” is struggling to support all those who live in its borders and the misconceptions about wealth are vastly overrated. Furthermore, the idea of wealth and stability is incorrect, and there is a very sharp contrast between the rich and poor in the country. As the richest twenty percent of American hold ninety percent of the total household of the total household wealth in the country, those at the bottom have managed very poorly and suffer to get through the days.
The average debt suffered by every 2013 college graduate was a staggering $35,200 (Roos p. 2 par 1). According to experts, this is the worst the economy has been in 80 years (Thompson, par 4). There are so many things working against the generation of today from an economical standpoint. The housing market crash of 2007-2008 took a toll on the economy as a whole, but in turn managed to affect millenials more so than any other generation. Throughout American history, every generation has had one of the same major goals; get rich quickly and be more prosperous than the generation before. Even today as the country has grown richer, Generations X and Y (people up to the age of about 50) have amassed less wealth than their parents had when they were the same age. If this is not harrowing enough, the average net worth of a person aged 29-37 has been lowered by 21% since 1983 while the average net worth of a person aged 56-64 has more than doubled since the same year. It is depressing to think that millenials will almost indefinitely suffer more instability in their retirements than their parents or even their grandparents (Lowrey, p. 2 par 5). Someone at the age of 30 in 2013 was worth 21% less than someone at the age of 30 in 1983, meanwhile the net worth of an average 60 year old in 2013 was more than twice as high as a 60 year old in 1983. In other words, young people are getting poorer as older people becoming richer
Thomas Jefferson once stated, "I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt" (Bussing-Burks, 7). A lot has changed since Jefferson was President two hundred years ago, but the need to be financially solvent is something that will always be necessary for the United States to maintain its leadership position in the world. The United States of America currently owes $16.7 trillion in debt primarily as a result of the government’s spending practices during the last ten years. Two wars, several fiscal collapses, the bursting of the bubble in the housing market, looming medical care costs from an