National Debt: As of mid-August, 9.6 trillion dollars and damned little apparent prospect (or intention?) of ever paying it off.
Consumer Debt: As of last June, consumer debt was 2.6 trillion dollars of which 0.6 trillion, 38 percent, was incurred since G. W. Bush took office. In Fiscal Year 2007, the federal government’s income from all sources was 2.5 trillion dollars. We owe more than Uncle Sam takes in. It seems to me odd that network television has not come up with a game show, How You Have to Live Beyond your Means on Credit or, more realistically, How Much Longer Can It Last.
Annual Deficits: This year's current deficit is 370 billion dollars and growing daily. That of course does not include the money stolen and spent from the Social Security and other Trust Funds. Neither Obama nor McClain have a plan to fix it no matter what they say. Our trade imbalance, imports less exports, was more than 700 billion dollars last year. Not only do we consume more than we produce, we now consume even more than we could produce.
Off-Shore Job Exporter: The Economic Policy Institute estimates our trade policies have exported 2.2 million jobs to China alone. Throw in Mexico, India, other Latin America and Asia countries, what, maybe 0.8 million more. Since NAFTA under Clinton, the middle class continues to decline while poverty increases.
Wal-Mart: Congruent to the above, with more than 3,100 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in the U.S. we have the most per capita of any in the world; 1 store for every 100,000 of us. And don’t think that comes without cost!
Tax Loopholes for Corporations and the Super-Rich: While the corporate and upper income tax rate is 35 percent, try and find one that pays it. The Treasury Department reports, from 2000 to 2006, an average of 2.2 percent of GDP was collected in corporate taxes. This compares to an average of 3.4 percent in other industrial countries. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates, under current law, corporate revenues will decline to 1.9 percent of GDP. You don’t suppose there have been some backroom deals with our legislators in return for campaign contributions and other considerations do you?
Warren Buffet paid a smaller percentage of his income for taxes than did his secretary.
Go figure.
Registered Lobbyists: With more than 35 thousand lobbyists in Washington, more than 65 of them for each congressperson, the above is more easily understood.
Income Inequality: Bad and getting worse. The Huffington Post reports “…the wealthiest 15,000 families -- one one-hundredth of 1 percent of the population -- capturing fully one-fourth of the entire income growth from 2000 to 2006. Their average income rose from $15.2 million per year to $29.7 million per year. Meanwhile, the rest of us -- 133 million households that make up 90 percent of the country -- divided up 4 percent of the nation's income, adding about $305 to our average $30,354 income.”
This is patently absurd, simply atrocious, and wealth inequality is even worse.
Wealth Inequality: The wealthiest 1 percent of families own more than one third of the nations net worth. The top 10 percent of families own just over 72 percent. The bottom 80 percent own just over 15 percent of the nations wealth.
The bottom 40 percent of Americans own 0.2 tenths of one percent. To put that in perspective, the former Untouchable Cast in India number 17 percent of that country’s population. Thirty-seven million Americans live below the poverty line. Meanwhile, the 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the 50 million households in the bottom half of our population, more than the combined GNP of the 41 poorest nations with their 550 million people.
Homeless Men, Women and Children: In contrast to the above, the Urban Institute has estimated the number of homeless to be as high as 3.5 million people, 39% of which are children. And you think that you have been through some tough times? This in the richest country on earth, albeit amongst the worst in its distribution of wealth. Our economic inequity is very much like that of Mexico, Brazil, and Russia. The richest 1 percent of us have more wealth than 90 percent of us.
Minimum Wage: Just raised to $6.55 per hour, adjusted for inflation, it is still lower than it was in 1968. In conjunction with the above, so much for the War on Poverty; lost that one too.
Caloric Intake: Look around. Judging by our body form, our caloric intake must be the highest in the world. If not, it has to be the highest over that which is needed. Almost 65 percent of us are either obese or overweight. Forty percent of adults are projected to be obese, 30 or more pounds overweight, within 5 years. About 59 million of us, 31 percent are currently are obese.
