20 Signs that the Economic Collapse Is Already Upon Us

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



The Economic Collapse / By Michael Snyder

20 Signs that the Economic Collapse Is Already Upon Us
This year, millions of Americans are discovering that the music has stopped playing and they are left without a seat at the table.


September 27, 2010 | For most Americans, the economic collapse is something that is happening to someone else. Most of us have become so isolated from each other and so self-involved that unless something is directly affecting us or a close family member than we really don't feel it. But even though most of us enjoy a much closer relationship with our television sets than we do with our neighbors at this point, it is quickly becoming undeniable that a fundamental shift is taking place in society. Perhaps you noticed it when two or three foreclosure signs went up on your street. Or perhaps it got your attention when that nice fellow down the street lost his job, and he and his family seemingly just disappeared from the neighborhood one day. The Census Bureau made front page headlines all over the nation this week when they announced that one out of every seven Americans was living in poverty in 2009. Every single day more Americans are getting sucked out of the middle class and into soul-crushing poverty.

Unfortunately, most Americans don't really care because it has not affected them yet.

But this year, millions more Americans will discover that the music has stopped playing and they are left without a seat at the table.

Meanwhile, neither political party has a workable solution. They just like to point fingers and blame each other.

The Democrats blame Bush for all the poverty and advocate expanding programs for the poor. Not that there is anything wrong with a safety net. But the "safety net" was never meant to hold 50 million people on Medicaid and 40 million people on food stamps. The number of Americans on food stamps has more than doubled since 2007. So do we just double it again as things get even worse? ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/148295/20_signs_that_the_economic_collapse_is_already_upon_us/

[Doctor_J]

1. Hah! Not true! I heard that the recession is over

And King Glenn told me that giveaways like food stamps make the recipients lazy.

This country is sickening. If I could talk Mrs D_J into it, I'd be a Canadian next week.

[RKP5637]

4. This country is devouring itself with propaganda and ignorance as people

often vote for and embrace what is worst for them. If we see the R's back in control the US will quickly top the list for failure in many areas. IMO Canada is a far better option if one has a choice.

[The Uncola]

2. Not to nitpik, but...

...where are those "20 Signs that the Economic Collapse Is Already Upon Us"? I followed your link and didn't find them. I agree with the thrust of the article, being one of those "lazy 99ers" myself, I was interested to see what was on that list.

[The Uncola]

3. .. oops, my bad..

.. missed the lionks to pages 2 & 3..

To quote Homer: "Doh!"

[txlibdem]

5. Also not to nitpick but all those issues were caused by Dubya and his cronies

So the OP's title is misleading. It should read 20 signs the economic collapse happened under the Republicons and we still haven't dug ourselves completely out of the hole they put the nation in!

That's a long one but much more accurate and descriptive.

[northernlights]

6. I agree with the premise, however...

the article would carry a lot more weight with me if:

1. instead of stretching it out to 20 reasons which are often the same basic factoids restated a different way, it was 10 clearly different reasons. And why focus on computer manufacturing loss since 75 and not broader manufacturing base? and

2. The author's own blog weren't a gold and silver coin-selling site.

Also, sometimes it's not necessarily that the above-water employed don't care or notice. It's that they're too busy paddling like hell trying to stay above water to be able to assist those who've gone under. Tv can be just a way for the totally exhausted to numb out the pain for the couple hours they aren't struggling.

And yes, then there is that other cocooned percentile that truly don't give a fuck since they've got theirs...and yours and mine too. x(

[L.Torsalo]

7. If you take the rough tally of US households,

120,500,000, and apply the loss of 1.5 trillion$ evenly, I calculate that in the first quarter of 2010, each household lost around $12,448.00...many lost a considerable portion of income.

[L.Torsalo]

8. My continued research

reveals that the high point of US household income was in 1999. It reached $52,000 per household 11 years ago. Since then, income levels have dropped.

"In 1957, the average income of America’s 44 million families (according to the United States Commerce Department) was $5,000. There were actually 4 million families whose income was over $10,000. There were also 6.5 million families whose annual income was under $2,000. The vast majority of American families, 33 ½ million of them, had annual income between $2,000 and $10,000. In 2006, the average income for an American family was $48,000."
(My thanks to mercyman for his research.)

http://mercyman53.wordpress.com/2007/10/21/1957-verses-2007-income-and-expenses/

[txlibdem]

9. 1957 was way before my time but you could buy a hamburger for 25 cents and a house cost $5000

Or something pretty close to a year's average salary. Income disparity was far less under Clinton and under Bush II the disparity has widened drastically. This is a truth no sane person can deny.

But the top few percent of America has taken all the benefits of this society and left the rest of us with the bill.