30 Reasons Why People Should Be Getting Really Nervous About The State Of The U.S. Economy

The mainstream media is full of happy economic news these days. The S&P 500 has shot up 16 percent since the beginning of July. Ford Motor Company just reported a profit that jumped nearly 70 percent in the third quarter. It was Ford's best third quarter performance ever and it was the 6th quarterly profit in a row for the company. Other major firms have announced earnings that have far exceeded expectations in recent weeks. Hooray! The pundits are proclaiming that the economic collapse is over and that the U.S. economy has won. It is almost enough to make one tear into a stirring rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again". But perhaps we should take a moment and get a hold of ourselves first. After all, the underlying economic fundamentals have not changed. The same long-term trends that were ripping the U.S. financial system apart a month or two ago are still continuing to do so. Millions upon millions of American families are still deeply suffering. So exactly what in the world is going on here? Well, this is what is known as a "sucker's rally". Those on the inside know better than to throw money at this market. In fact, corporate insiders are now selling off stock so fast you would think it is going out of style. Meanwhile, hordes of innocent rubes are jumping back into the stock market thinking that it is the perfect time to get in.

The truth is that these "good times" are only temporary. Don't get used to them. The following are 30 reasons why people should be getting really, really nervous about the state of the U.S. economy....

#1 Corporate insiders are selling off stock at a blinding pace and are looking for the exits. Alan Newman, the editor of the Crosscurrents newsletter, examined a number of the top performing stocks in the market including Google, Apple and Target and found that the ratio of corporate insider stock sold to corporate insider stock purchased over the last six months for those companies was 3,177 to 1. At the group of firms that Newman looked at, corporate insiders had purchased 38,000 shares of stock over the last six months and yet had sold off over 120 million shares.

#2 Analysts at both Bank of America and Goldman Sachs both believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve is going to initiate a new round of quantitative easing in November. It does not take a genius to figure out that this is very likely to push up inflation and have very serious consequences for the U.S. dollar.

#3 Economists at Goldman Sachs are projecting that the Fed will have to purchase at least $4 trillion in assets during this next round of quantitative easing to get the U.S. economy moving in a positive direction once again.

#4 In the United States today, there are 5,057 janitors with Ph.D.’s, other doctorates, or professional degrees.

#5 Investors have very little faith in the U.S. dollar (and in paper currencies in general) at this point. Precious metals are soaring to obscene heights. The price of gold has increased more than 20 percent in 2010. The price of silver has skyrocketed about 40 percent this year. These are not signs that indicate that the U.S. financial system is stable.

#6 Robin Griffiths, a technical strategist at Cazenove Capital, told CNBC on Monday that the U.S. dollar is in danger of becoming "toxic waste".

#8 U.S. lending institutions repossessed an all-time record total of 102,134 homes in the month of September. That was the first time that home repossessions in the U.S. had ever exceeded the 100,000 mark during a single month.

#9 According to a Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price report that was released on Tuesday, single family home prices in the United States declined for a second straight month in August.

#11 During the months of August and September, the state of Nevada had an unemployment rate of 14.4 percent, which was the highest in the history of the state. Not that the rest of the country is doing any better. The state of California has become a complete and total economic disaster zone, and the city of Detroit, Michigan is literally dying.

#12 The "official" unemployment rate in the United States has been at nine and a half percent or above for 14 consecutive months.

#13 The number of people unemployed in the state of California is approximately equivalent to the populations of Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont combined.

#14 According to the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, there are approximately 3 million more vacant housing units than usual in the United States.

#15 China has reduced the export quota on rare earth elements for the second half of 2010 by 72%, thus strengthening their position in the world economy even more. Rare earth elements are absolutely crucial to the manufacture of a vast array of high technology products, and now even more of them will have to be made in China.

#16 In 1985, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 6 million dollars for the entire year. In the month of August alone, the U.S. trade deficit with China was over 28 billion dollars.

#17 Wheat, corn and other staples are absolutely soaring in price on world markets. These higher food prices are going to hit U.S. consumers hard.

#18 In 2007, 3 U.S. banks failed. In 2008, 25 U.S. banks failed. In 2009, 140 U.S. banks failed. Last Friday, it was announced that 139 U.S. banks have failed so far this year and it is not even the end of October yet.

#20 Back in 1980, the United States imported approximately 37 percent of the oil that we use. Now we import nearly 60 percent of the oil that we use.

#21 According to an analysis by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, the health care reform legislation that Congress didn't read but passed into law anyway will generate $409.2 billion in additional taxes on the American people by the year 2019.

#22 Median household income in the U.S. declined from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 in 2009. That was the second yearly decline in a row.

#23 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in a government anti-poverty program, and yet the number of Americans signing up for food stamps and other social programs just continues to set new all-time records month after month after month.

#24 The number of Americans working part-time jobs "for economic reasons" is now the highest it has been in at least five decades.

#25 American 15-year-olds do not even rank in the top half of all advanced nations when it comes to math or science literacy.

#26 According to a recent poll conducted by CNBC, 92 percent of Americans believe that the performance of the U.S. economy is either "fair" or "poor".

#27 After analyzing Congressional Budget Office data, Boston University economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff came to the conclusion that the U.S. government is now facing a "fiscal gap" of $202 trillion dollars.

#28 A trillion $10 bills, if they were taped end to end, would wrap around the earth more than 380 times. That amount of money would still not be enough to pay off the U.S. national debt.

#30 At our current pace, the Congressional Budget Office is projecting that U.S. government public debt will hit 716 percent of GDP by the year 2080.

The U.S. economy is in the midst of a long-term decline. There are always going to be moments when it seems like things are getting a bit better, but then reality will kick in and the depressing slide will continue.

If you really want to understand what is happening to the U.S. economy, do not become fixated on the short-term numbers. Instead, always keep an eye on the long-term trends.

The U.S. economy is dying. We are getting whipped by the rest of the world and we are drowning in a sea of debt. A little rally in the stock market is not going to do a thing to fix our very deep fundamental economic problems.

I am will to bet you a lot of those janitors with PhDs are from the humanities, in particular ethic studies, film studies,…basket weaving courses… or non-economics social sciences, eg., sociology, anthropology of never heard of countries….

I can’t even count the number of useless courses our colleges are teaching nowadays and charging exorbitant tuition fees for.

Just look at a sample of what they’re teaching in our top colleges in the USA...

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/02/25/the-15-strangest-college-courses-in-america/

College is viewed by many people these days as a diploma factory. You show up go to certain classes in a certain order, and eventually receive a diploma. There’s not a lot of love for learning for learning’s sake anymore. But that hasn’t stopped many colleges and online colleges from offering plenty of quirky unique classes that go over non standard educational topics. A lot of the odd courses we found sound like lots of fun, but with tuition costs skyrocketing is it really worth it to spend thousands of dollars on fun diversions? Read on and decide.

15. Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular ‘Logic’ on TV Judge Shows

University of California, Berkeley.

Not quite what one would expect, the professor of this course emphasizes repeatedly in the course listing that this class is “NOT a course about law or “legal reasoning.” It is instead an exploration of logical fallacies that are often presented by defendants and plaintiffs on court television shows like Judge Judy and The People’s Court.

Seems right up the alley of most college students, as they are squarely in the demographic of afternoon television programming (which also targets the elderly and unemployed).

14. Underwater Basket Weaving

University of California, San Diego

The course that is used interchangeably with “waste of time college class”, but surprisingly it actually exists, both at UC San Diego and at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. According to Wikipedia anyway. Underwater basket weaving involves making wicker baskets by dipping reeds or stalks of plants into water, and letting them soak. Full body immersion is optional I suppose.

13. Learning From YouTube

Pitzer College.

This college course literally involves watching YouTube videos to study the impact on culture that the video sharing site has had. Students also upload their own videos to the class YouTube channel. The teacher started the course after being “underwhelmed by the quality of the video content on the site”. You can actually see some of the classes if you’re so inclined, here’s 10 minutes from their November 16, 2007 meeting.

12. Philosophy and Star Trek

Georgetown University

Philosophy classes often use pop culture to start discussion, there are even plenty of books out there with similar themes as this college class (here’s Seinfeld and Philosophy for instance), but still, when it comes down to it, this course and the philosophical under trappings are just being used as an excuse to talk a little Star Trek. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

11. The Art of Walking

Centre College

This might sound like the epitome of college fluff, but it’s actually a class dealing with Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Judgment”. The course offers a mixture of lectures and walks around the Danville, Kentucky area including strolls through “nature preserves, battlefields, cemeteries, the nearby Shaker Village, campuses and farms”. Students are also given freelance walking assignments in addition to more traditional college work like reading and term papers.

10. Daytime Serials: Family and Social Roles

University of Wisconsin

While I’m sure most guys would rather gouge out their own eyes than take a course on soap operas, this is probably right up many young women’s alley. This is part of UW’s Women’s Studies program, which I think is kind of unfortunate given the view some people have of that major already. Talk about giving them more ammunition. The course isn’t really about soap operas per se, it’s actually about the role they play in family and work lives of the people who watch them.

9. Joy of Garbage

Santa Clara University

The Joy of Garbage is a Santa Clara University course that actually deals with real science through the lens of garbage. Students study decomposition, what makes soil rot, the chemicals that give garbage an unpleasant odor, and they also learn about sustainability when it comes to the things we throw away. Classes don’t just study household garbage either, there’s also a section on nuclear waste. And topping things off there are even field trips, with students visiting local sanitation plants and landfills.

8. The Science of Superheroes

University of California at Irvine

Students at UC Irvine can learn about physics by using familiar superhero icons such as Spider-Man, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. The professor teaches the physics of flying and fluid dynamics using Superman as his example, and the students also learn about super strong spider silk as used by Spider-Man. The professor explains it saying “It gives me a chance to talk about real science but in a context that is very familiar to the students”.

7. Zombies in Popular Media

Columbia College, Chicago

Here’s one I’d have to consider signing up for, the history of zombies in popular media. Lest you think it’s just about zombie movies, it should be emphasized that the course also covers the history of voodoo in Hait, and video games like Resident Evil as well as zombies in cinema. >>> Course Listing

6. The Science of Harry Potter

Frostburg State University

Not only does Frostburg State offer a course on the science of Harry Potter – it’s an honors course. The class discusses topics such as whether or not Fluffy the three headed dog could be explained by genetic engineering or if antigravity research could actually produce a flying broomstick. The course is modeled after (and uses as a textbook) the book “The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works,” by Roger Highfield. The class is geared towards non-science majors and, probably not surprisingly, there is no lab work.

5. Cyberporn and Society

State University of New York at Buffalo

Students taking this course watch porn. At school. There are actually quite a few porn courses in the US, as outlined in this Time article, including a class at Northwestern that deals with obscenity where the professor screens the Italian movie Saló, a film that has a great argument for being the sickest movie ever made. Seeing it in a college course would be extremely bizarre.

4. Simpsons and Philosophy

University of California-Berkeley

This one is probably predictable as you’ve got a twenty year old show with plenty of rich fairly intellectual material and a main character with the name of “Homer”. UC-Berkeley claims this isn’t at all a dumbed down class, but a fairly rigorous philosophical course. The text of the class is the book “The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh of Homer,” edited by William Irwin and features weighty questions such as “Can Nietzsche’s rejection of traditional morality justify Bart’s bad behavior?”.

3. Far Side Entomology

Oregon State

The comic strip “The Far Side” featured a rich universe filled with interesting animals and bugs. Far Side Entomology professor Michael Burgett uses the comic strip as a teaching tool to explore interactions between humans and insects. About the course, Burgett says “The anthropomorphism in the cartoons makes an immediate connection between insects and people … Students take those connections farther, connecting to ideas and relationships they wouldn’t have imagined in a straight systematics course.”

2. Myth and Science Fiction: Star Wars, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings

Centre College

Tiny Centre College makes their second appearance on our list, this time with a class focusing on contemporary epics. Students not only study Stars Wars, The Matrix, and The Lord Of The Rings, they also discuss television shows like Star Trek, Stargate, Dr. Who, The X-Files, and Babylon
5. The course weds these modern day tales to classical myths, showing that many of the narrative devices and patterns employed then are still used in today’s epics.

1. The Strategy of StarCraft

University of California, Berkley

I’m sure that in South Korea one could major in StarCraft, but it’s a bit strange seeing a college course about the game here in the US. The class uses StarCraft to teach the art of war, discussing strategy and tactics in the famous game. This is actually a student led program in Berkeley’s alternative education program, but we give it major props for creativity.

There should be a buyer beware warning on all those non-quantitative majors that make people into sophisticated malcontent complainers!

Good comment on there...

Right now, about 75-80% of South Korean high school students enter a university. The 20% of Korean youth who do not attend university are mainly poor rural youth. Given the Koreans’ diligence, it is not surprising that the vast majority of university attendees also graduate, many with majors in scientific and engineering disciplines (“soft” degrees like marketing are not as popular here). This is a dedicated country.

But you know what? They can’t find jobs. It was reported in the Korean media a few weeks ago that according to the latest government figures, only half of recent Korean university graduates have found full-time work. Even the country’s best university, Seoul National, only has a 70% placement rate.

Now, Korea is experiencing an economic downturn, but not as bad as America’s. This employment issue has more to do with levels of training and subsequent levels of expectation. When a Korean student emerges from 20 years of intense study with a university degree, he or she reasonably expects a “good” job — which is to say, a well-paying professional or managerial job with good forward prospects. But here’s the problem. There does not exist, nor will there ever exist, a society in which 80% of the available jobs are professional, managerial, comfortable, and well-paid. No way. Korea has a number of other jobs, but some are low-paid service work, and many others — in factories, farming, fishing — are scorned as 3-D jobs (difficult, dirty, and dangerous). Educated Koreans don’t want them.

So the country is importing labor in droves — from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, even Uzbekistan. In the countryside, rural Korean men are having such a difficult time finding prospective wives to share their agricultural lifestyle that fully 40% of rural marriages are to poor women from those other Asian countries, who are brought in by match-makers and marriage brokers.
Since young Koreans almost invariably live at home until marriage, whether they are working or not, it is routine for the young unemployed to do so. Their parents, who have a lot invested in their children’s successful outcomes, discourage them from taking low-level, part-time, or contract work, even just to get a start in life. As is usually the case, the only way they can see of improving their lot is not by lowering their expectations, but by improving their qualifications: by scoring well on English tests, getting additional certificates, and so on. But everyone else is doing this, too, so the competitive field remains the same. What will happen to these youths? The more years they don’t work, the less chance there is that they ever will. They become tainted, and possibly a permanently disenfranchised minority.

This country, in short, has, with the best of intentions, educated itself into a corner.

Here are courses I am sure Obama himself would be proud of from the exclusive SWARTHMORE COLLEGE’s PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES.

http://www.swarthmore.edu/cc_peaceconflict.xml

PEAC 042. Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism

Nonviolently confronting those who seek to prevail through intimidation and terror may seem impossible until we analyze carefully the variety of interests underlying the choice of terrorist strategies and draw upon the rich history of nonviolent counter-terrorist tactics in many settings, including within the United States (such as the experience of African Americans). In this course, we will deconstruct “terrorism,” study the dynamics of cultural marginalization, and build on promising nonviolent cases to construct hypotheses and even venture into policy alternatives.

Here’s one from AMHERST COLLEGE’s POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

http://www.fivecolleges.edu/sites/courses/coursedetail.php?departmentAbbr=POSC&courseYear=2007&courseNumber=81+1&semester=2&campusID=4&title=Taking+Marx+Seriously

Course Number POSC 81 1

Course Title Taking Marx Seriously

Department Political Science

Campus Amherst College

Course Description Was offered in Spring 2007 (PT) Should Marx be given yet another chance? Is there anything left to gain by returning to texts whose earnest exegesis has occupied countless interpreters, both friendly and hostile, for generations? Has Marx’s credibility survived the global debacle of those regimes and movements which drew inspiration from his work, however poorly they understood it? Or, conversely, have we entered a new era in which post-Marxism has joined a host of other “post-” phenomena? This seminar will deal with these and related questions in the context of a close and critical reading of Marx’s texts. The main themes we will discuss include Marx’s conception of capitalist modernity, material and intellectual production, power, class conflicts and social consciousness, and his critique of alienation, bourgeois freedom and representative democracy. We will also examine Marx’s theories of historical progress, capitalist exploitation, globalization and human emancipation. This course fulfills the requirement for an advanced seminar in Political Science. Limited to 15 students. Requisite: One of Political Science 28, 29, 49, 65, 68 or an equivalent. Second semester. Professor Machala.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.