50 Statistics About The U.S. Economy That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe Read

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  • #595491
    #698679

    me on 28th Ave SW
    Participant

    aaaaaaaaAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Glad there is some free music/entertainment in West Seattle this weekend. Yikes.

    #698680

    JoB
    Participant

    doesn’t it just make you fell all warm and fuzzy :(

    #698681

    I didnt mean to be a downer. It just blew my mind, and I had to share.

    #698682

    cjboffoli
    Participant

    Some of those statistics can seem a bit more alarming when presented without context. I find a good antidote to a pile of depressing economic data is to spend some time on the TED website. It is easy to get stressed out by the never ending media stream of bad news and gloom. It is worth reminding ourselves that our country is also full of incredible innovators doing amazing work. http://www.ted.com/

    #698683

    inactive
    Member

    Cool link cjb – thanks for sharing.

    And, just to jump on the downer dogpile of economic gloom & doom with a staggering fact which blew MY mind: I had a conversation last week with a Bank of America mortgage officer. So, she tells me, Bank of America has hired 3,000 people to take calls in their Eminent Default Department. That’s just one lenders strategy to deal with the people who have not YET defaulted, but are gonna’. Multiply that by how many others …….grimmer than grim.

    So, yeah, I’ll go look at cjb’s site. No problem.

    #698684

    me on 28th Ave SW
    Participant

    I’m glad you shared too, just showing my flair for the dramatic. Those statistics (sadly) are quite reflective of what I see happening in my family and extended network of friends. Good to be aware…

    #698685

    charlabob
    Participant

    Perhaps another way of looking at the data referred to in the right-wing propaganda above is that it is almost too irrelevant to believe.

    Perhaps the banks are going to start answering the phones from mortgatge holders who are attempting to negotiate deals, rather than just ignore them until it is too late.

    #698686

    inactive
    Member

    Charla – Good point. Such is the hope, for certain.

    #698687

    JoB
    Participant

    did you notice how they overload you with debt scare so you miss stats like this one…

    More than 40% of those employed in the United States are now working in low-wage service jobs

    Perhaps the lack of investment in US based manufacturing jobs and the huge tax breaks given to the uber wealthy have more impact on our national debt than social programs on US debt?

    #698688

    Smitty
    Participant

    FWIW – Receipts and Outlays by year (in constant dollars):

    http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200

    When the tax cuts expire at the end of this year they will go from:

    10%/15%/25%/28%/33%/35%

    To:

    xx/15%/28%/31%/36%/39.6%

    Increases of:

    50%/12%/11%/9%/13%

    Also, the marriage penalty returns. The penalty can force a married couple to pay more in taxes than when they were single. Starting next year, the joint-filer standard deduction will fall back to about 167% of the amount for singles meaning lots of lower and middle-income couples will face higher tax bills.

    Shame on Bush for reducing the lowest bracket 50% and getting rid of the marriage penalty. Jerk.

    http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/taxes/how-the-expiring-bush-tax-cuts-affect-you/#ixzz0tIdisyt9

    #698689

    JoB
    Participant

    Smitty…

    Ok…

    it’s a budget.

    like any budget.

    you can’t provide more services

    or wage more war

    and cut income…

    Bush did.

    well, ok.. he wasn’t so good on the service part

    unless you count the payouts to big pharma masquerading as prescription assistance to the elderly

    but he more than made up for it on the war

    and corporate handouts

    and corporate tax exemptions

    and tax relief to high income earners…

    and it paid off big time to both groups

    their income is at an all time high

    yet they aren’t doing their part of that trickle down thing…

    When large corporations don’t pay taxes

    and don’t invest in American jobs it’s a double whammy on the budget…

    Bush left the mostly unfunded war

    and the financial mess he created

    for the next president to clean up…

    It could have been McCain..

    and the twit from Alaska

    but You got lucky

    a democrat picked up the pieces

    and you can bitch to your heart’s desire

    #698690

    DP
    Member

    Smitty,

    I want to understand the point you’re making above, but it’s not clear from how you’ve presented the numbers. Can you think of a better way to put this information, or summarize it a little differently for us?

    You’re saying that Bush lowered taxes for poor people, right? Can you expand on that a little, please?

    Thanks.

    –David

    #698691

    Smitty
    Participant

    DP,

    The “Bush tax cuts” lowered income taxes for ALL people – except those who didn’t pay any at all, of course (and here is the key ) PROPORTIONALLY more to the “poor”. The lowest bracket went from %15 to 10% (33%) and the highest bracket went from 39.6% to 35% (12%).

    In addition – as they relate to income taxes – the removal of the “marriage penalty” helps ALL brackets but has a bigger impact at the lower levels since their overall tax burden is so much less.

    Oddly enough – despite all the rhetoric – the “Bush tax cuts” actually made the income tax code MORE progressive, not regressive despite what (probably) most people think (thank the media).

    #698692

    JoB
    Participant

    smitty..

    i love that word.. proportionately…

    as though 5% of $30,000 ($1,500)

    was somehow so much more than 4.5% of $250,000 adjusted gross.. that is after every tax deduction known to man clicks in… ($11,250)…

    i suppose one could make an argument that there a so many more with those $30,000 incomes than $250,000 incomes and that it has a cumulative effect…

    but the choice to invest in jobs overseas instead of here in America has cut that number substantially….

    as it turns out.. the highest actual cash tax burden is currently shouldered by the supposedly upper middle class.. especially those in the $50,000 -100,000 tax range without the tax shelter of children or mortgages or ….

    and those with kids and mortgages are now being hit with the alternative minimum tax:(

    a fact the percentage game slight of hand slides right over….

    #698693

    Escondido
    Member

    oy vay iz meer….

    Saw that on the internet earlier this morning. Also saw the following. We are all so invested in capitalism, but perhaps we’ve outgrown it. This fellow says some interesting things. I’m finding it a challenge to wrap my mind around it, but he makes a lot of good points.

    http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/2010/06/28/rsa-animate-crisis-capitalism/

    #698694

    JoB
    Participant

    i don’t generally cross post links here but there are some stats buried in this article that you might find relevant.

    The economic model the right is trying so hard to protect isn’t good for our health…

    http://ouramericangeneration.org/blog/?p=577

    #698695

    DP
    Member

    Thank you for clarifying those figures for me, Smitty. In terms of tax cuts, it looks like you’re right: percentage-wise, President Bush did help people in lower income brackets more than he helped those in higher ones. Although I was against Bush on other grounds, I have to concede this point.

    At the same time, JoB makes a good point about what a few percentage points mean to a millionaire versus what they mean to a middle-class person, don’t you think? Now I know that some people (including some flat tax advocates on this blog) think that the question of how you make your money, and how much money you start off with shouldn’t enter into the tax discussion, but I can’t agree with them.

        

    That “50 Statistics” link that ToddinWestwood posted was an interesting mixture of facts and opinions presented as facts. Most of the items seemed to be neutral or left-wing in their slant, but there were a few that were definitely from the right—like the one about a “projected” shortage of doctors resulting from the Obama health care reform. In my book, that’s not a statistic. It’s propaganda.

    What I really got out of that “50 Statistics” page was the idea that America, as a country, and Americans, as individuals, are living beyond their means. And I can’t argue with that! I tell my kids not to use credit to pay for things that aren’t personal necessities—things like cell phones and cable TV—but they never listen. Similarly, I tell my government not to borrow money to pay for things that aren’t national necesseities—like war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But my government never listens either.

    In a particularly ironic turn of events, my daughter, against my advice, recently enlisted in the Army Reserve and will soon be shipping out for Afghanistan.

    Why has she done this?

     Is it for love of her country? -No.

     Is it for love of her fellow man? -No.

     Is it because of the $10,000 bonus the Army is paying her? -Yup.

    And what does she need this money so badly for? So badly that she’s willing to die for it?

    -Why, to pay off her cell phone bill, naturally. Along with a few other bills she’s racked up over the years since high school.

    Weird, huh?

    I wonder what percentage of our young soldiers enlisted specifically for the purpose of paying off debt.

    Now there’s an interesting statistic for you . . .

    –David

    #698696

    JoB
    Participant

    DP..

    wouldn’t it be nice if our children could learn from our mistakes?

    the baby of my family will turn 40 next year…

    and i am still waiting for that day:)

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