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25 Stats That Prove That The American Dream Is Being Systematically Destroyed
INVESTMENT WATCH BLOG ^ | Michael Snyder

Posted on 10/24/2013 3:08:27 PM PDT by alexmark

The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America

The 25 statistics that you are about to read are solid proof that the middle class in America is being systematically wiped out. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world. It seemed like almost everyone owned a home, had a couple of nice vehicles and could provide a very comfortable lifestyle for their families. Sadly, that has all changed. In America today, prices are rising at a very brisk pace but incomes are not. There aren’t nearly enough jobs for everyone anymore, and most of the jobs that are being “created” are jobs that pay very little. The largest employer in America is Wal-Mart, and the second largest employer is actually a temp agency (Kelly Services). In a desperate attempt to make ends meet, millions of American families endlessly pile up more debt, and millions of other American families find themselves forced to turn to the government for help. At this point, more than 49 percent of all Americans receive benefits from the federal government each month. The percentage of Americans that cannot financially take care of themselves is rising every single year, and our independence is being whittled away as we become increasingly dependent on the government. Unfortunately, our politicians continue to stand aside and do nothing as our jobs are shipped overseas, inflation steals our purchasing power and the middle class continues to shrink. The following are 25 stats that prove that the American Dream is being systematically destroyed…

1. According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program.

2. The U.S. government has spent an astounding 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs over the past five years.

3. An increasing number of employers are encouraging their low wage employees to supplement their wages by going on government welfare programs. For example, McDonald’s workers that need help making ends meet are being instructed to go on food stamps…

McDonald’s workers who are unable to pay their bills or stay above the poverty line should find help from food pantries or enlist in government benefit programs instead of seeking higher wages, according to a company resource line meant to help employees.

Nancy Salgado has worked for the fast-food corporation for over 10 years yet still earns $8.25 an hour, barely more than the $7.25 federal minimum wage. With help from the worker’s rights group Low Pay Is Not Ok, she phoned the company’s employee hotline, known as McResource, attempting to find some answers on how to improve her situation.

A recording of the call was made available to CNN, which reported that Salgado asked the helpline operator multiple questions regarding how McDonalds would help her pay her heating bill, buy groceries, and whether she could afford to help pay for her sister’s medical treatment.

Despite never asking how much money Salgado earned per hour or asking how many hours a week she worked, the McDonalds representative said she “definitely should be able to qualify for both food stamps and heating assistance.”

4. Total consumer credit has risen by a whopping 22 percent over the past three years.

5. Student loans are up by an astounding 61 percent over the past three years.

6. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.

7. Right now the middle class is taking home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before.

8. Ordinary Americans are being priced out of the housing market. Today,nearly half of all home purchases are all-cash deals.

9. The homeownership rate in the United States is now at the lowest level it has been in nearly 18 years.

10. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is at an all-time record high.

11. U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

12. Every single day, thousands of Americans are receiving letters in the mail informing them that their old health insurance policies have been canceled. According to a recent Kaiser Health News article, some companies have already sent out hundreds of thousands of cancellation notices…

Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.

13. Those that are losing their current health insurance policies will have to replace them with new policies that are often much more expensive. According to health policy expert Bob Laszewski, 16 million people could ultimately have their health insurance policies canceled because of Obamacare…

The U.S. individual health insurance market currently totals about 19 million people. Because the Obama administration’s regulations on grandfathering existing plans were so stringent about 85% of those, 16 million, are not grandfathered and must comply with Obamacare at their next renewal. The rules are very complex. For example, if you had an individual plan in March of 2010 when the law was passed and you only increased the deductible from $1,000 to $1,500 in the years since, your plan has lost its grandfather status and it will no longer be available to you when it would have renewed in 2014.

These 16 million people are now receiving letters from their carriers saying they are losing their current coverage and must re-enroll in order to avoid a break in coverage and comply with the new health law’s benefit mandates––the vast majority by January 1. Most of these will be seeing some pretty big rate increases.

14. Back in 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only 54.9 percent of all Americans are covered by employment-based health insurance.

15. More Americans than ever find themselves forced to turn to the government for help with health care. At this point, 82.4 million Americans live in a home where at least one person is enrolled in the Medicaid program.

16. The U.S. labor force participation rate is at a 35 year low.

17. Only 47 percent of all adults in America have a full-time job at this point.

18. It is hard to believe, but in America today one out of every ten jobs is now filled by a temp agency.

19. Approximately one out of every four part-time workers in America is living below the poverty line.

20. After accounting for inflation, right now 40 percent of all U.S. workers are making less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968.

21. Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.

22. At this point, almost half of all public school students in America come from low income homes.

23. The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today.

24. Right now, one out of every five households in the United States is on food stamps.

25. An increasing number of Americans do not even believe that they have a pleasant retirement to look forward to. One recent survey found that the percentage of middle class Americans that “plan to work until they die” is now higher than ever.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics
KEYWORDS: americandream; government; jobs; middleclass

1 posted on 10/24/2013 3:08:28 PM PDT by alexmark
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To: alexmark

all democrats trust government

all democrats love government

Government/socialism can never work

leave us alone government

government = unaccountability = socialism = tyranny = poverty = slavery

Evidence of government “accomplishments” : public housing projects, public schools, USSr, North Korea, global warming hoax research etc.

capitalism = freedom = private property = prosperity = opportunity (SOUTh Korea, Sam Sung, toyota, Apple , walmart, sub way , fed ex etc.


2 posted on 10/24/2013 3:11:44 PM PDT by Democrat_media (IRS rigged election for Obama and democrats by shutting down tea party)
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To: alexmark

More proof that Progressive = Regressive/Destructive.


3 posted on 10/24/2013 3:24:28 PM PDT by laplata (Liberals don't get it .... their minds are diseased.)
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To: alexmark
Not to detract from the overall article....."homeownership" is al the lowest in 18 years because way back then Bubba Clinton decided that 51% of all Fannie and Freddie backed mortgages were "low income" buyers.

Thus all the various sub-prime schemes to extend credit to un-creditworthy buyers. So, suddenly people that ordinarily couldn't afford to buy a home had Uncle Sugar footing the bill.....then demand increased, supply decreased, and prices went into the stratosphere. Builders/developers rushed at breakneck speeds to meet the demand.....until one day it stopped.

Now, you have newly built houses priced less than existing homes....oh yeah, and the other 24 items on the list.

But don't worry whenever GWB and (yes even) Juan McCain tried to say anything about stopping these practices, they were called racists and 16 democrats testified in CONgress that (Raines?) was practically a saint.

4 posted on 10/24/2013 3:27:55 PM PDT by Repeat Offender (What good are conservative principles if we don't stand by them?)
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To: Democrat_media

“all democrats trust government

all democrats love government”

The liberal Democrats I know(and I am surrounded by them in Maryland) neither trust government nor love government. They see government as the way to take money from the saps who work hard and support their families. They want government to be corrupt and dishonest as long as they get something for nothing.


5 posted on 10/24/2013 3:29:40 PM PDT by detective
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To: FReepers

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

6 posted on 10/24/2013 3:32:27 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule the all)
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To: alexmark
This is the beginning of a communists Nation. We are rapidly getting there and I can seen nothing, nothing, nothing that can stop it. No opposition worth the damn and that included the entire GOP. The Tea Party knows what is wrong but they have no army, just talking points and the hope that they can sway votes back to conservatives. America somewhat resembles Nazi Germany's start without riots. King Obama is pushing for these riots to start.
7 posted on 10/24/2013 3:36:37 PM PDT by Logical me
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To: alexmark

Wiping Out America’s Middle Class is The Dream of Obama’s Father.


8 posted on 10/24/2013 3:36:37 PM PDT by CelesteChristi
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To: alexmark; All

YOU CAN’T HAVE TYRANY UNTIL YOU DESTROY THE MIDDLE CLASS.

Don’t look now .. but the task is well underway.


9 posted on 10/24/2013 3:38:28 PM PDT by CyberAnt (MY AMERICA: "... I'm terrified it's slipping away.")
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To: CelesteChristi
"Wiping Out America’s Middle Class is The Dream of Obama’s Father."

Leftists always have despised the middle class, the "petty bourgeoisie," because leftists think that the average person does not deserve a comfortable lifestyle. Leftists extol the lower class, who they want to control, and emulate the rich, who they envy. Obamacare is a classic example: The rich can afford it, the poor benefit from it, and the middle class gets kicked in the nuts to pay for it.
10 posted on 10/24/2013 3:50:48 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: alexmark

Just the way Obama likes it. He’s “lovin it”.


11 posted on 10/24/2013 4:29:16 PM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: alexmark

And there are some who think this is just doom and gloom BS? It’s real folks and it won’t get any better. And the Elite in Washington don’t give a crap about any of us. Their world is fine while they scheme to tighten the screws and lock the doors around us for the inevitable moment when the SHTF.


12 posted on 10/24/2013 7:01:12 PM PDT by alexmark
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To: alexmark

Obama ran against the American Dream

anyone remember?

Michele Obama attacked “middleclassism”, the idea that hard work and making more money was a goal, that was their word for American Dream. She advised them to take jobs at non-profits, become community agitators instead.


13 posted on 10/24/2013 7:07:13 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: alexmark

Claiming that all cash real estate transactions are a hallmark of unaffordability is not logical. Cashing out equity in a larger home and downsizing, picking up a servicable foreclosure on the cheap for a rental or to renovate and resell, it’s a sign of affordability. Habitable small two bedroom, one bath homes can be had in some instances here for less than $20K, in rural areas. Not everybody is broke and struggling, and some of those who aren’t are taking advantage, to lower their overhead or to provide themselves with another income stream.


14 posted on 10/24/2013 7:21:00 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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