Which way are you headed?

One of my favorite blogs, ZeroHedge, posted a piece by Michael Snyder of the Economic Collapse Blog that puts the national economic picture in context.

The post, “17 Facts to Show to Anyone That Still Believes That the U.S. Economy Is Just Fine,” provides the following data:

1) The homeownership rate in the United States has dropped to the lowest level in 19 years.

2) Consumer spending for durable goods has dropped by 3.23 percent since November. This is a clear sign that an economic slowdown is ahead.

3) Major retailers are closing stores at the fastest pace that we have seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

4) According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 percent of all families in the United States do not have a single member that is employed. That means that one out of every five families in the entire country is completely unemployed.

5) There are 1.3 million fewer jobs in the U.S. economy than when the last recession began in December 2007. Meanwhile, our population has continued to grow steadily since that time.

6) According to a new report from the National Employment Law Project, the quality of the jobs that have been “created” since the end of the last recession does not match the quality of the jobs lost during the last recession…Lower-wage industries constituted 22 percent of recession losses, but 44 percent of recovery growth…Mid-wage industries constituted 37 percent of recession losses, but only 26 percent of recovery growth…Higher-wage industries constituted 41 percent of recession losses, and 30 percent of recovery growth.

7) After adjusting for inflation, men who work full-time in America today make less money than men who worked full-time in America 40 years ago.

8) It is hard to believe, but 62 percent of all Americans make $20 or less an hour at this point.

9) Nine of the top ten occupations in the U.S. pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year.

10) The middle class in Canada now makes more money than the middle class in the United States does.

11) According to one recent study, 40 percent of all Americans could not come up with $2000 right now even if there was a major emergency.

12) Less than one out of every four Americans has enough money put away to cover six months of expenses if there was a job loss or major emergency.

13) An astounding 56 percent of all Americans have subprime credit in 2014.

14) As I wrote about the other day, there are now 49 million Americans that are dealing with food insecurity.

15) Ten years ago, the number of women in the U.S. that had jobs outnumbered the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps by more than a 2 to 1 margin. But now the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have jobs.

16) 69 percent of the federal budget is spent either on entitlements or on welfare programs.

17) The number of Americans receiving benefits from the federal government each month exceeds the number of full-time workers in the private sector by more than 60 million.

If you’d like to see some of the underlying data for each of the above points, please go to, “17 Facts to Show to Anyone That Still Believes That the U.S. Economy Is Just Fine.”

When I read that list, I don’t believe “Happy Days Are Here Again” when it comes to the U.S. economy. If anything, I think the United States could go over an economic cliff in my lifetime and I want to be prepared when that day comes.

How about you?

Chris Peterson

Freedom Writers Publishing
1815 Central Park Dr. #358
Steamboat Springs, CO  80487