Running On A Hamster Wheel

If you want to gain a better idea of why economics is sometimes referred to as the dismal science, then reference the 50 statistics about the U.S. economy highlighted on the Coalition of the Obvious (COTO) Report’s blog.

The blog is anti-corporation oriented and the statistics are one-sided, but each has a link to source or support material to corroborate, so the article provides a concise one-page summary of statistics and links.

Below is a sampling:

#1) According to the Tax Foundation’s Microsimulation Model, to erase the 2010 U.S. budget deficit, the U.S. Congress would have to multiply each tax rate by 2.4.  Thus, the 10 percent rate would be 24 percent, the 15 percent rate would be 36 percent, and the 35 percent rate would have to be 85 percent.

#15) 39.68 million Americans are now on food stamps, which represents a new all-time record.  But things look like they are going to get even worse.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting that enrollment in the food stamp program will exceed 43 million Americans in 2011.

#25) In 2009, U.S. banks posted their sharpest decline in private lending since 1942.

#26) Defaults on apartment building mortgages held by U.S. banks climbed to a record 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2010.  That was almost twice the level of a year earlier.

#33) In Pinellas and Pasco counties, which include St. Petersburg, Florida and the suburbs to the north, there are 34,000 open foreclosure cases.  Ten years ago, there were only about 4,000.

#43) There are now 8 counties in the state of California that have unemployment rates of over 20 percent.

#50) In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined.