It is getting really hard for American families to be able to afford to put food on the table and to put gas in the tank. Health care costs are absolutely outrageous and college tuition is now out of reach for millions of American families.
Every single month more American families fall out of the middle class into poverty. Today there are 18 million more Americans on food stamps than there were just four years ago. More than one out of every five U.S. children is living in poverty (with over 44.2 million Americans receiving benefits) Things are getting really, really bad out there. The following are statistics reflect the decline of the American Dream
Jobs, jobs, jobs.... keep on looking
- The competition for decent jobs in America has gotten absolutely insane. There have been reports of people actually getting down on their knees and begging for jobs. Many Americans are starting to wonder if they will ever get a decent job again. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average duration of unemployment in the United States is now an all-time record 39 weeks....
- According to the Wall Street Journal, there are 5.5 million Americans that are unemployed and yet are not receiving unemployment benefits.
- The number of "low income jobs" in the U.S. has risen steadily over the past 30 years and they now account for 41 percent of all jobs in the United States.
- Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in all of U.S. history.
- Once upon a time, anyone could get hired at McDonald's. But today McDonald's turns away a higher percentage of applicants than Harvard does. Approximately 7 percent of all those that apply to get into Harvard are accepted. At a recent "National Hiring Day" held by McDonald's only about 6.2 percent of the one million Americans that applied for a job were hired.
- There are now about 7.25 million fewer jobs in America than when the recession began back in 2007.
- The United States has lost an average of about 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
The price to just get by, just keeps getting worse..
- A New York post analysis has found that the rate of inflation in New York City has been about 14 percent over the past year.
- Over the past 12 months the average price of gasoline in the United States has gone up by about 30%.
- Spending on energy now accounts for more than 6 percent of all consumer spending. Every time this has happened since 1970 we have also had a recession that followed.
- The average American driver will spend somewhere around $750 more for gasoline in 2011. Unfortunately, it seems likely that the price of oil is going to go up even higher. Already the price of oil is closing in on the all-time record....
- In the United States, over 20 percent of all children are living in poverty. In the UK and in France that figure is well under 10 percent.
- 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.
Entitlements are hemorrhaging...taxes coming in can't keep up
- In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for 18.4% of all income.
- U.S. households are now receiving more income from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes.
- 59 percent of all Americans now receive money from the federal government in one form or another.
Health Care (or lack there of)
- According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.
- One study found that approximately 41 percent of working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
- Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.
- Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
Our nest eggs... all in one basket
- During the first three months of this year, less new homes were sold in the U.S. than in any three month period ever recorded.
- Now home sales in the United States are now down 80% from the peak in July 2005.
- U.S. home prices have now declined 32% from the peak of the housing bubble.
- For most middle class families, the family home is the number one financial asset.
Unfortunately, U.S. home values have declined an astounding 6.3 trillion dollars since the housing crisis first began.
- According to a recent census report, 13% of all homes in the United States are currently sitting empty.
- The housing crisis just seems to keep on getting worse. 31 percent of the homeowners that responded to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that they are "underwater" on their mortgages.
- Unfortunately, it looks like millions more middle class Americans could soon be in danger of losing their homes. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 8 million Americans are at least one month behind on their mortgage payments at this point.
Haase - Sorry for all that "Recovery News".... here is a little something to make you feel a little better ;-)
