Submitted by Michael Snyder of The American Dream blog [10],
What has happened to America? Please show these numbers to anyone that does not believe that the United States is in decline. It is time for all of us to humble ourselves and face the reality of what has happened to our once great nation. For those of us that love America, it is heartbreaking to watch the foundations of our society rot and decay in thousands of different ways. The following are 45 facts that show how far America has fallen in this generation, but the truth is that this list could have been far, far longer…
#1 According to a survey that was just conducted, only 36 percent [11] of all Americans can name the three branches of government.
#2 Only 25 percent [12] of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only 20 percent [12] of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are.
#3 Even if you include same-sex couples in the numbers, the marriage rate in the United States is at a 93 year low [13].
#4 For the first time ever [14], single Americans make up more than half the U.S. population.
#5 31.1 percent [15] of American young adults in the 18 to 34-year-old age bracket are currently living with their parents.
#6 One out of every ten [16] teen girls in America engages in “self-harm”. Cutting and burning are the most common forms that this “self-harm” takes.
#7 One survey found that 85 percent [17] of all young men in America and almost half [17] of all young women in America watch porn at least once a month.
#8 A different survey discovered that 64 percent [18] of American men of all ages view pornography at least once per month.
#9 The Internet can be used for great good, but it can also be used for great evil. It is being reported that 83 percent [17] of U.S. boys and 57 percent [17] of U.S. girls have been exposed to group sex while on the Internet.
#10 One survey discovered that 25 percent [19] of all employees that have Internet access in the United States visit sex websites while they are at work.
#11 There is an epidemic of porn watching among federal employees. For example, one Treasury Department worker said that he viewed 13,000 pornographic images within the span of six weeks because he did “not have enough work to do [20]“.
#12 An astounding 30 percent [21] of all Internet traffic now goes to adult websites.
#13 Right now, 30 million Americans [22] are on antidepressants.
#14 Americans account for about five percent of the global population, but we buy more than 50 percent [23] of the pharmaceutical drugs.
#15 Americans consume a whopping 80 percent [24] of all prescription painkillers.
#16 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent [25] of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and 20 percent of all Americans are on at least five prescription drugs.
#17 Approximately 60 million Americans [17] have a problem with alcohol addiction.
#18 Heroin traffic in New York City is at a 20 year high [26].
#19 Of all the major industrialized nations, America is the most obese [27]. Mexico is #2.
#20 Back in 1962, only 13 percent [28] of all Americans were obese, but it is being projected that 42 percent [29] of all Americans could be obese by the year 2030.
#21 70 percent [30] of Americans do not “feel engaged or inspired at their jobs”.
#22 40 percent [31] of all workers in the United States actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968 after you account for inflation.
#23 Small business ownership in the United States is at the lowest level that has ever been recorded [32].
#24 It is hard to believe, but 56 percent [33] of all Americans now have “subprime credit”.
#25 The United States has the most lawyers per capita [34] in the entire world.
#26 The United States has the highest incarceration rate [35] and the largest total prison population [36] in the entire world by a wide margin.
#27 While Barack Obama has been in the White House, the U.S. national debt has grown by more than 7 trillion dollars [37].
#28 During the Obama years, sexual assaults in the U.S. military have soared to an all-time high [38], and most of the assaults have been male on male [38].
#29 According to one absolutely shocking study [39], 22 military veterans kill themselves in the United States every single day.
#30 The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives is Nancy Pelosi. The top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives is John Boehner. More often than not, they seem to be working together [40]. Is this really the best that America can do?
#31 There are more than 3 million reports [41] of child abuse in the United States every single year.
#32 At this point, approximately one out of every three children [42] in the United States lives in a home without a father.
#33 18 percent [43] of all women in the United States say that they have been raped at some point in their lives.
#34 According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately two-thirds [44] of all Americans in the 15 to 24-year-old age bracket have engaged in oral sex.
#35 Approximately one-third of the entire population of the United States (110 million people [45]) currently has a sexually transmitted disease according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
#36 Every single year, there are 20 million [45] new STD cases in America.
#37 America has the highest STD infection rate in the entire industrialized world [46].
#38 Americans in the 15 to 24-year-old age group account for about 50 percent [45] of all new STD cases each year.
#39 It costs our nation approximately 16 billion dollars a year [45] to treat our sexually transmitted diseases.
#40 According to one survey, 24 percent [47] of all U.S. teens that have STDs say that they still have unprotected sex.
#41 In the United States today, more than half [48] of all couples “move in together” before they get married.
#42 For couples that have children that are just “living together”, two-thirds [49] of them split up by the time they have a child turn 10 years of age.
#43 For women under the age of 30 in the United States, more than half of all babies [50] are being born out of wedlock.
#44 It is estimated that one out of every four [51] girls will be sexually abused before they become adults.
#45 Suicide has now actually surpassed car accidents as the number one cause of “injury death” [52] in the United States.
