by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog, Submitted
by Tyler Durden on 10/21/2014
Introduction by Tyler Durden
Barack Obama and the
Federal Reserve are lying to you. The "economic recovery" that
we all keep hearing about is mostly just a mirage... For those
out there that still believe that we are doing "just fine", here are
19 more facts about the messed up state of the U.S. economy.
Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve are lying to
you. The "economic recovery" that we all keep hearing about
is mostly just a mirage. The percentage of Americans that are employed
has barely budged since the depths of the
last recession, the labor force participation rate is at a 36 year low, the overall rate of
homeownership is the lowest that it has been in nearly 20 years and approximately 49 percent of all Americans are
financially dependent on the government at this point.
In a recent article, I shared 12 charts that clearly demonstrate the permanent damage
that has been done to our economy over the last decade. The response to
that article was very strong. Many people were quite upset to learn that
they were not being told the truth by our politicians and by the mainstream
media. Sadly, the vast majority of Americans still have absolutely no
idea what is being done to our economy. For those out there that still
believe that we are doing "just fine", here are 19 more facts about
the messed up state of the U.S. economy...
#1 After accounting for inflation, median household
income in the United States is 8 percent lower
than it was when the last recession started in 2007.
#2 The number of part-time workers in America has
increased by 54 percent since the last recession
began in December 2007. Meanwhile, the number of full-time jobs has
dropped by more than a million over
that same time period.
#3 More than 7 million Americans that are
currently working part-time jobs would actually like to have full-time jobs.
#4 The jobs gained during this "recovery"
pay an average of 23 percent less than the jobs that
were lost
during the last recession.
#5 The number of unemployed workers that have
completely given up looking for work is twice as high now as it was when the
last recession began in December 2007.
#6 When the last recession began, about 17 percent of
all unemployed workers had been out of work for six months or longer.
Today, that number sits at just above 34 percent.
#7 Due to a lack of decent jobs, half of all college
graduates are still relying on their parents financially when they are two
years out of school.
#8 According to a new method of calculating poverty
devised by the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of California currently has a
poverty rate of 23.4 percent.
#9 According to the New York Times, the "typical
American household" is now worth 36 percent less than it was worth a
decade ago.
#10 In 2007, the average household in the top 5
percent had 16.5 times as much wealth as the average household overall.
But now the average household in the top 5 percent has 24 times as much wealth as
the average household overall.
#11 In an absolutely stunning development, the rate
of small business ownership in the United States has plunged to an all-time low.
#12 Subprime loans now make up 31 percent of all auto loans in
America. Didn't that end up really badly when the housing industry tried
the same thing?
#13 The average cost of producing a barrel of shale
oil in the United States is approximately 85 dollars. Now that the price of
oil is starting to slip under that number, the "shale boom" in
America could turn into a bust very rapidly.
#14 On a purchasing power basis, China now actually
has a larger economy than the United
States does.
#15 It is hard to believe, but there are 49 million
people that are dealing with food insecurity in America today.
#16 There are six banks in the United States that
pretty much everyone agrees fit into the "too big to fail"
category. Five of them have more than 40 trillion dollars of
exposure to derivatives.
#17 The 113 top earning employees at the Federal
Reserve headquarters in Washington D.C. make an average of $246,506 a year. It
turns out that ruining the U.S. economy is a very lucrative profession.
#18 We are told that the federal deficit is under
control, but the truth is that the U.S. national debt increased by more than a trillion dollars
during fiscal year 2014.
#19 An astounding 40 million dollars has been
spent just on vacations for Barack Obama and his family. Perhaps he
figures that if we are going down as a nation anyway, he might as well enjoy
the ride.
If our economy truly was "recovering", there would
be lots of good paying middle class jobs available.
But that is not the case at all.
I know so many people in their prime working years that
spend day after day searching for a job. Most of them never seem to get
anywhere. It isn't because they don't have anything to offer. It is
just that the labor market is absolutely saturated with qualified job seekers.
For example, USA Today recently shared the story of
42-year-old Alex Gomez...
"I've had to seriously
downgrade my living situation," said Alex Gomez, a 42-year-old with a
master's degree in entrepreneurship. Gomez lost his last full-time job in 2009
and has been looking for work since a short-term contract position ended in
2012.
Gomez's home was foreclosed on, so
the Tampa resident lives with three roommates in a college neighborhood. He
drained his 401(k) trying to save his house, and he has around $150,000 in
student loans. His mother is tapping her 401(k) to pay his rent. Gomez subsists
on that and about $200 a month in food stamps.
"I have been applying and
looking for pretty much anything at this stage," he said. Although he's
looking for work in engineering or data management, "I applied to a
supermarket as a deli clerk because I used to be a deli clerk as a
teenager," he said. He was told he was overqualified and turned down.
Does Alex Gomez have gifts and abilities to share with our
society?
Of course he does.
So why can't he find
a job?
It is because we have a broken economy.
We are in the midst of a long-term economic decline and
the system simply does not work properly anymore.
And thanks to decades of very foolish decisions, this is
only the start of our problems.
Things are only going to get worse from here.
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