Michael Snyder outlined 27 facts that show how the America’s middle class has fared for the last six years.
- American families in the middle 20% of the income scale now earn less money than they did in 2008.
- American families in the middle 20% of the income scale have a lower net worth than they did in 2008.
- According to a Washington Post article published just a few days ago, more than 50% of the children in U.S. public schools now come from low-income homes. This is the first time that this has happened in at least 50 years.
- According to a Census Bureau report that was recently released, 65% of all children in the United States are living in a home that receives some form of aid from the federal government.
- In 2008, the total number of business closures exceeded the total number of businesses being created for the first time ever, and that has continued to happen every single year since then.
- In 2008, 53% of all Americans considered themselves to be “middle class.” But by 2014, only 44% of all Americans still considered themselves to be “middle class.”
- In 2008, 25% of all Americans in the 18-29-year-old age bracket considered themselves to be “lower class.” But in 2014, an astounding 49% of all Americans in that age range considered themselves to be “lower class.”
- Traditionally, owning a home has been one of the key indicators that you belong to the middle class. So what does the fact that the rate of homeownership in America has been falling for seven years say?
- According to a survey that was conducted last year, 52% of all Americans cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.
- After accounting for inflation, median household income in the United States is 8% lower than it was when the last recession started in 2007.
- According to one recent survey, 62% of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
- At this point, one out of every three adults in the United States has an unpaid debt that is “in collections.”
- In 2008, 60.6% of all working-age Americans had a job. Today, that number is sitting at only 59.2%…
- Since 2009, the average duration of unemployment in the United States has risen from 19.8 weeks to 32.8 weeks.
- It is hard to believe, but an astounding 53% of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
- In 2009, our yearly trade deficit with China was $226 billion. Last year, it was more than $314 billion.
- In 2008, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio was under 70%. Today, it is over 101%.
- The U.S. national debt is on pace to approximately double during the eight years of the Obama administration. In other words, under this administration, the U.S. government will accumulate about as much debt as it did under all of the other presidents in U.S. history combined.
- According to The New York Times, the “typical American household” is now worth 36% less than it was worth a decade ago.
- The poverty rate in the United States has been at 15% or above for three consecutive years. This is the first time that has happened since 1965.
- From 2009-2013, the U.S. government spent a whopping $3.7 trillion on welfare programs.
- Since 2008, the number of Americans on food stamps has gone from 32 million to 46 million.
- Ten years ago, the number of women in the U.S. that had full-time jobs outnumbered the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps by more than a 2-to-1 margin. But now the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have full-time jobs.
- One recent survey discovered that about 22% of all Americans have had to turn to a church food pantry for assistance.
- An astounding 45% of all African-American children in the United States live in areas of “concentrated poverty.”
- 40.9% of all children in the United States that are living with only one parent are living in poverty.
- According to a report that was released late last year by the National Center on Family Homelessness, the number of homeless children in the United States has reached a new all-time record high of 2.5 million.
Maybe its time for you to take control of your future!