Posted on 04/17/2011 11:24:02 PM PDT by blam
35 Statistics That Show The Average American Family Has Been Broke Down, Tore Down, Beat Down, Busted And Disgusted By This Economy
April 17, 2011
The economic statistics that you are about to read are incredibly shocking, but they are also very, very real. Tonight there are going to be millions of men and women all across America that cannot sleep because they are consumed with anxiety about their financial problems.
Even as you read this, there are a lot of parents out there that are trying to figure out how to explain to their children why their homes are being taken away. There are also hordes of very hard working Americans that are incredibly frustrated because they have sent out thousands of resumes and yet they can't seem to get a job interview. Have you ever been at a point where you couldn't pay the mortgage or put food on the table for your family? It can be an absolutely soul-crushing experience. In fact, there are some cities in the U.S. that have been so utterly devastated by this economy that it seems as though virtually everyone has had the hope sucked right out of them.
The mainstream media is trying to convince all of us that we are in an economic recovery, but that is a lie. The truth is that we are in the middle of a long-term economic decline and the greatest economy in the history of the world is dying right in front of our eyes.
The average American family is under more economic stress right now than at any other time since the Great Depression. Just check out the following statistics....
#1 Only 45.4% of Americans had a job during 2010. The last time the employment level was that low was back in 1983.
#2 Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in U.S. history.
#3 In the United States, one-fourth of all the income is brought in by 1 percent of the people.
#4 Rising prices are putting an incredible amount of stress on American family budgets. According to John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics, if the U.S. government measured inflation the way that it did before 1980 the inflation rate would be much different. For example, Williams says that inflation rose at a 9.6 annual rate during the month of February using the old measurement.
#5 In a recent survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting, 74 percent of Americans said that they planned to slow down their spending in coming months due to rising prices.
#6 The price of U.S. crude oil has risen $20 a barrel over the last two months, and the average price of a gallon of gasoline in America is now about $3.79. At this point, the average price of gasoline is about one dollar higher than it was one year ago. Since the average American household goes through about 750 gallons of gas a year, that means that in 2011 American families will spend somewhere around $750 more for gas. So just what is the average American family supposed to do if a gallon of gasoline soon costs 4 or even 5 dollars a gallon?
#7 The average American now spends approximately 23 percent of his or her income on food and gas.
#8 Incredibly, 60 percent of all the students attending California public schools now qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.
#9 The number of people on food stamps in the state of North Carolina has almost doubled over the past four years.
#10 Thanks to the globalization of the economy, U.S. workers now must directly compete for jobs with workers in places such as Indonesia. In Indonesia, full-time workers make as little as two dollars a day. So how are American workers supposed to compete with that?
#11 U.S. home values have fallen an astounding 6.3 trillion dollars since the peak of the real estate market in 2005.
#12 Back in 2005 at the peak of the housing bubble, the median property tax on a home in the United States was $1614. Today, even though home values have sunk like a rock, that figure has risen to $1917.
#13 According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 8 million Americans are at least one month behind on their mortgage payments at this point.
#14 31 percent of the homeowners that responded to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that they are "underwater" on their mortgages.
#15 Two years ago, the average U.S. homeowner that was being foreclosed upon had not made a mortgage payment in 11 months. Today, the average U.S. homeowner that is being foreclosed upon has not made a mortgage payment in 17 months.
#16 The number of homes that were actually repossessed reached the 1 million mark for the first time ever during 2010.
#17 According to a recent census report, 13% of all the homes in the United States are sitting empty.
#18 According to the U.S. Census, the number of children living in poverty has gone up by about 2 million in just the past 2 years.
#19 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average length of unemployment in the U.S. is now an all-time record 39 weeks.
#20 There are 10% fewer "middle class jobs" in the United States today than there were a decade ago.
#21 The United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
#22 Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.
#23 Total U.S. credit card debt is more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#24 Americans now owe more than $904 billion on student loans, which is a new all-time record high.
#25 Average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136% of average household income. In China, average household debt is only 17% of average household income.
#26 A staggering 25 percent of all American adults now have a credit score below 599.
#27 1.5 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2010. That represented the fourth yearly increase in bankruptcy filings in a row.
#28 Over the last decade, the number of Americans without health insurance has risen from about 38 million to about 52 million.
#29 One study found that approximately 41 percent of working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
#30 According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of all personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.
#31 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.
#32 According to the Federal Reserve, between 2007 and 2009 median household net worth in the United States fell by 23 percent.
#33 The Federal Reserve also says that median household debt in the United States has risen to $75,600.
#34 According to the Economic Policy Institute, almost 25 percent of all U.S. households now have zero net worth or negative net worth. Back in 2007, that number was just 18.6 percent.
#35 During this most recent economic downturn, employee compensation in the United States has been the lowest that it has been relative to gross domestic product in over 50 years.
BM
There is no Republican hero, Democratic goat dichotomy here. Both sides are just as corrupt, just as worthless, and just as unable and unwilling to do what is really required to right the ship of state. Anyone who believes that the ruling elite gives a damn about the regular Joe Schmoes out there is just fooling himself.
“We are living like the Waltons—with TV sets rather than radio.”
I frequently travel in third world countries on business. In these countries the middle class lifestyle is having electricity and running water plus a television in one’s home. The floor of the home may be dirt and the walls of the home may be tin or plywood. The television distinguishes the middle class from the poor.
These nations are also characterized by a small wealthy elite ruling over the masses who at best are able to save up to purchase the television. This is the vision of equality Obama, Shumer, Pelosi, Reid, and George Soros have for America. You are there, it will be here for the rest of us soon.
This can't be blamed solely on the economic mess created by 0bama. Far too many people have been using credit, and especially credit cards, the wrong way for quite some time now.
“Anyone who believes that the ruling elite gives a damn about the regular Joe Schmoes out there is just fooling himself.”
The members of the ruling elite have either take steps to escape when the collapse comes or are hoping the day of reckoning will come after they have passed on. Most are fiddling now while Rome burns believing they are helpless to avoid the cold desolation when the fire ebbs and the embers cool.
We have two kinds of leaders today — those who are knowingly accelerating the decline (Obama, Soros, Pelosi, Reid, Shumer, Cass Sunstein) and the bystanders who enable the destruction by failing to act (Boehner, McConnell, McCain, Graham and the rest of the GOP establishment).
Economy is in the toilet, three wars at the same time, lost trust world wide, more debt than the rest of the world.
Soooooo,
Let’s re-elect the “magic negro”???
My worst tax return ever. Even my most liberal friends are pissed about their taxes this year. My message to them: it will only get worse.
“No more going out to eat, no more movies, no more booze, just work, sleep and pay bills.”
I feel for you; that is really a shame. I hope things turn around for you and millions of others; I’m still working and in my home, but the work is more & more hours without increased pay. We’ve also given up a lot of those things, and I can’t believe how empty the parking lots are at restaurants where we used to wait 1/2 hour just to be seated. I know a lot of those places have cut staff back quite a bit, which then exacerbates the problem further.
What happened to all the people who work in the sectors where we used to spend money?
Again, best of luck in turning things around.
bookmark
I thought things were crappy with my family situation at the moment, but based on those stats, I am just an average American.
Hope and Change! Fundamentally Transformed!
FUBO
Obama&Co. own D.C. what did you expect?.
Bfl.
I despise people who put their feet on someone elses furniture.
WE ARE NOT DOOMED!!!!! This is nothing more than carter II....we went through this in the late ‘70’s, and we survived.....as the outlaw josie wales said, “ When it gets bad, and it looks like you are not gonna make it, then ya gotta get mean. I mean plum mad dog mean. Cuz if ya don’t, then ya don’t live, and ya don’t win”......thin the herd, get the hell rid of the so called republicans and throw the hippies out with the bathwater...the first step is get rid of the hippies...
“Even my most liberal friends are pissed about their taxes..”
Just wondering... do they blame Bush or do they understand that their “messiah” is a fraud?
They won’t dare say who they blame. They know it isn’t Bush!
“They know it isn’t Bush...”
Perhaps, just perhaps, some of the liberals are waking up and smelling the coffee.
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