The direction of the country is very disconcerting. As much as jobs and the economy are on our minds, our nationalism and values are under attack too. It seems that one company after another is disallowing the flag at its place of business; patriotism is substituted for multicultural awareness; values are displaced for tolerance, and God is being systematically driven out of America. What makes this decline so insidious and lethal is that it is hard to measure. Meanwhile, it slowly erodes this nation like age slowly erodes our bodies.
While some aspects of Americana are hard to measure, we can measure many aspects of the economy. While a trip to the grocery store will tell you that things are going crazy, here are some numbers a friend emailed me that make the point even more: The country is headed in the wrong direction.
| January 2009 | January 2011 | % chg | Source | |
| Avg. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S. | $1.83 | $3.44 | 84% | 1 |
| Crude oil, European Brent (barrel) | $43.48 | $99.02 | 127.7% | 2 |
| Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel) | $38.74 | $91.38 | 135.9% | 2 |
| Gold: London (per troy oz.) | $853.25 | $1,369.50 | 60.5% | 2 |
| Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL | $3.56 | $6.33 | 78.1% | 2 |
| Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL | $9.66 | $13.75 | 42.3% | 2 |
| Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob | $13.37 | $35.39 | 164.7% | 2 |
| Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall | 7.6% | 9.4% | 23.7% | 3 |
| Unemployment rate, blacks | 12.6% | 15.8% | 25.4% | 3 |
| Number of unemployed | 11,616,000 | 14,485,000 | 24.7% | 3 |
| Number of fed. Employees | 2,779,000 | 2,840,000 | 2.2% | 3 |
| Real median household income | $50,112 | $49,777 | -0.7% | 4</ div> |
| Number of food stamp recipients | 31,983,716 | 43,200,878 | 35.1% | 5 |
| Number of</ span> unemployment benefit recipients | 7,526,598 | 9,193,838 | 22.2% | 6 |
| Number of long-term unemployed | 2,600,000 | 6,400,000 | 146. 2% | 3 |
| Poverty rate, individuals | 13.2% | 14.3% | 8.3% | 4 |
| People in poverty in U.S. | 39,800,000 | 43,600,000 | 9.5% | 4 |
| U.S.. Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings | 5 | 9 | n/a | 10 |
| Present Situation Index | 29.9 | 23.5 | -21.4% | 11 |
| Failed banks | 140 | 164 | 17.1% | 12 |
| U.S.. Dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate | 89.76 | 82.03 | -8.6% | 2 |
| U.S.. Money supply, M1, in billions | 1,575.1 | 1,865.7 | 18.4% | 13 |
| U.S.. Money supply, M2, in billions | 8,310.9 | 8,852. 3 | 6.5% | 13 |
| National debt, in trillions | $10..627 | $14..052 | 32.2% | 14 |
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
No comments:
Post a Comment