Are You Better Off Today Than you Were Two 1/2 Years Ago?
Numbers Don't Lie.
---------------------------------Jan 2009-------Sept 2011
Price/gallon gas-----------------------------------$1.83 ---------------$3.69
Crude oil (barrel)----------------------------------$38.74--------------$115.34
Corn, No.2 yellow----------------------------------$3.56---------------$14.33
Soybeans--------------------------------------------$9.66----------------$13.58
Raw Sugar cane,lb--------------------------------$13.37--------------$35.39
Unemployment rate, non-farm-----------------7.6%-----------------9.1%
Unemployment rate, blacks--------------------12.6%----------------16.7%
Number of unemployed--------------------------10,616,000---------14,500,000
Number of fed. Employees----------------------2,779,000-----------2,840,000
Real median household income---------------$50,112------------$49,777
Number of food stamp recipients --------------31,983,716--------43,300,878
Unemployment benefit recipients--------------7,526,598----------9,393,838
Number of long-term unemployed-------------2,600,000----------6,900,000
Poverty rate, individuals---------------------------13.2%---------------15.1%
People in poverty in U.S.--------------------------39,800,000---------46,200,000
Economic Freedom World Ranking------------5----------------------9
Failed banks-----------------------------------------140--------------------170
Dollar vs Jap yen exchange rate----------------89.76------------------76.15
National debt, in trillions------------------------$10.627----------------$15.052
Just take this last item: In the last 2.5 years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation's history. Over 27 times as fast! Metaphorically, speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane 27 times faster . . . it would be doing 1,755 MPH! This is a disaster! . Sources: (1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. of Labor; (7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundation and WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC; (13) Federal Reserve; (14) U.S. Treasury