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Numbers From 2011 That Are Too Crazy To Believe

A person shouldn’t read a blog called The Economic Collapse Blog.  I mean, what good can come from that?  I really try not to get down about things that I can’t really control.  I only have control over my life and myself and I all I can do is make sure that I’m doing what I can do for myself and hope that everyone else is doing the same.  That said, they had a pretty interesting article over there called 50 economic numbers from 2011 that are almost too crazy to believe.  I’m not going to go over all 50 but if you want to read the full list click that link.

#8: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006.  Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.

I’d like to know why this is.  It seems in an era of high unemployment people would take to creating their own jobs.  Is it because a lot of those small businesses have gone out of business?  So those who used to be self-employed are unemployed.  Maybe.

#13 One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.

Yikes!!  If you are in this situation please do what you can to put something aside.  Super scary!

#15 According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.

That means on average we all would have to work for just over a year and a half to pay off all your debt.  If we didn’t eat, or dress yourself, or pay any rent or any other bills.   Does this include mortgages?  If so I’m right in the boat on this one.

#17 The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.

Close the post office!!

#20 If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.

Dang!  That makes me want to buy, I’ll tell ya that!

#25 According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980.  Today
they account for approximately 16.3%.

This is interesting, but not really surprising.  For one, health care costs are going up.  But also because they find (and can do something about) so much more than they could 22 years ago.  You are going to spend more on health care when there are more services.  We spend more on technology too, but only because there is so much more to buy.  Maybe 20 years ago if you had a heart problem (or whatever) they said “Sucks to be you.” and sent you home.  Now you take this pill and have this test and see this specialist and have this surgery and get this therapy and have a million follow ups for the rest of your life.  So yeah, when you combine that with rising costs I’m surprised we aren’t paying even more.

#27 If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.

Oh man…. I hope this isn’t you.  Please, just say no to debt.

#29 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.

This is a two fold problem.  One that’s $558 billion dollars leaving our economy every year.  Two, if we produced stuff here in the US again it would mean jobs for Americans!

#30 The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse.  According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

Ok, depressing.  But look at it this way.  If you put $1,000 into an IRA next year (just $80 a month) you could have more saved for retirement than a third of your friends.  If you build that up to $10,000 you will have more saved than half the people you know.  You could be better off than half of everyone with very little effort!  Do this!

#36 If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.

If you are younger than 35 all you have to do to be richer than almost 40% of the people you know is to have a net worth of nothing!!  Nothing!  I think student loans are to blame for a lot of this, plus our general consumerism society.

#48 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

Jeeze!  I think we have a debt problem.

What do you think about these facts?  Pretty crazy huh?

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