Broke! 10 Facts About The Financial Condition Of American Families That Will Blow Your Mind

[proud2BlibKansan]

<skip>


#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.

#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.

#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.

#4 The average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt.

#5 Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

#6 At this point, American families are approximately 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.

#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.

#8 According to one study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010.

#9 Today, there are more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, and nearly half of them are children.

#10 According to Newsweek, close to 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 54 do not have a job at the moment.

more . . . http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/broke-10-facts-about-the-financial-condition-of-american-families-that-will-blow-your-mind

[riderinthestorm]

1. .

K&R. I am so sick of arguing with Rethugs about poverty, this economy, how far we've fallen as a nation (especially with my mother!)

Let the statistics speak!

[roguevalley]

25. send this to obama.

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. he knows...

[bvar22]

68. ...and he doesn't care.

His Peeps (Top 1%) are doing GREAT.
So whats the problem?:shrug:


"We can't begrudge them their wealth."
I know these guys, and "they are just savvy businessmen."
"Its the Free market!!!"
"Look at all the Baseball players."





You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
Solidarity99!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[lumberjack_jeff]

71. ... except to the extent that it becomes a political problem. n/t

[truedelphi]

79. I even suspect that at secret meetings he stands in front of those

PEEPS with a "Mission Accomplished" banner streaming behind him.

The upper one percent want us to be poorer than shit. And when they hear that X amount of people are on Food Stamps, their only thought is, "Damn. When will we get to stop providing "welfare" to these pieces of garbage?"

[Raster]

88. Quick! Quick! WE need a list! And we need a "kick if you support" thread!

And we need a retaliatory post with lots of blue links!

Quick! Quick! Before the truth gets out of hand!

[emilyg]

Send it over and over.

[woo me with science]

2. K&R SHAME on Obama and the Super Theft Committee.

SHAME on Obama and the Super Theft Committee. What are they talking about doing?

1. Slashing safety nets and vital programs during the worst economy since the Great Depression
2. Protecting the military industrial complex
3. Make permanent TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY

We need a million seniors in front of the White House and Congress to SHAME them into doing the right thing.

[bhikkhu]

87. I think the GOP might be involved too.

Remember how the tea party and "take back america" swept them into national and state offices? A lot of the problems we have now are the more or less unavoidable consequences of an election that went very bad.

A march on the white house and congress would be great to see...and even better would be for people to vote for good government again in 2012.

[woo me with science]

90. "Too" is the operative word in that sentence.

Do not try to excuse this corporate Trojan horse of a President by pointing to the election. He is doing exactly what he wants to do. The entire damned record shows that he is doing exactly what he wants to do.

[bhikkhu]

93. So, again, its not his policies, not his speech, not his actions, but his secret intentions

which somehow you know.

I think the majority of Obama's time in office has been spent working on the problem of increasing economic growth, creating jobs, and getting america "back on its feet". The whole weigh of the GOP, on the other hand, has been trying to frustrate every democratic effort so that the president looks bad and loses the next election. They don't care who suffers for it.

[woo me with science]

102. You "think" so, huh?

That is where the record of his actual behavior comes in handy. :eyes:

[Raster]

89. Same. ol'. corporate. horse....

...just a different color.

[woo me with science]

91. Indeed.

He is from the faux Democratic wing of the Corporate Party. We have been purchased.

[sarcasmo]

3. We are well on our way to becoming a third world country.

[Divernan]

45. In many respects, the US already IS a third world country.

As one example, only four countries have NO national law mandating paid time off for new parents:

LIBERIA

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

SWAZILAND

and, believe it - it's true!

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WE'RE NUMBER 189! WE'RE NUMBER 189!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave

[reggie the dog]

95. fathers get 2 weeks in france, mothers 16

but sweden is pushing the entire eu to adopt their one year off at 80% salary for each parent plan.... and yes they are sucessfully capitalist in sweden

[county worker]

4. And 50% of those unemployed, poor and in debt will vote for a repub in 2012

[defendandprotect]

32. You have a link for that -- ?

GOP was finished in 2008 --

Obama resurrected them from the ashes --

No one is voting for the GOP --

And likely after what Obama and Third Way have done to the party

many Democrats will be staying home unless we get a challenger to Obama.

[xxqqqzme]

78. Both of my sisters lost their jobs within the last

6 months - one is 51, the other is 58. The older sister has worked for huge, successful non-profits for the last 30 years. She doesn't know she is 99%. The younger sister had to move in with our mom. She had been working in drug rehab but now can't afford to finish her counselor certification classes. They both will blindly vote rethuglican in 2012.

Their ages alone make it highly unlikely they will find, anything other than barely above minimum wage jobs.

[defendandprotect]

105. Well ...

my son was unemployed for a year and a half -- and I've certainly witnessed

many lay offs for younger workers -- younger than your sisters.

Some graduates have been unemployed for a year or more waiting for a first job!

No summer jobs for kids either --

Amazing that one sister worked for "non-profits" and doesn't get it -

what RW non-profits? :sarcasm:

I can see that "drug rehab" might be kinda RW with belief in the Drug War, etal --

but it's like the cancer care industry now -- a world unto itself dependent upon

the keeping the Drug War and Cancer going and expanding!! YIKES!


I can say my son has stopped voting since Howard Dean -- !!

And my efforts to get him to vote aren't working.


However, he certainly wouldn't be voting for any RW'er if he was voting --

and certainly wouldn't be voting for Obama or any Wall Street Dem which makes it

rather difficult to vote, actually -- !! :evilgrin:


Still -- think most people recognize why they are out of work -- they may not know

all the details of the coup, but capitalism has gotten their attention and not in a

good way! They know our economic system is gimmicked and that the GOP didn't do this

alone!

And certainly I don't see any of the immense -- massive crowds of OWS/99% -- voting

for anyone on the right. Or any of the OWS supporters voting for anyone on the right.

Again -- the GOP was finished in 2008 and Obama had a mandate which he threw away

in favor of resurrecting the GOP from the ashes.


And here we are!!

[coalition_unwilling]

74. Not if I have anything to say about it, they won't - n/t

[xchrom]

5. There's a reason they took all that equity away from The People.

But even on DU - we will blame the victim.

The vast majority

[ErikJ]

6. Dont blame the Banks-Blame yourself!

[riderinthestorm]

8. I hope that's sarcasm. You still have time to edit... nt

[ErikJ]

11. Herman Cain's Quote

a few weeks ago.

[defendandprotect]

31. Rudy Guiliani's comment on OWS was 'GET A JOB -- !!!' ---

Olberman showed a clip of it one night last week --

Takes a lot of money, evidently, to be that callous and brutal -- !!



:puke:

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Why?

[Po_d Mainiac]

53. ayuh

I used white-out and 'copy paste' to fudge income on 3rd mortgage applications
I was taking out on spec houses
whom my 'bought off appraisor's' jacked the value of
that I then securitized
but never bothered to record the liens
or transfered into the securities as required by statute
but still were blessed with AAA+ ratings
which I then bundled off into MBS's and CDO's
which I peddled to investors and trust funds that thought they were buying
'money good' paper on first mortgages to qualified applicants whom were buying primary first residenses
Then I 'synthesized that same paper and got AIG and Freddie to guarantee it really wasn't used toilet paper
and I made tons of money
esp after getting all that money from the FED and Treasury when they bailed out AIG and the GSE's

oops, did I really do that?

Fuck you Mr Cain--U Un-Able prick
:toast:

[sarcasmo]

64. Blame yourself, sure sounds like a right wing talking point.

[OhioChick]

7. Shameful n/t

[riderinthestorm]

9. While I agree with most of this blog posting, I vehemently disagree with this part

" Speaking as a small employer, I would rather have a root canal than another employee. Let’s see. You first have to hire someone you trust without some labor lawyer suing you for some type of discrimination. Then you have OSHA to make sure your work place is safe. Then you have workmans compensation insurance, unemployment taxes, health insurance, liability insurance, now Obamacare. Oh be careful not to be deemed to have a “hostile work environment”. Then you have to negotiate the labor laws. The Department of Labor is constantly cranking out regulation.

Then you get the pleasure of paying payroll taxes both state and federal along with the required filing of a multitude of payroll forms. Miss filing or paying these taxes and you will be crushed with interest and penalties.

Of course, you are competing with businesses that can hire at a fraction of the cost of American Labor and with very little regulations. In this economy, no one in their right mind is hiring into this unstable and declining economy.

If business turns down all you have to worry about is laying off workers. Of course your unemployment insurance tax will go up 200% for years. Then you only have to then worry about a wrongful termination law suit."



I am a small biz owner. I don't find the taxes, regulations, or any other aspect of hiring of new employees to be cumbersome or constraining on me. The agenda of the person who sent in that contribution is to be questioned as it sounds a bit too "Ron Paul" for me.

Just a small quibble with an otherwise excellent summation.

[WCGreen]

24. A couple of things...

As an employer, you do not pay withholding tax, you collect them from the employee and then pass them on to the taxing agency. The reason they come down hard on you if you miss is because it isn't your money. It is the money taken from wages and salary that you are holding for the taxing agency.

You only pay unemployment tax on the first 8k, after that, no more liability.

Workers comp is in fact, cheap liability protection for the safety of the workers.

I am using the you pronoun as an answer to the employer you are channeling to us.

I have been an accountant for over 20 years now and have dealt with dozens of small businesses over the years.

I have yet to see one of them be taken to court for problems with employees.

It is a myth that that happens "all the time".

It's just crazy what these people believe.

[Enthusiast]

42. "It's just crazy what these people believe."

The misinformation machine runs 24/7.

[Major Nikon]

43. Employers who are afraid of discrimination complaints generally have good cause

...because they are the ones discriminating. Don't discriminate against your employees and don't allow hostile work environments and you don't have anything to fear from EEOC complaints or lawsuits.

[noiretextatique]

61. employers pay SSI and Medicare, in addition to UI

they pay the same 7.65% rate as employees. it is not a withholding tax, but it is a payroll tax. in tough times, employers try to evade paying that tax and hire contractors...i see this a lot on craigslist.

[dotymed]

66. This is how many residential contractors bypass the law

and "make" large sums of money. They hire an employee by the hour, make them provide their own hand tools, do not provide any benefits including UI because they claim these employees as "independent contractors" and they are sent a 1099 form at the end of each year. The residential construction industry depends on this illegal "business model" so that the contractors can make big bucks while the workers are left totally unprotected. I was one of these "independent contractors" for years. I didn't even realize it at first, until the IRS informed me while they were demanding huge payments, interests and penalties. Of course the contractor lived large.

Thank God for Unions. After years of anti-union propaganda spread by the greedy, I finally learned the truth. It changed my life.

[eridani]

26. The overall point makes sense though. Businesses don't want to hire--

--unless they really need to in order to meet increased demand.

[riderinthestorm]

27. Agreed! I just had to post my own small quibble with that part. nt

[defendandprotect]

33. Your problem is capitalism and corrupt government, not LABOR ... !!!

Capitalism isn't about competitition -- it's about killing the competitition.

[Nevernose]

36. I was going to start a whites-only chainsaw juggling business

But those government regulations are just too burdensome.

(Do I really need to add a sarcasm tag?)

[freshwest]

39. Thank you, well said.

[Enthusiast]

41. Thanks for your contribution. nt

[mackdaddy]

56. "Another employee" no, -- the First employee, YES..

All of the issues listed are true and just part of running ANY business. There are also a lot more regulations and record keeping and taxes you have to collect like sales taxes for hundreds of different tax districts in just Ohio and forms like the W9 just to sell products or services now. But this is the same as it has been for any of our lifetimes!

Where the above statement is true is for going from a sole proprietor to having ANY employees. Pretty much any small business that has even one employee other than the owner will need another employee to just keep up with all of the books (or outsourced bookkeeper). That is a major reason I have not grown my business to that next step. The smallest business with employees is almost always 3 or 4 people.

But once you have the system in place to keep track whether you have 3 employees or 25 is not much different from the standpoint of these requirements.

Finally most of what was being complained about in the quoted statement I agree is bogus. Yes it is a risk you could run into a gold digger trying to scam you with false accusations, but you can run into this just walking out your front door. Most of the labor laws are just making sure you treat your employees FAIRLY! Don't try to screw people over and it is not an issue.

[Downwinder]

12. I keep seeing "average" figures. What do the figures look like

if you take the 1% out of the equation?

[Earth_First]

13. Exactly.

It's the whole, if three individuals are in an elevator, two are unemployed and one is a Wall Street banker, the average median income in this group is wholly skewed.

[caraher]

46. No, average and median mean different things

Yes, the *average* is skewed upward by the presence of the banker, because for the average you add the numbers and divide by 3.

But no, the *median* is not skewed by the presence of the banker, because for the median you list the incomes in descending order and report the one in the middle.

So look for median figures if you want a better picture of how the typical person fares - that figure is immune to the distortions of the top 1%

[Mendocino]

47. Bill Gates and I were

in an elevator. The combined income was a billion. The average income was $500 million. I had no idea I was so rich and that poor Bill was having such a financial crisis. I loaned him a couple bucks, it was the least I could do. :)

[renko]

35. If you find out, do let me know...

I've not 'enough posts' to send email (wtf?), but should be able to receive it.

I've long wondered the breakdown of median and average wages subtracting out the top 1%, 10%, and 20%.

I know roughly 1/2 of all 130ish million jobs pay less than $13/hr, and nearly 1/4 of *those* are minimum wage. But the *real* mean and median wages would be a powerful discussion/debating point.

Best.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

38. Once you get to 50 posts, you will be able to send and receive private

messages.

You need to post more!

:hi:

[renko]

76. Thanks! ...

But I'm burned out after getting repeatedly banned from our local paper for posting the truth, facts, and cites (altho' occasionally a mite too strident-this is Iowa, what can you do?).

Will try, tho'.
Thanks and Best.

[PSPS]

14. I'm as pissed off at "the man" as anyone, but this piece is ridiculous.

I hate it when someone posts a piece that intentionally attempts to mislead the reader to invoke outrage. The real figures are bad enough without having to undermine your credibility by cherry picking statistics to make it "seem worse."

#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.

Yes, 58% of everyone including infants and geriatrics. So this is intentionally misleading. The participation rate for men 20 and over is 74%.

#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.

Maybe, but 83% are covered by some kind of health insurance.

#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.

Maybe, but median income is of little value when you have a large number of low-paying jobs. The average income is more useful, and that stands around $36,000. (Average household income is around $50K.)

I could go on, but you get the point.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. thank you for saving me the bother of posting the same point.

what was the old saying about statistics?

[sammytko]

20. Lies, damned lies, and statistics?

Yeah, looks o I ous, but really need to do some thinking on those numbers.

[Dash Riprock]

44. Take your pick.

Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything. ~Gregg Easterbrook


98% of all statistics are made up. ~Author Unknown


Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. ~Aaron Levenstein


Say you were standing with one foot in the oven and one foot in an ice bucket. According to the percentage people, you should be perfectly comfortable. ~Bobby Bragan, 1963


Statistics can be made to prove anything - even the truth. ~Author Unknown


Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off. ~Paul Brodeur, Outrageous Misconduct


Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable. ~Author Unknown


Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math. ~Author Unknown


He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts - for support rather than for illumination. ~Andrew Lang


One more fagot of these adamantine bandages is the new science of Statistics. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Statistics are like women; mirrors of purest virtue and truth, or like whores to use as one pleases. ~Theodor Billroth


Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you have carefully considered what they do not say. ~William W. Watt


Then there is the man who drowned crossing a stream with an average depth of six inches. ~W.I.E. Gates


There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up. ~Rex Stout, Death of a Doxy


I always find that statistics are hard to swallow and impossible to digest. The only one I can ever remember is that if all the people who go to sleep in church were laid end to end they would be a lot more comfortable. ~Mrs. Robert A. Taft


Satan delights equally in statistics and in quoting scripture.... ~H.G. Wells, The Undying Fire


The average human has one breast and one testicle. ~Des McHale


While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will be up to, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician. ~Arthur Conan Doyle


A statistical analysis, properly conducted, is a delicate dissection of uncertainties, a surgery of suppositions. ~M.J. Moroney


Statistics may be defined as "a body of methods for making wise decisions in the face of uncertainty." ~W.A. Wallis


After all, facts are facts, and although we may quote one to another with a chuckle the words of the Wise Statesman, "Lies - damned lies - and statistics," still there are some easy figures the simplest must understand, and the astutest cannot wriggle out of. ~Leonard Courtney, speech, August 1895, New York, "To My Fellow-Disciples at Saratoga Springs," printed in The National Review (London, 1895) (Thanks, Mark)


Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." ~Mark Twain, autobiography, 1904 (but, as yet no actual record of this under Disraeli's authorship)


The theory of probabilities is at bottom nothing but common sense reduced to calculus. ~Laplace, Théorie analytique des probabilités, 1820


I abhor averages. I like the individual case. A man may have six meals one day and none the next, making an average of three meals per day, but that is not a good way to live. ~Louis D. Brandeis

[ErikJ]

22. Median is more accurate

Because you have lots of people making billions who unfairly weight the average higher. If you have 10 guys in a bar making average of $30 K suddenly joined by a billionaire their average income goes to $100 mill each.

[strategery blunder]

23. You aren't exactly perfect, either...

I will give you points #1 and #2.

However, with point #3, yes, that's the point. Median means "half earn less, half earn more." When the top 1% are scamming, defrauding, and pilfering eight-and-nine figure compensation off the 99%, yes that will skew the arithmetic mean. Yes, there ARE a large number of low-paying jobs, too many of them relative to the economy because the 1% is hoarding all the productivity of said economy for themselves, and that's the point! Using the median accurately reflects this problem with the American economy, it reflects income inequality fairly (especially when contrasted to how the earnings of Bill Gates and hedge fund managers pull the mean up, reflecting prosperity that the 99% simply don't enjoy), and I don't see how using that statistic is deceptive. Not at all.

[DCBob]

48. It also irritates me to no end when people exaggerate the facts to push an agenda.

Yes, you are the right, the truth is bad enough.

[fasttense]

49. You are wrong about #1

If you go to the link, it posts where it gets its numbers. This is based on the total, non-institutional, 16 years and older, civilian population. It does NOT include infants and children. It does NOT include elderly people in nursing homes, rehab centers, hospitals or prison.

What I believe the poster and writer of the article are trying to articulate is that the adult Participation Rate has also dropped during this depression. America is back to 1984 civilian participation employment rates. After 1984, there was a general upward trend for employment participation. But since the depression, there is a continued decline. Considering the fact that the elderly are working longer into their golden years, this trend indicates that our newly graduating younger population is NOT finding jobs.

I hate it when someone attempts to clear up statistical information by providing more misleading information. The article was perfectly clear about their numbers. I could check your facts on the other statements but they are probably wrong too, and I'm bored now.

[DCBob]

51. Actually the decline started around year 2000 when the tech bubble burst..

Indicating the rise in labor force up to 2000 could also be considered a bubble and unrealistic and 64-65% may be more the norm and stable rate.

[fasttense]

57. Now that is a very interesting graph. n/t

[dkf]

80. Yes it is. That's a smaller impact from women entering the workforce than I would expect.

[lumberjack_jeff]

73. In 1984, stay-at-home people were there primarily by choice.

Today they're all engaged in gladiatorial combat for the few existing jobs.

[Lucky Luciano]

52. Labor force participation was 64% before 2008.

You have to back 30 years or so to find a smaller rate, but the smaller rates back then were due more to women not yet joining the labor force as they have today.

[bhikkhu]

86. Yes, and it is surprising how a 3% change feels like so much more

[midnight]

55. PSPS, I think the point is being missed by you. No matter if you slice the median income at 36,000

or 50,000 it does not buy much in this ecomomy.... But the more important point is why does someone with 50,000 have to pay more for health care than congress, more for taxes than General Electric... the point of this list is that if compared to those millionaires running congress and wall street, 50,000 is a weekend trip to their home in the Hamptons or other destinations....

[lumberjack_jeff]

72. Labor force participation in the last 15 years.

Here's the labor force participation rate in the US.


Here is the employment to population ratio among men.


If you're concerned with people, you want to know how the average person is doing, thus you use the median.

Average income is meaningless from a social policy standpoint except to note how equitably the income is spread around relative to the median.

[OnlinePoker]

77. Wrong on the first point.

Current employed people in the U.S. is 140.302 million. With a population of 312.598 million, this, in fact, is only 44.9% of the population.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

[dkf]

15. They aren't going to be able to save everyone.

"That is one reason why I try to encourage everyone to become more independent of the system."

[999998th word]

37. What.....?

[femrap]

16. We're number

One!!!!:sarcasm:

Well, I do believe we are number 1 in Income Inequality....Portugal trails us a bit.

[midnight]

17. k&R.

[Odin2005]

19. I think #1 is misleading.

Since it is obviously counting kids and retired people and people who are too disabled to work.

[sammytko]

21. Right. The number employed in my household would've be "0"! We are retired

Bring in a decent income.

Just think, if the us was made up of families consisting of working dad, SAHM, and two kids, employment would only be 25%

[fasttense]

59. No, it is not counting kids or institutionalized adults.

Click on link, and then click on the link's link. It clearly identifies where it gets its numbers from.

[proud2BlibKansan]

70. Actually it's not including kids and retired people

Read the linked article.

[bhikkhu]

84. I think it is usually all adults over 16, including students and retired people

The link may say one thing, but the data comes from here: http://www.bls.gov/cps/lfcharacteristics.htm#nlf. Its a pain to try to find individual bits of information in there, and there's so much that its easy to confuse things, but it is all there.

One "check" on the numbers is that total US jobs are about 140 million, and its pretty hard to get to the numbers in the OP to work unless you are looking at the great majority of the population.

[snot]

28. But . . . it's not a Depression!

[defendandprotect]

34. Of course, it's a Depression -- and don't know how anyone could doubt that ... but as long as we

pretend that they are telling the truth about the "Great Recession" -- :puke:

Then they can get away with it -- !!


In fact, Obama called it a "depression" a year ago this August -- an article

popped up on Yahoo - -but before I got it posted "Depression" was scrubbed and

"recession" put in its place.

[snot]

69. Sorry, forgot the sarcasm smilie.

[defendandprotect]

103. Just wanted to confirm what you were saying -- !!!

:hi:

[colsohlibgal]

30. Insanity And Legalized Theft

The bill of goods so many people swallowed is amazing.

If you'd like to see red read the book "Retirement Heist" by WSJ's Ellen Schultz, if you'd like to laugh while being totally alarmed read "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis.

Its been an ongoing money transfer upward of stunning proportions as a chosen few get filthy rich while people and countries go broke and so deep in debt.

It's been enabled here by the bad combo of the Murdoch media propoganda machine and enough dumbed down people who amazingly buy what they hear from Rush, Hannity, Beck and other traitorous liars/sociopaths.

Let us hope the reckoning/awakening comes soon enough.

[Enthusiast]

40. I have to take issue with # 7.

According to Rush Limbaugh America's poor have it far too good. Most of them have cable TV in every room, the internet, a refrigerator, a microwave and a car.

[russspeakeasy]

54. ...and some of them have a pet for christs sake...

[Enthusiast]

60. They should have to eat the pet before they get food stamps.

[sendero]

50. #7

And yet probably way less than 50% of that 50% understand and or identify with the OWS movement.

It is sad to say, but on some level Americans are getting exactly what they deserve, they bend over and take it in favor of believing a bunch of bullshit spouted by the financial rapists and their political thugs.

I know this will change some day, people will eventually reach the point where they say "no mas" but that should have happened years ago.

[Hanks]

58. So much

for that 'change and hope' we all got suckered into believing. Oh, sorry, I forgot - it ain't Obama's fault...

[Systematic Chaos]

62. Your transparency is transparently transparent.

n/t

[HughBeaumont]

65. It isn't.

This is 31 years of Crap-onomics coming to it's inevitable conclusion. If Obama's election means anything, it's the sun-glaring-in-your-face truism that our problems stretch far beyond presidents at this point. The system is broken and compromised by corporate America and the wealthy that run it from head to toe.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

96. welcome to DU.

O_o

[dotymed]

63. Thanks for the facts Proud2.

We all know that we are in much worse shape economically and in most other ways. The statistics help us to realize how bad it actually is.

As a single male with heart disease and not a lot of prospects to improve my financial condition (although I am luckier than many, I have a home, etc.) it is impossible to seek a compatible mate. I am educated and I enjoy an intelligent person to be with. One who is not very materialistic. It is hard to start a relationship when you (at 50) say" I am retired and will probably not ever have a lot of material possessions, I don't do many physical activities, etc."

Our society is based on capitalism. It doesn't matter that you made good money (in another life) and have destroyed your credit trying to stay alive... Life today is based on materialism. Everything seems so shallow.

It may be harder on a young, healthy person who is unemployed or underemployed, IDK.

I do know that things are difficult for most people and "the American dream" has become less and less obtainable, yet "consumerism' paints a different picture..

Our society has changed dramatically in my life time and IMO not for the better. Americans must be aware of the truth of the world in which they live... excuse my rambling.

[SammyWinstonJack]

67. Hey now.....Obama says we are the ENVY OF THE WORLD!

:rofl: :silly: :banghead:

[caseymoz]

75. One interesting detail I notice

Americans are $7.7 trillion dollars poorer now than in 2007.

Didn't TARP cost about a $7 trillion? You add in about a ten percent for administration, and it adds up very closely.

[Jim_Shorts]

81. What drives me nuts

is when people quote the government released unemployment number,(currently 9%) it makes me want to bite the screen. The number is reached by looking at people who were actively searching for work in the last 4 weeks. (ie: collecting unemployment)

You may just as well use the number of people who just got fired from 7-Eleven in the last 3 days by a man named Bob.

[judesedit]

82. This downslide started years before Obama took office. Unless you're a millionaire, if you vote for

a republican, you're voting AGAINST yourself. In case you haven't noticed, the republicans have voted down anything Obama has tried to do for you. The GOP is comfortably in the pockets of the lobbyists for big oil, pharma, and Wall St. Half of "our" Congress are millionaires. Do you think they want change? They are fighting to continue getting richer, while you continue getting poorer. The GOP is trying to redistrict, change election rules, disenfranchize minority voters, keep e-voting machines at our polling places, do anything they can to lie, cheat and steal their way to a victory..like they have been doing forever. Wake up and educate yourselves because apparently you got a lousy education in this country if you think this is Obama's doing.

[judesedit]

85. Get the money OUT of politics and watch the wage gap between the 1% and 99% start to shrink

The lobbyists and their puppets running this country have sold everything they can in this country, to include jobs, industry, parks, ports, cities, bridges, water, housing, etc., to foreign investors for $$$$$$ for their own use and put that money in foreign banks so they can't be taxed on it. We don't even make our own pharmaceuticals anymore. You trust that? The greed and ignorance in this country is astounding. To cheer when an influential "American" says, "let them die if they don't have health insurance" or "waterboarding is okay in time of war", even if we start the war to steal foreign oil, is pathetic. Some still believe Saddam had something to do with 9/11. These ignorant blood-thirsty war mongers are the biggest terrorists of all and they live right here. Funny how the people who create all this devastation never have to feel the effects of their work. They are buying acres of land in other countries and building underground cities here for themselves so they can run and hide with their $$$$ when the shit hits the fan. Get with it people, vote the money OUT of politics and use an absentee ballot if possible. Or you are seeing the beginning of the end of America. And it's got almost nothing to do with Obama. This has been in the works for decades. Do your homework.

[rusty fender]

92. True, Obama did not create this mess, but

he isn't doing anything to ameliorate it.x(

[Yavin4]

83. Our Economic Mess Is A By Product of Globalization

Globalization exists because that's how we fund our MIC. We outsource overseas and create trade imbalances. Then the countries with a trade surplus with us, use their surpluses to buy our debt. And that money funds our MIC.

[DianeK]

94. kick

[Shagbark Hickory]

97. Lets keep having babies.

That'll fix everything.

[DeSwiss]

98. K&R

- Sometimes even I get tired of pointing out the obvious. But once again I'll try: This is what it's like to be a slave. WE. ARE. SLAVES.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp6umQT58A">The Story Of Your Enslavement

[crim son]

99. I'm not even mildly surprised.

I'm living it, my friends are living it. What surprises me is the fact that our government, both dems and rethugs, are pretending it really doesn't matter and instead spending our tax dollars liberating everybody but their own citizens.

[Mimosa]

100. K&R for the FACTS. n/t

[lib2DaBone]

101. Send to Obama. Tell him to get home.. quit signing deals for Asian "Fair" Trade.

Obama come home. Get off vacation. NO MORE FREE TRADE.. as if the Korean and Colombian deals were not bad enough. How about some "Fair" trade deals for a change?

Mr. Obama.. I am really begining to dislike the sight of you.. just like George Bush.

Not a hater.. just a realist.

[Romulox]

104. "Should I buy a Prius?" nt