GETTING BETTER
Food stamps
Huffington Post - SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) lifted 4 million people above the official poverty line in 2012, according to new data that the Census Bureau. That's the highest level on record. (Census doesn't adjust its data for population growth, but we did and confirmed that the share of the population that SNAP lifted out of poverty also stood at a record high.)
Housing
New home sales highest since 2008
Homelssness down from 2007
Mortgage delinquencies decline
Homes with indoor plumbing up from 55% in 1940s to 99% now
GETTING WORSE
Economy
@SenSanders - The US has seen the loss of more than 5 million manufacturing jobs and the closure of more than 60,000 factories since 2000.
From the Economic Collapse Blog
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately one out of every six Americans is now living in poverty. The number of Americans living in poverty is now at a level not seen since the 1960s.
Today, approximately 20 percent of all children in the United States are living in poverty. Incredibly, a higher percentage of children is living in poverty in America today than was the case back in 1975.
Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are currently living in homes that are either considered to be either "low income" or impoverished.
29 percent of all African-American households with children are dealing with food insecurity.
The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million. That number has increased by 130 percent since 1996.
Families that have a head of household under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.
There are approximately 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
About 40 percent of all unemployed workers in America have been out of work for at least half a year.
One out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.
Right now, more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government. And that does not even include Social Security or Medicare.
An all-time record 48 million Americans are now on food stamps. Back when Barack Obama first took office, that number was only sitting at about 32 million.
According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of "Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming."
Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, close to one out of every six Americans is on food stamps. More than one out of every four children in the United States is enrolled in the food stamp program.
Elite
In 1965, the average CEO made 20 times the average worker. Now the ratio is 273 to 1, meaning the average CEO makes in a day what their workers make in a year.
Employment
Michael Snyder, Activist Post
- The percentage of working age Americans with a job fell to 58.3 percent in October. The lowest that number has been at any point since the year 2000 is 58.2 percent. In other words, there has been absolutely no "jobs recovery".
- The U.S. economy lost 623,000 full-time jobs last month. But we are being told to believe that the economy is actually getting "better".
- The number of American women with a job fell by 357,000 during the month of October.
- The average duration of unemployment in October 2013 was nearly three times as long as it was in October 2000.
- The number of Americans "not in the labor force" increased by an astounding 932,000 during October. In other words, the Obama administration would have us believe that nearly a million people "disappeared" from the U.S. labor force in a single month.
- The number of Americans "not in the labor force" has grown by more than 11 million since Barack Obama first entered the White House.
- In January 2000, there were 75 million working age Americans that did not have a job. Today, there are 102 million working age Americans that do not have a job.
Activist Post -The U.S. labor force participation rate is at a 35-year low.
Percentage of Americans who are participating in the labor force is the lowest that it has been in 35 years.
Longest unemployment 7.5% or higher since 1948
Health
Back in 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only 54.9 percent of all Americans are covered by employment-based health insurance.
Housing
Nearly half of all home purchases are all-cash deals.
The homeownership rate in the United States is now at the lowest level it has been in nearly 18 years.
There are approximately 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
The gap between the top 5% and bottom 20% of American households is the largest it has been since 1967
More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as were sold in 2012.
Home ownership lowest since 1995
Housing foreclosures hit a record in 2010
Corrected for inflation, housing prices in 2012 were at 1986 levels
For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year. 2012
Income
Half of the workers in the United States made less than $27,519 last year. That median wage is the lowest it's been since 1998.
@SenSanders - 95% of the new income generated in this country from 2009-2012 went to the top 1%.
Activist Post - According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.
Right now the middle class is taking home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before.
After accounting for inflation, right now 40 percent of all U.S. workers are making less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968.
@theprospect - Median household income is 11.6% lower than it was in 2000.
In 1989, the median American household made $51,681 in current dollars (the 2012 number, again, was $51,017). That means that 24 years ago, a middle class American family was making more than the a middle class family was making one year ago.
Median family income down 8% since 1970, net worth down 39%
The gap between the top 5% and bottom 20% of American households is the largest it has been since 1967
Labor
OFF THE CHARTS
Bottom 90% earning only $59 more than in 1966
Hourly wages have record drop
4.2 million Americans—37 percent of the unemployed—have been jobless for longer than six months, the highest rate in the last sixty years
Middle class has declined with fall of union membership
Wall Street Journal/Think Progress
Since 2000, U.S. multinationals have cut 2.9 million jobs here while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. This is likely just the tip of the iceberg as multinational corporations account for only about 20% of the labor force
40% of US workers paid less than a full time minimum wage employee in 1968
Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
Wages & salaries as a percent of GDP
Bottom 90% earning only $59 more than in 1966
Wages have fallen to a record low as a share of America’s gross domestic product. Until 1975, wages nearly always accounted for more than 50 percent of the nation’s G.D.P., but last year wages fell to a record low of 43.5 percent
The hourly minimum wage reached its peak value in 1968, when it was worth $10.57 in real terms, the Congressional Research Service calculated in a new report.
Self employment at all time low
Union membership at lowest since the 1930s
There are less Americans working in manufacturing today than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.
The labor force participation rate in June 2013 remained near the lowest level it has been at any time since 1978.
@RBReich - US has 2.4 million fewer jobs than when recession began, real median wage 5 percent lower, and 58% think we're in recession.
Longest unemployment 7.5% or higher since 1948
Poverty
U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.
The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today.
A higher percentage of children is living in poverty in America today than was the case back in 1975.
The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million. That number has increased by 130 percent since 1996.
in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid,
A weak social welfare policy has contributed to a rise in deep poverty: the number of people living in deep poverty has risen from 12.6 million in 2000, to 20.4 million people today. This includes over 15 million women and
A new report released by the National Center on Education Statistics reveals that nearly one in five public schools was considered high-poverty in 2011, a 60 percent increase since 2000.
In 2012 Food stamp use hit record level. .... The number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Prices
Gallon of gas: 1/20/09 -- $1.84; 1/21/13 -- $3.26
Retirement
Growing number of Americans feel they'll have to work until they're in the 80s . . .or until they die
Trade
When NAFTA was pushed through Congress in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. By 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.
Wealth
Wealth more concentrated at top than at any time since 1916
Harpers - Number of the 400 wealthiest Americans who count as small-business owners under House Republicans’ definition : 237
The United States has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country and that inequality is worse today than at any time since the late 1920s.
Young
Homeless young increasing
Percentage change in the past twenty-five years in the net worth of Americans thirty-five and younger: - 68 - Harpers
High school student employment down 50% since 1990
Children in poverty: Up 18% since 2006
The number of Americans in the 25 to 34 age group that live with their parents has grown by 25 percent since 2007.
Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you account for inflation.