Jimmy Barrett and Shara Fryer take you through the stories that matter on the morning of 08/22/2019, including: Americans are more in debt than ever - experts say 'money disorders' may be to blame. The average American has $38,000 in debt - a quarter of which comes directly from credit card charges. “Money Disorders” is an umbrella term for recurring and self-defeating issues that people have with money. New poll shows Gen Z is pretty confused about socialism, capitalism, and more. Young America's Foundation, "the nation's premier organization for inspiring students on high school and college campuses with conservative ideas," teamed up with Echelon Insights for a poll given exclusively to Townhall to gain a better understanding of America's youth. 40 percent of college-aged students had a positive view of socialism. 35 percent of all respondents said they viewed the economic system positively. Yet, when asked to define socialism, 10 percent of these students answered it simply meant "free stuff" and 27 percent said they were "don't know/unsure." The poll also shows that very few friends discuss free market concepts with their peers. However, when they do discuss and learn more about issues like economic inequality, the conversation happens on websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Sixty percent of respondents answered, "social media" when asked, "Where have you recently seen, read, or heard about economic inequality in the United States?" Nearly two weeks after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency raided five food processing plants in Mississippi for their hiring of hundreds of illegal aliens, no employers have yet been charged, federal records reveal.
Despite federal affidavits alleging widespread exploitation and fraud at the five food processing plants, charges against the employers who are accused of “willfully” hiring the illegal workers have yet to be brought by federal prosecutors, the Clarion Ledger reported. To date, only 40 of the 680 illegal aliens have had charges brought against them since the ICE raid. Wall Street's next make or break moment for stocks may come from 2,000 miles away. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell will deliver opening remarks at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Thursday. If Powell doesn't address the stock market's wild swings and recent bearish bond yield inversion, market researcher James Bianco warns the reaction will be violent. Despite Friday's strong rally, the major indexes still saw their third negative week in a row. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are now at least 5% below their all-time highs.
Last week's stock market turmoil was in response to the 10-year Treasury yield breaking below the 2-year rate for the first time since 2007. It's often seen as a harbinger of a recession.