Strangely enough, these ten facts are not the biggest bombshell I came accross about our government this afternoon. I'll spring the other one on you when I think it's an oppertune moment. Unfortunately all of the charts I pasted in did not come out, so you'll have to settle with painting with words. Let me mention just the National Debt. One chart shows at the beginning of the fiscal year 2014 that we were 16 Trillion and something. And by the end of the fiscal year 2014 we were MORE than a Trillion higher at 17 and something Trillion. But they tell us now the deficet was just over 500 Billion then and just under 500 Billion now. But how can this we when - - in six years seemingly, the deficit has risen from ten to eighteen Trillion dollars. We have gone up eight Trillion in six years! Someone is lying and the sad fact is it seems to be Obama. Now the deficit stands at OVER eighteen Trillion dollars and the Republicans claim in eight years it will be 24 Trillion dollars. This contradicts an observation I was just making in Word earlier in the day when I said the following:
I might note that the Republicans claimed that with their budget plan we’d have a balanced budget in eight years. But if trends keep up the way they’ve been going within the past few years, we’ll have a balanced budget in four years, just like we did with Clinton. The Republicans are being bogus talking about deficits.
For each of the charts that I am about to share with you, I want you to focus on the last shaded gray bar on each chart which represents the last recession. As you will see, our economic problems are significantly worse than they were just before the financial crisis of 2008. That means that we are far less equipped to handle a major economic crisis than we were the last time.
#1 The National Debt
Just prior to the last recession, the U.S. national debt was a bit above 9 trillion dollars. Since that time, it has nearly doubled. So does that make us better off or worse off? The answer, of course, is obvious. And even though Barack Obama promises that “deficits are under control”, more than a trillion dollars was added to the national debt in fiscal year 2014. What we are doing to future generations by burdening them with so much debt is beyond criminal. And so what does Barack Obama want to do now? He wants to ramp up government spending and increase the debt even faster. This is something that I covered in my previous article entitled “Barack Obama Says That What America Really Needs Is Lots More Debt“.
#2 Total Debt
Over the past 40 years, the total amount of debt in the United States has skyrocketed to astronomical heights. We have become a “buy now, pay later” society with devastating consequences. Back in 1975, our total debt level was sitting at about 2.5 trillion dollars. Just prior to the last recession, it was sitting at about 50 trillion dollars, and today we are rapidly closing in on 60 trillion dollars.
#3 The Velocity Of Money
When an economy is healthy, money tends to change hands and circulate through the system quite rapidly. So it makes sense that the velocity of money fell dramatically during the last recession. But why has it kept going down since then?
#4 The Homeownership Rate
Were you aware that the rate of homeownership in the United States has fallen to a 20 year low? Traditionally, owning a home has been a sign that you belong to the middle class. And the last recession was really rough on the middle class, so it makes sense that the rate of homeownership declined during that time frame. But why has it continued to steadily decline ever since?
#5 The Employment Rate
Barack Obama loves to tell us how the unemployment rate is “going down”. But as I will explain later in this article, this decline is primarily based on accounting tricks. Posted below is a chart of the civilian employment-population ratio. Just prior to the last recession, approximately 63 percent of the working age population of the United States was employed. During the recession, this ratio fell to below 59 percent and it stayed there for several years. Just recently it has peeked back above 59 percent, but we are still very, very far from where we used to be, and now the next economic downturn is rapidly approaching.
#6 The Labor Force Participation Rate
So how can Obama get away with saying that the unemployment rate has gone down dramatically? Well, each month the government takes thousands upon thousands of long-term unemployed workers and decides that they have been unemployed for so long that they no longer qualify as “part of the labor force”. As a result, the “labor force participation rate” has fallen substantially since the end of the last recession…
#7 The Inactivity Rate For Men In Their Prime Working Years
If things are “getting better”, then why are so many men in their prime working years doing nothing at all? Just prior to the last recession, the inactivity rate for men in their prime working years was about 9 percent. Today it is just about 12 percent.
#8 Real Median Household Income
Not only is a smaller percentage of Americans employed today than compared to just prior to the last recession, the quality of our jobs has gone down as well. This is one of the factors which has resulted in a stunning decline of real median household income.
I have shared these next numbers before, but they bear repeating. In America today, most Americans do not make enough to support a middle class lifestyle on a single salary. The following figures come directly from the Social Security Administration…
-39 percent of American workers make less than $20,000 a year.
-52 percent of American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
-63 percent of American workers make less than $40,000 a year.
-72 percent of American workers make less than $50,000 a year.
We all know people that are working part-time jobs because that is all that they can find in this economy. As the quality of our jobs continues to deteriorate, the numbers above are going to become even more dismal.
#9 Inflation
Even as our incomes have stagnated, the cost of living just continues to rise steadily. For example, the cost of food and beverages has gone up nearly 50 percent just since the year 2000.
#10 Government Dependence
As the middle class shrinks and the number of Americans that cannot independently take care of themselves soars, dependence on the government is reaching unprecedented heights. For instance, the federal government is now spending about twice as much on food stamps as it was just prior to the last recession. How in the world can anyone dare to call this an “economic recovery”?
We had oatmeal for breakfast but initially there were bowls of corn flakes sitting out. It was a major wait to get even the drinks. Connie’s insulin was high and her blood pressure was low being only 104 over 59, and she was pretty sleepy. I ended up having three English muffins. The first was with butter and jelly and I had one from Connie and one from Owen. We had scrambled eggs with that. I watched Meet the Press tuning in a little late. The ambassador to Israel was on and Jerry Brown also talking about global warming. I listened to “Breakfast with the Beatles”. They played a few odd BBC snippets. They played that George Harrison rarity of “I Live for You” and the steel guitar player has since passed away. They played a fast demo version of “Two of Us”. They were supposed to have some Terry guy on who is a friend of Jimmy Page but I never heard him.
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