50 SHOCKING facts about the US Economic Situation

[sgreger1]

1. In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined
2. It is being projected that the U.S. government will have a budget deficit of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars in 2010 (that is JUST for 2010, and does not include prior years)
3. If you went out and spent one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend a trillion dollars
4. In fact, if you spent one million dollars every single day since the birth of Christ, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now
5. Total U.S. government debt is now up to 90 percent of gross domestic product
6. Total credit market debt in the United States, including government, corporate and personal debt, has reached 360 percent of GDP
7. U.S. corporate income tax receipts were down 55% (to $138 billion) for the year ending September 30th, 2009
8. There are now 8 counties in the state of California that have unemployment rates of over 20 percent
9. In the area around Sacramento, California there is one closed business for every six that are still open
10. In February, there were 5.5 unemployed Americans for every job opening
11. According to a Pew Research Center study, approximately 37% of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or underemployed at some point during the recession
12. More than 40% of those employed in the United States are now working in low-wage service jobs
13. According to one new survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year
14. Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008. Not only that, more Americans filed for bankruptcy in March 2010 than during any month since U.S. bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005
15. Mortgage purchase applications in the United States are down nearly 40 percent from a month ago to their lowest level since April of 1997
16. RealtyTrac has announced that foreclosure filings in the U.S. established an all time record for the second consecutive year in 2009
17. According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March 2010, an increase of nearly 19 percent from February, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005
18. According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March 2010, an increase of nearly 19 percent from February, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005
19. In California's Central Valley, 1 out of every 16 homes is in some phase of foreclosure
20. The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that more than 10 percent of all U.S. homeowners with a mortgage had missed at least one payment during the January to March time period. That was a record high and up from 9.1 percent a year ago
21. U.S. banks repossessed nearly 258,000 homes nationwide in the first quarter of 2010, a 35 percent jump from the first quarter of 2009
22. For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together
23. More than 24% of all homes with mortgages in the United States were underwater as of the end of 2009
24. U.S. commercial property values are down approximately 40 percent since 2007 and currently 18 percent of all office space in the United States is sitting vacant
25. Defaults on apartment building mortgages held by U.S. banks climbed to a record 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2010. That was almost twice the level of a year earlier

[sgreger1]

1. In 2009, U.S. banks posted their sharpest decline in private lending since 1942
2. New York state has delayed paying bills totalling $2.5 billion as a short-term way of staying solvent but officials are warning that its cash crunch could soon get even worse
3. To make up for a projected 2010 budget shortfall of $280 million, Detroit issued $250 million of 20-year municipal notes in March. The bond issuance followed on the heels of a warning from Detroit officials that if its financial state didn't improve, it could be forced to declare bankruptcy
4. The National League of Cities says that municipal governments will probably come up between $56 billion and $83 billion short between now and 2012
5. Half a dozen cash-poor U.S. states have announced that they are delaying their tax refund checks
6. Two university professors recently calculated that the combined unfunded pension liability for all 50 U.S. states is 3.2 trillion dollars
7. According to EconomicPolicyJournal.com, 32 U.S. states have already run out of funds to make unemployment benefit payments and so the federal government has been supplying these states with funds so that they can make their payments to the unemployed
8. This past recession has erased 8 million private sector jobs in the United States
9. Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of 2010
10. U.S. government-provided benefits (including Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs) rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010
11. 39.68 million Americans are now on food stamps, which represents a new all-time record. But things look like they are going to get even worse. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting that enrollment in the food stamp program will exceed 43 million Americans in 2011
12. Phoenix, Arizona features an astounding annual car theft rate of 57,000 vehicles and has become the new "Car Theft Capital of the World"
13. U.S. law enforcement authorities claim that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs inside the country. These 1 million gang members are responsible for up to 80% of the crimes committed in the United States each year
14. The U.S. health care system was already facing a shortage of approximately 150,000 doctors in the next decade or so, but thanks to the health care "reform" bill passed by Congress, that number could swell by several hundred thousand more
15. According to an analysis by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation the health care "reform" bill will generate $409.2 billion in additional taxes on the American people by 2019
16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average just experienced the worst May it has seen since 1940
17. The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties
18. Approximately 40% of all retail spending currently comes from the 20% of American households that have the highest incomes
19. According to economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, two-thirds of income increases in the U.S. between 2002 and 2007 went to the wealthiest 1% of all Americans
20. Half of America has 2.5% of the wealth
21. If you only make the minimum payment each and every time, a $6,000 credit card bill can end up costing you over $30,000 (depending on the interest rate)
22. According to a new report based on U.S. Census Bureau data, only 26 percent of American teens between the ages of 16 and 19 had jobs in late 2009 which represents a record low since statistics began to be kept back in 1948
23. According to a National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey, only 58% of those in "Generation Y" pay their monthly bills on time
24. During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter
25. According to the Tax Foundation’s Microsimulation Model, to erase the 2010 U.S. budget deficit, the U.S. Congress would have to multiply each tax rate by 2.4. Thus, the 10 percent rate would be 24 percent, the 15 percent rate would be 36 percent, and the 35 percent rate would have to be 85 percent
26. 
    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/50-statistics-about-the-us-economy-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe-2010-6#the-national-league-of-cities-says-that-municipal-governments-will-probably-come-up-between-56-billion-and-83-billion-short-between-now-and-2012-29#ixzz0uXkMpeVO
    
    

[sgreger1]

This one I find intiresting:

" 30. Half a dozen cash-poor U.S. states have announced that they are delaying their tax refund checks"


Think about that for a second. State is out of money, has to cut reimbursement to someone. They choose to not send out tax refund checks to the people who worked all year and paid too much taxes. Nootice they didn't slasha single dollar of welfare benefits, because they know if those checks stop flowing, there will be riots in the streets. So instead they decided to withhold YOUR check, because they know your a little pansy who won't do shit about it.


Intiresting, isn't it? Even when they run out of money, they would rather cut off checks to hardworking Americans than even a single welfare queen. Typical.

[ratcheer]

Your debt citations point to the real reason for the financial crisis we have been in since 2008 (and, I know you intend it that way). Simply put, there is not enough real money anywhere in the system to pay off even a decent fraction of all the outstanding debt. Nobody has it, it can't be done. That is why the mortgage market collapsed and the huge financial firms failed. The so-called bailouts only added to the problem by creating even more debt.

As more and more people become unemployed (I am one of them, having lost my 6-figure job last November), tax revenues will lag, adding yet more debt.

We are living in a house of cards and, before too long, something will knock it down.

Tim

[sgreger1]

I mean cummon, only 26% of 18 & 19 year olds have jobs? Of every person in generation Y, only 58% pay their bills on time? How can we not be screwed?


And according to #44, (two-thirds of income increases in the U.S. between 2002 and 2007 went to the wealthiest 1% of all Americans) only 1/3rd of Americans had a wage increase between 02 & 07. And of those 1/3'rd what kind of increase are we talking about? We get a 2-3% merit increase each year at my company. THAT DOESN'T EVEN PAY FOR THE 4% I LOSE TO INFLATION. So really no net increase. Wages are stagnant, yet cost of living goes up each year, everyone has too much credit, too much debt, 8 millions jobs just left the united states, 90% of our GDP goes to debt. I mean this is the mother of all financial shitstorms.


Is there anyone who can offer me some hope that things ever will recover? I mean shit, unless the US invents the internet again, I don't see how we're going to get out of this, ever.



And then in the middle of this, they raise taxes on us? (2011: Year of the tax increase), raising like 20 taxes, cutting the amount of exemptions we can take, then to add the cherry on top they announce $409.2 billion in additional taxes to pay for healthcare reform (that does little more than mandate everyone buys it, even if they can't afford it or don't want it)? Infact, the entire premium you pay for health insurance is essentially a tax; you are forced to pay money for something whether you want it or not. I mean in CA alone we are being raped, I pay nearly 10% sales tax on everything I buy, it costs like 400$ to renew my license plates, tolls are raising on our bridges, plus a 4% tax to pay for San Francisco's healthcare system.



I mean the whole system is ****ed. The government taxes us each year to maintain the roads, then the feds take all that money and give back only a percentage to actually pay for road upkeep, and then uses the remainder as extortion money to try and make the states bend to their will (I.E. If you don't make seatbelt or cell phone laws, you only get 10% of this revenue you collected back for your roads). We're run by criminals and thieves, and frankly the entire federal government is like a glorified version of the mob nowadays (extortion, backroom deals, large payoffs to elected officials for their support on things).



After skimming the list above, can someone, anyone, please explain to me on what basis is the media and the president declaring we are in a recovery? Where is this recovery? Things are twice as bad this year as last, and next year will be even worse given a continued decline in jobs, increase in taxes, and foreclosures of both residential and commercial property. EVEN THE FARKING BANKS ARE GOING BANCKRUPT for God's sake. Meanwhile, all around the world the same tragic scenario is playing out. Rome is burning.

[Bigblue1]

I mean cummon, only 26% of 18 & 19 year olds have jobs? Of every person in generation Y, only 58% pay their bills on time? How can we not be screwed?


And according to #44, (two-thirds of income increases in the U.S. between 2002 and 2007 went to the wealthiest 1% of all Americans) only 1/3rd of Americans had a wage increase between 02 & 07. And of those 1/3'rd what kind of increase are we talking about? We get a 2-3% merit increase each year at my company. THAT DOESN'T EVEN PAY FOR THE 4% I LOSE TO INFLATION. So really no net increase. Wages are stagnant, yet cost of living goes up each year, everyone has too much credit, too much debt, 8 millions jobs just left the united states, 90% of our GDP goes to debt. I mean this is the mother of all financial shitstorms.


Is there anyone who can offer me some hope that things ever will recover? I mean shit, unless the US invents the internet again, I don't see how we're going to get out of this, ever.



And then in the middle of this, they raise taxes on us? (2011: Year of the tax increase), raising like 20 taxes, cutting the amount of exemptions we can take, then to add the cherry on top they announce $409.2 billion in additional taxes to pay for healthcare reform (that does little more than mandate everyone buys it, even if they can't afford it or don't want it)? Infact, the entire premium you pay for health insurance is essentially a tax; you are forced to pay money for something whether you want it or not. I mean in CA alone we are being raped, I pay nearly 10% sales tax on everything I buy, it costs like 400$ to renew my license plates, tolls are raising on our bridges, plus a 4% tax to pay for San Francisco's healthcare system.



I mean the whole system is ****ed. The government taxes us each year to maintain the roads, then the feds take all that money and give back only a percentage to actually pay for road upkeep, and then uses the remainder as extortion money to try and make the states bend to their will (I.E. If you don't make seatbelt or cell phone laws, you only get 10% of this revenue you collected back for your roads). We're run by criminals and thieves, and frankly the entire federal government is like a glorified version of the mob nowadays (extortion, backroom deals, large payoffs to elected officials for their support on things).



After skimming the list above, can someone, anyone, please explain to me on what basis is the media and the president declaring we are in a recovery? Where is this recovery? Things are twice as bad this year as last, and next year will be even worse given a continued decline in jobs, increase in taxes, and foreclosures of both residential and commercial property. EVEN THE FARKING BANKS ARE GOING BANCKRUPT for God's sake. Meanwhile, all around the world the same tragic scenario is playing out. Rome is burning.

Well said Amigo!

[LaZeR]

Please pass me some moAr:

[ratcheer]

This thread goes right along with the thread about the American middle class disappearing. We are being squeezed down and out of our own country. It is really sad that "the people" have lost control of our government "of the people, by the people, and for the people". "America" is nearly dead.

Tim

[snusgetter]

In A Nutshell?

[Ainkor]

/Twiddles his fingers a bit.....

Ya know, now is the time to get into the organized crime market. Been thinking that one could really position ones self well in a major city and re-live some late 20's action

As bad as it's going to get, I could see in the foreseeable future local warlord type governance. Get your jump on now!

[RobsanX]

/Twiddles his fingers a bit.....

Ya know, now is the time to get into the organized crime market. Been thinking that one could really position ones self well in a major city and re-live some late 20's action

As bad as it's going to get, I could see in the foreseeable future local warlord type governance. Get your jump on now!

Get a job at Blackwater, and pretty soon you'll have a cushy job manning a wall of a gated community. Plus points if it's in Florida where it's legal to mow someone down if you simply "feel" threatened.

[sgreger1]

Get a job at Blackwater, and pretty soon you'll have a cushy job manning a wall of a gated community. Plus points if it's in Florida where it's legal to mow someone down if you simply "feel" threatened.

There is certainly no recession in the defense industry!

[Curtisp]

There is certainly no recession in the defense industry!

Get a job at Blackwater, and pretty soon you'll have a cushy job manning a wall of a gated community. Plus points if it's in Florida where it's legal to mow someone down if you simply "feel" threatened.

You got a problem with that? Don't come down here then..ru feeling threatened..lol