- Over 50 million Americans live in zip codes with over 55% unemployment.
- Only 11% of Americans, 4% of Europeans, and 2% of Asians think their jobs are great.
- The US savings rate has risen from 1.9% in 2005 to 5%; and the savers to spenders ratio has risen from 50/50 to 65/33.
- The suicide rate in American has risen 24% in 15 years with more than 42,000 suicides in 2014.
- The US labor participation rate has dropped from 67.3% in 2000 to 62.6%. Of the new jobs created, 44% have been low wage service jobs.
- There is no significant correlation between taxes and growth. Trickle down doesn’t work.
- We set records for global heat for the 11th month in a row, and by a margin of 0.77F.
- Approximately $1.4T of corporate wealth is held in off-shore tax havens, which means lost tax revenues of $111B.
- The upper middle class are the largest source of tax income in the US (51.6%); but people making less than $118,500 carry the payroll and other taxes. Corporate tax revenue is down to 10.6% after being two or three times that in the 1950s.
- Wealth inequality is so extreme that while the richest 62 gained $542B, the people in the middle lost $1T.
- Since the Great Recession (the Second Great Depression), the poor have seen rent increase from 28% of their income to 47% of their income while wages have been relatively flat.
- Since 2004, median household expenses have grown by 14% while income has declined by 13%.
Pretending Not To Panic 