A Storm Is Brewing: U.S. Is Facing A Demographic Nightmare, UK Economy Is Stagnating, Inflation Surges In All The Wrong Places In Japan, China’s New Year Data Disappoint, And ‘Hedge Funds Are Fully Invested’ While The World Is Accelerating Into An Ever-Deepening Recession!

investmentwatchblog.com / March 12th, 2013

These numbers tell an unsettling story about the U.S. economy

From Global Economic Policy Journal:

In the last 5 years:

•  The Civilian Institutional Population rose 9.9 Million

•  The Labor Force rose 0.9 Million

•  Those Not in the Labor Force rose 9.8 Million

•  Employment fell by 2.3 Million

•  Full-Time Employment fell by 5.3 Million

•  Part-Time Employment rose by 0.9 Million

•  Unemployment rose by 4.5 Million

•  Food Stamp usage rose by 20.3 Million

Non-Workers to Workers

Let’s consider the ratio of workers to non-workers. Workers are those employed, non-workers are everyone else (the unemployed + those not in the labor force).

In the last five years, the number of non-workers rose by 14.3 million while the number of workers fell by 5.3 million.

In 2008, there were 144.6 million workers supporting 88.3 million not working.

There are now roughly 142.2 million workers supporting 102.6 million not working.

… In the year 2000, there were 1.78 workers for every non-worker. Now there are only 1.39 workers for every non-worker. Meanwhile, food stamp usage is up from 17.2 million to 46.6 million, and medical costs are soaring…

An economy of peak food stamp usage, peak Dow, and peak Debt: What does it say about our economy that at the same time the Dow Jones hits a peak, we have the highest percentage of Americans on food stamps?

READ MORE