NOTE: To be merciful I have not included a breakdown of our nations debt numbers in the same summary.
When you take a quick summary of our nations 316 Million people, who is left that can actually contribute to our nations economy or pay our debts?
Hard to think about? Well now try to comprehend how much "more" can these same people could give over the next decade to pay down our nations $16 trillion debt and continue carrying the costs of the other 70% of Americans?
The NUMBers - "Something is not adding up"
Of the 316 Million Americans, there are 156 Million in the civilian labor force with 146 Million falling into a low-income category that does not make enough to have a net gain for contributing to tax revenues. Does that mean ONLY 10 Million people contribute to our nations economy? My NUMBers put it at 95 Million or 30% net gainers, but it may actually be that bad... but hey, I 'm an optimist!
Basic inventory numbers:
Less than 95 Million Americans floating the bill for entire nation:
- 316 Million Total (156 Million Working)
- 139 Million Paying (Net Gain)
- 78 Million Collecting full benefits (Net Loss*)
- 18 Million Government employees (Net Loss)
- 2.3 Million Incarcerated (Net Loss)
- 11 Million Unauthorized (Net Loss)
Hard Stats from various sources:
- "America Will Soon Owe More Than It's Citizens Are Worth" - The Peter G. Peterson Foundation
- "People who never thought they would need food are in need of help," Together with the 49.1 Million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 Million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That's up by 4 Million from 2009, the earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty measure.
- Since 2007 More People Requested Emergency Food Assistance Than Found Jobs
- 56 Million people, or about 1 in 6 U.S. residents, collected Social Security benefits.
- 14 Million disability check from the government.
- 101 Million Working Age Americans Do Not Have A Job and most are not looking for employment.
- 23.7 Million American workers are either unemployed or underemployed right now.
- 1 in 5 American workers are now part time employees
- According to Gallup, the unemployment rate rose to 9.0% in mid-February.
- The employment to population ratio is hovering between 58% and 59% since the beginning of 2010.
- If you gathered together all of the workers that are "officially" unemployed in the United States into one nation, they would constitute the 68th largest country in the entire world.
- 2,266,800 are in Prision with 7,225,800 incarcerated people under correctional supervision
- 37% of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
- 43 percent of all American families spend more than they earn each year.
- American Consumer debt has increased 1700% since 1971 with the ratio of household debt to personal income now at 154% ; BlackRock
- 15 Million of our nations children are single parent with the majority on some form of government assistance .
- Of the 138,950,000 who filed federal income taxes; the top 1% of taxpayers pay about 37% of federal income taxes and the top 5% pay about 58% while the bottom 47% pay zero taxes with the number of Americans that are not paying federal incomes taxes is at an all-time high. - IRS data
Worse numbers to read:
- 20 Million or 8% of the population aged 12 or older, were current illicit drug users
- 22 Million Americans were classified with substance abuse or dependence.
- 5% of pregnant women used an illicit drug during with 750,000 children are born each year after prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol.
The worst numbers to read:
- There are over a Billion in the world and 12% of Americans currently starving today.
- The wealthiest 1% of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90% combined with corporate profits at an all-time high and Americans that are living in "extreme poverty" also at an all-time high according - U.S. Census Bureau.
Verified stat sources (or just google it :)
- http://www.census.gov/popclock/
- http://themonkeycage.org/2012/09/27/there-arent-that-many-takers-in-america/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/census-shows-1-in-2-peopl_1_n_1150128.html
- http://nowandfutures.com/taxes.html
- http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States
- http://ftp2.census.gov/govs/apes/06stlus.txt
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States
- http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/corrtyptab.htm
- http://www.law.uh.edu/ihelg/monograph/07-12.pdf
- http://wagner.nyu.edu//news/truesize.pdf
- http://theroanokestar.com/2013/02/25/middle-class/#sthash.Q6ESLMc4.dpuf
- http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/12/15/census_shows_1_in_2_people_are_poor_or_low_income/
*Entire incomes paid by taxpayers: IF you get a regular check, work for or are a contractor for the government then your tax/income contribute are a net loss by default. It is just a hard fact.