I usually scan papers to try and figure out what is going on in the economy. Over the past few years I've started to suspect something is missing in the mainstream press coverage of the economy. Stuff just did not add up. Every time I have looked at employment numbers this past year, it was up, up ,up and away. You would think the economy is booming. Many foreign people do. I am always shocked at the number of otherwise realistic people all over the world who somehow got convinced that in the US the streets are paved in gold, and social mobility is the norm. There is of course plenty of social mobility: all of it downward.
Today I decided to dig up some facts to help the rest of the world understand what is really going on. Here are seven of the most important facts that summarize the issue:
1. Most Americans are not working full time
2. Half of Americans are poor
3. The USA is number ONE.. in imprisoning people- any way you count it- by a huge margin; while we are also number one in reported rapes, illegal drug use, car thefts and murders, our prison population exceeds even all that!!! We are number ONE!!!
4. Americans have and take fewer days off than anyone in the developed world
5. American women are not garunteed any maternity leave...placing them behing most nations on earth
6. Social mobility is lower in the US than many countries like France, Japan...or PAKISTAN
7. The majority of US children live in poverty or low income households
Compounding the issue is the fact that this is no scenic organic poverty under coconut trees. I'm talking about a brand of white bread eating, wife beating smack snorting insanity I've never seen anywhere else. And no, there are no gold paved streets either...
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