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Money Problems That Never Seem To End: 25 Reasons To Be Absolutely Disgusted With The U.S. Economy
Money Problems That Never Seem To End: 25 Reasons To Be Absolutely Disgusted With The U.S. Economy
Courtesy of Michael Snyder of Economic Collapse
It seems like wherever you turn there is bad news for the U.S. economy. Unemployment is rampant, the cost of gasoline is going up, the cost of food is going up and American families are getting poorer. Millions of jobs continue to leave the country and everyone is wondering why it seems like the "American Dream" is dying.
American consumers are absolutely swamped with staggering levels of credit card debt, student loan debt and mortgage debt and each year the consumer debt crisis only seems to get worse. For millions of American families the money problems never seem to end. Meanwhile, our politicians are doing next to nothing to fix our horrific national debt problem. So yes, there are a whole lot of reasons to be absolutely disgusted with the U.S. economy. We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and anyone with half a brain can see that we are heading for complete and total disaster.
A lot of Americans do not like to read about economics, but what has been going on over the last few years has been nothing short of extraordinary. The Federal Reserve has basically tripled the adjusted monetary base. We have now been conditioned to accept that trillion dollar deficits are "normal". The U.S. dollar is being systematically destroyed right in front of our eyes and most Americans don't even seem alarmed about it.
Our entire financial system is coming apart.
The signs are everywhere.
The following are 25 reasons to be absolutely disgusted with the U.S. economy....
#1 There are now 6.4 million fewer jobs in America than there were when the recession began.
#2 In Southern California, the average price of a gallon of gasoline is $1.00 higher than it was at this time last year.
#3 The average price of gasoline in the United States has jumped about 20 cents in just the last two weeks.
#4 Over the past 12 months the average price of gasoline in the United States has gone up by about 30%.
#5 In the 8 days leading up to the "historic" $38.5 billion budget deal, the U.S. national debt increased by $54.1 billion dollars.
#6 The $38.5 billion in budget cuts that the Republicans and the Democrats have agreed to represent approximately one percent of the federal budget.
#7 During the 2010 campaign, the Republicans promised voters they would cut $100 billion from the budget for 2011. Instead, they gave in when the Democrats offered just $38.5 billion.
#8 The Obama administration had been estimating that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 2011 would be approximately 1.6 trillion dollars. Now it will likely be somewhere around 1.55 trillion dollars which will still be an all-time record.
#9 According to numbers released by Deloitte Consulting, a whopping 875,000 Americans were "medical tourists" in 2010?.
#10 The median pay for CEOs increased by 27 percent during 2010.
#11 Thanks to globalism, 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 Americans supposed to compete with that?
#12 Last week, the price of gold set a new all-time record on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday and on Friday.
#13 The price of silver rose almost 7 percent last week alone.
#14 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
#15 According to the Economic Policy Institute, almost 25 percent of U.S. households now have zero net worth or negative net worth. Back in 2007, that number was just 18.6 percent.
#16 Americans now owe more than $903 billion on student loans.
#17 According to the New York Times, as of 2009 the wealthiest 5 percent of all Americans had 63.5 percent of all the wealth in America. Meanwhile, the bottom 80 percent had just 12.8 percent of all the wealth.
#18 According to a recent report from the National Employment Law Project, higher wage industries accounted for 40 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months but only 14 percent of the job growth. Lower wage industries accounted for just 23 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months and a whopping 49 percent of the job growth.
#19 The first week of air strikes in Libya cost the U.S. government about 600 million dollars.
#20 The price of corn has more than doubled over the past year.
#21 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.
#22 Back in the 1950s, corporate taxes accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue. Today they account for less than 7 percent of all federal revenue.
#23 If the U.S. government eliminated all discretionary spending and all defense spending it would still not balance the budget.
#24 It is being projected that U.S. government debt will rise to about 400 percent of GDP by the year 2050.
#25 Americans spend approximately 27.7 billion dollars a year preparing their tax returns.
That last statistic really gets me. During the month of April the American people are going to be spending massive amounts of time and money to prepare their taxes.
But what do Americans get in return for their taxes?
What they get is a government that is completely and totally incompetent. Our "leaders" are running the greatest economy in the history of the world into the ground, but unfortunately most Americans have no idea what is happening.
Why are Americans so clueless?
Well, the truth is that over time we have been turned into a nation of idiots and morons.
To get an idea of just how "dumbed down" we have become as a nation, just check out this Harvard entrance exam from 1869.
I wouldn't have a prayer of passing that exam.
What about you?
Thanks to the slothfulness of society, the deficiencies in our education system and the toxins in our food, air and water it has become hard for most of us to think clearly.
Most of us are fat, dumb and totally clueless. The entire economic system is being shredded and most of us just drool and turn up the television a little louder.
If we have money problems, most of us just run out and apply for another credit card. If our state and local governments run into financial problems they just borrow even more money.
Of course the biggest offender of all is the federal government. What our politicians are doing to future generations is not just criminal. It is beyond criminal. It is absolutely unconscionable.
So please excuse me if I am absolutely disgusted with the U.S. economy.
We took the greatest economy in the history of the world and we wrecked it.
How in the world are we going to explain this to our children and our grandchildren?
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Thank a faggot.
USA wreaks of corruption period. You can do the best job and be top of your class however if you are not in the good ole boys club you are screwed. I see lot more job losses and many more suffering coming to the USA and this will take decades to correct. As long as TV shows and crap continues in the USA.
+47
Everybody here should read 'Starving the Monkeys' by Tom Baugh.
+titty-fucky
Our leaders fiddle better than Nero. Watch them shuck and jive.
This great viral tune says it all.
It's the new matra for all of us tired of the political charade.
http://www.crockagators.com/audio/Shuck_and_Jive_hifi.m3u
the fucking tax bullshit is so right on Irene! fucking cocksucking leeches are the CPAs who charge a fortune to do your taxes. We spend so much time getting shit together, to pay a fucking fortune, for what???? taxes.
And, who in the fuck goes through this bullshit on the other side? It's a crime to have taxes this complex. fucking joke.
we can do something about it ....we can revolt. i've read that by the year 2012 the citizens will be in full tax revolt, just like when the tea was thrown overboard in BOSTON during the colonial times !
WE CAN DO SOMETHING, IT'S CALLED REVOLUTION.
I read the world will end in 2012.
I guess what I'm getting as is this: so what?
man, it' so not about the end of the world.
ha! and the pathetic FICO slaves junk you. you are ahead of your times, Stay up!
Parisian Thinker.....how long have you lived overseas, or is living in Paris not 'overseas' for you?? I have lived for several years in France and other countries in Europe, there are many things to admire, both fascinating and too large to go into here. If I understand you correctly, being able to see the States from afar really does offer unique perspective in addition to forces of many languages and cultures shaping their way of life. The education issue is another that could take years to debate, but they (european kids) get a much different school experience. However, just for fun lets take a tree top view of all topics at once for a moment...............in the last 50 yrs, had the US world role remained as it was before the war in all respects...........would Europe have been dynamic enough to come up with everything from computer technology to the space shuttle?
Zero Govt is right, politicians are useless windbag little babies and at the end of the day its about power and control from the Fed to the Senate to the ECB and perhaps some eventual weak-ass-decision-by-committee central govt in Europe. Paris has been trying for years to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit, it may eventually work who knows.
I have lived in 7 countries(mostly European ones, but also South Africa & China, which means I have learned a lot of history and seen how differently the world can be organized. Just to note some differences read below. I have only lived in France since 2007. ( I do not plan to stay there, and I do not plan to return to the USA.)
For example, in France, education including all professional schools are free, health care and drugs are really cheap, children have free health care as do their mothers(all OBGYN procedures were mostly invented in France), Mothers get off every Wed as do their school children,vacation vouchers are given to those whose salary doesn't allow them to afford one, 2 hour lunches are normal and vouchers are given for lunches, France pays the pensions, 6 weeks is normal for vacations, and most workers are hired for life time contracts of employment.
Furthermore, women are paid to become pregnant and France pays children allowances and extra money when school begins. This is all due to their pro-natilist policies stemming from the terrible loss of men during WW1.
Knowing France and other countries is like knowing different people.
You can't know hot if you don't know cold, and you can't know anything unless your can compare it with something different, n'est pas?
The French culture is not hostile but much more cooperative.
The only thing I wish for Americans was for them to be more in solidarity so they could know how to respond to their enemy-The system of Profit and Power.
I am for life, productivity and not destruction.
That all sound's great, even if a bit biased.
One question, how's that debt situation working out for them? Do they share that debt collectively?
Below adds to the discussion and it is all from Chris Hedges:
By Chris Hedges
A nation that destroys its systems of education, degrades its public information, guts its public libraries and turns its airwaves into vehicles for cheap, mindless amusement becomes deaf, dumb and blind. It prizes test scores above critical thinking and literacy. It celebrates rote vocational training and the singular, amoral skill of making money. It churns out stunted human products, lacking the capacity and vocabulary to challenge the assumptions and structures of the corporate state. It funnels them into a caste system of drones and systems managers. It transforms a democratic state into a feudal system of corporate masters and serfs.
Teachers, their unions under attack, are becoming as replaceable as minimum-wage employees at Burger King. We spurn real teachers—those with the capacity to inspire children to think, those who help the young discover their gifts and potential—and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests. These instructors obey. They teach children to obey. And that is the point. The No Child Left Behind program, modeled on the “Texas Miracle,” is a fraud. It worked no better than our deregulated financial system. But when you shut out debate these dead ideas are self-perpetuating.
Passing bubble tests celebrates and rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence. This kind of intelligence is prized by money managers and corporations. They don’t want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures and assumptions. They want them to serve the system. These tests produce men and women who are just literate and numerate enough to perform basic functions and service jobs. The tests elevate those with the financial means to prepare for them. They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay deference to authority. Rebels, artists, independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts—those who march to the beat of their own drum—are weeded out.
RE: CHRIS HEDGES. It was listening to CHRIS HEDGES that woke me up. I listened to his speeches on YOUTUBE & read his writings & had to rethink my entire life.......how could I have been so clueless & uneducated all my years. I'm awake now & thinking.
I have just been looking into Chris Hedges... He is a socialist.. I dont get it, some of the things he rails agianst seem to be socialist..
Does he confuse "for profit" with "free markets".. I see him say "for profit healthcare" as the problem for healthcare costs...
Anyway, I like what he has to say at times(breakdown of society, corporatism(which he seems to think are free markets), un-educating our students..), and at other times am left scratching my head..
I might have to just stick with michael hedges instead..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNMCeQorOSA
I'll have to check him out...thanks
American Crony Capitalism likes the diversion of analysis. The last thing they want is synthesis.
Once you see all the lies and deceit that are cobbled together to form our current nation, first you weep, then you slowly gain seething anger.
I don't know where the top 1% are going to hide when this country crashes, but I suspect there isn't a place on earth where they could not be found.
They seem willfully blind to the fact that they enriched themselves while impoverishing a (once) great country and their fellow citizens.
They've already made their plans, they'll 'live' here:
http://oceanhomeguru.com/?p=3188
He's absolutely right -- now, what are YOU going to do about it?
Harvard entrance exam of 1869 is totally irrelevant to today's world. Americans are clueless because schooling in capitalistic America intended to train them only as workers not thinkers. The only thing that interfered with my learning was the university and law school education.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. Give Americans the chances I have had to live and learn in other cultures, and they would see themselves and the "American way" in a new light.http://www.docstoc.com/docs/68849210/SESSION--Inflation
Here's a link to an article explaining why grades have gone up even though people have gotten dumber.
I agree. I have had the opportunity to live in Europe for a year and in Japan for 10 years.
Ah yes, wisdom versus knowledge. Knowledge by itself is nothing without the wisdom to act accordingly.
Its more accountability than economics. There is none in govt. They operate out of a Pretend Account....its not real and they are never adversely touched by their actions. Pathetic.
it's worse than "pathetic" ...consider in March the US Govt spent $1.05 trillion equal to 8.2 times the $128bn it netted in tax revenues. 200 Committees of pontificating windbag retards spending almost 10 times more on the national credit card than they take in monthly income?
How did they 'plan' this? The Republican representative snake oiled over this lunacy by saying 'next time' we really must have a plan in place to cut the deficit. Namely they've hit the debt ceiling with no plan in place. His last minute bargaining position was a pissy little $62bn cut but they even caved in on this microscopic trim of the hedge. Folded for the Democrats even more snivelling $32bn cut.
Spineless greedy shambolic criminals... Washington is a fuking lunatic asylum, the place stinks
Our leaders fiddle better than Nero. Watch them shuck and jive.
This great viral tune says it all.
It's the new matra for all of us tired of the political charade
http://www.crockagators.com/audio/Shuck_and_Jive_hifi.m3u
Nero fiddled while Rome burned, these korrupticians are stealing for themselves and shipping it off shore. This all appears to be a planned distruction of our country, only an absolute jack ass could get it this wrong (let alone 3 branches of them) and with the education, degrees, and poltical snake like maneuvers these folks make, it certainly looks like the conspiracy people may be right... this time...
or perhaps Im wrong, after all Im not in on what happens and why, nor do I know the future, It could be just another dip or rise in the economic rollercoaster ride and like a ride there is little we can do once we are on it. except perhaps puke.
The average Joe should have woke up during the thrown election (organized racket) that put George W Bush in the white house. People STILL refuse to see what team he played on, let alone the corruption pervasive in DC, AND in most communities today.
Just follow the money and broken promises for things to come - you haven't seen nuthin' yet.
Government for the people, by the people in the modern era died with Kennedy - the rest is incorporated racketeering and lust for control of people (all of them worldwide). The changes feared today really took the first turn then when most scallions on ZH were not even a popcorn fart.
America is the fascist police state everyone has always feared, incorporation draped in an American flag; change insulated from the people by their own corrupt government while the rule of law is bought and sold.
Something to add to the list. Most think unmanned drones are just in the middle east today -- WRONG! On domestic soil too, but one won't read that in the news. You read that on ZH first.
Great societies are defined by their principles and values, not their money and power (which are only proxies for corruption). The former bind and build, the latter isolate and separate. Choose your politicians accordingly.
Great..another opportunity to link to Baseball Bat Man
I'm hoping (ok praying) that people aren't as dumb as we think.
There is NO political cover for this bullshit anymore. Look at Democratic Underground (cyber-bastion of the left) they have to qualify everything with "yes, of course Obama was born in a manger".
They're all pissed off. Shit -- my dogs have better papers than Obama.
Then you've got Freerepublic (cyber-bastion of the right) goose-stepping to the fake-ass Tea Party crap. What the hell did they just accomplish? Fussing over a couple of measly billion dollars while the reality is we are dealing with trillions.
Once upon a time I very rarely used vulgar terms. Now every other word out of my mouth is a worthy of a bar of soap.
Baseball Bat Man Heh, thanks for that. I lol'd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Nrp7cj_tM&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dgeorge%2Bcarlin%2Bwords%2Bnot%2Bfor%2Btv%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1
Hey, I heard that.
I find that about myself. (Must take stronger measures to control profanity urge.)
Fuck that
~~ excellent comment, Widowmaker !! absolutely excellent.
That harvard entry exam was trivial for it's time. The math and geography parts are extremely simple, and if one had latin and greek for several years, that wouldn't have been a problem either. I assume today's harvard entry exams are much harder.
(But nevertheless a good article!)
Forgive me for not having any respect for Harvard's standards (modern day) when our illustrious president George W. Bush graduated from their Business school. I assume their tests are much easier...any college I know of you can walk into with an SAT score and check (or just a famous alumni name) and get in. Last I checked the SAT didn't have you do Latin or have a geography component.
I wonder if todays Harvard grads could pass this entrance exam...
I agree. Regarding today's exam. It varies somewhat with the major program or department that you will be residing in. In the case of the math and life science majors, after getting past the exam they are viciously weeded out over the course of the first three years. A colleague of mine is now teaching there. Funny thing is, they also weed out their faculty as well. Three are hired with the intention of only keeping one. And he thought I was crazy for going off on my own in the biotech world. I couldn't do it because I know I would want to walk across campus and kick Larry Summer's ass.
It is time to go back 2 years and review the right wing conspiracy theory of that time called the Cloward-Piven Strategy, which now doesn't look like a conspiracy at all but is an actual reality. For those of you who aren't aware, this strategy, nurtured by incremental progressive policy making, is a marxist wet dream to implode the US economic system through the burden of entitlements and create a new redistributionist utopia.
in the overall context of conspiratorial reality, the cloward-piven strategy is trivial.
If we don't reverse course now it's adios mother-f%#$ers!
Cowboy poetry my ass.
It's too late. The time to reverse course was roughly 30 years ago. We can't kick the can any further and we can't undo our "solutions." Adios, motherf$%kers.
Someone needs a trip to Starbucks asap-
I AM CHUMBADUMBA! LOLOLOL!!
I think a bottle of vodka drunk in about 2 minutes would do him more good than Starbucks.
The USA is under attack. This independence from the money changers that goes back more than six generations has come to an end. We have been sold out. They have control of our money. Anyone who gets in their way is eliminated. We are at war!
Ah, have you not been paying attention. We have been at war for 2000+ years with these fuckers.
And then some. Remember the golden calf?