"Ugly stuff. And it's about to get a lot worse"

Forty-five million people (one in seven) are on food stamps.
One in seven is unemployed or underemployed.

Above statistics are, quite unbelievable, about the richest country in the world, the USA. Some more shocking facts:

• The percentage of those out of work defined as long-term unemployed is the highest (42%) since the Great Depression.
• Fifty-four percent of college graduates younger than 25 are unemployed or underemployed.
• Forty-seven percent receive some form of government assistance.
• Employment-to-population ratio for 25- to 54-year-olds is now 75.7%, lower than when the recession "ended" in June 2009.
• There are 7.7 million fewer full-time workers now than before the recession, and 3.3 million more part-time workers.
• Eight million people have left the labor force since the recession "ended" -- adding those back in would put the unemployment rate at 12% instead of 8.2%.
• The number of unemployed looking for work for at least 27 weeks jumped 310,000 in May, the sharpest increase in a year.
• Just 14% of high-school graduates believe they will have a more successful financial future than their parents.
• The male unemployment rate for ages 16 to 19 is 27%; for ages 20 to 24, it is 13%.
• Because of structural problems such as negative home equity (which keeps people from moving for work) and skills erosion (from long-term unemployment), UBS economists estimate that the economy's natural unemployment rate has increased from 5.7% before the recession to 8.6% now. This acts as a speed limit on potential economic growth.
• Between 2007 and 2010, median family net worth fell nearly 40%, while median inflation-adjusted incomes before taxes fell nearly 8%.

 

 

The USA sems to have completely lost it, the most damage was done in the last four years, since the recession that was caused by the financial system. But the rot has set in a long time ago.

 

And, according to the writer of this article:

 

"Ugly stuff. And it's about to get a lot worse."