55 Interesting Facts About The U.S. Economy In 2012

I stumbled upon this tidbit this morning. The sources for each come from various websites ranging from CNN to Yahoo to WND. This gives some insight to just how bad things are here. If you're looking towards where we stand today in america, this is a decent starting point... Very disturbing!


55 facts

A snippet:

#31 According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark at some point in 2012. If you went out right now and starting spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.

#32 Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month.

#33 Incredibly, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.

#34 The average interest rate on a credit card that is carrying a balance is now up to 13.10 percent.

#35 Of the U.S. households that do have credit card debt, the average amount of credit card debt is an astounding $15,799.

#36 Overall, Americans are carrying a grand total of $798 billion in credit card debt. If you were alive when Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day since then, you still would not have spent $798 billion by now.

#37 It may be hard to believe, but the truth is that consumer debt in America has increased by a whopping 1700% since 1971.

#38 At this point, about 70 percent of all auto purchases in the United States involve an auto loan.

It doesnt matter what politicians say anymore. I dont think they can sugar coat this any longer.

Most of these have to do with credit cards.

I've never owned one, and I never will. Problem solved. Credit cards are for suckers.

EDIT: I take that back... most have to do with unemployment. How can people not find jobs? There are millions of jobs available. People are just abusing the system.

Much of this list is irresponsibility and trying to keep up with the Jones mentality. Unemployment is very serious but what happened to people saving for a rainy day? Did people ask themselves if they could afford the house or car if they lost their job? People stopped saving, they can't distinguish between want & need. Yes, some issues are caused by the gov't but many are also caused by people living day to day, buying Air Jordan's then claiming they can't afford health care. Priorities!

reply to post by theRhenn


theRhenn,
Wow...Thanks for your post and all of this information. These are some very surpising facts and numbers. But also..not so surprising. The dollar has killed America. These facts are ridiculous..
If there were no dollar there would be no debt.
This is sad and does show how bad it has gotten. I am going to pass this on..
Thank you for sharing TheRhenn!

I agree that anyone with $15,000 of credit card debt is an idiot and trying to keep up with the Jones's. I dont have credit cards either.....and refuse to get one. I know people who have un-Godly CC debt....and I think how stupid they are for borrowing money for 21% or higher interest. It's not worth it just to have every tool and gadget. They made their bed and now they can lie in it.

reply to post by DaTroof


I dunno... The one's responcible may be the employers. I've even heard the "We cant hire you if you do not currently have a job". I also know a friend of mine has been putting aps EVERY where she can think of. Still, she's a waitress because no one else will hire her. Even other waitress jobs are full and hard to come by.

Now.. if you had a larger chest size, or if you're a model 10, then sure, you have a perfect chance.

Other than that, it's harder to get a job than ya think. I have a friend with 2 degrees that cant even get a computer repair job, not to mention the degrees he has "Electrical Eng and Comp Science" doesnt get him father than a grocery store right now.

Unless you're doing break back oilfield work down here (and even those are hard to come by, it takes months to land one... anything close to the end or beginning of the year, not going to happen).. and that's just my own experiance with my friends. I imagine so many more people here in ATS alone can offer their own stories about how it's become.

reply to post by AuntB


I dont know anything about that. Never owned a pair in my life, and I still see the issues.

Some people will have problems due to poor spending, but try adding up the general, typical, or average cost of living, work wadges and the low end cost of an apartment and everything you need with that apartment and tell me how you could possibly save anything today.

I make 55K base a year and I find that I have very little in the way of savings at the end of each month and I dont spend money on much of anything outside of what I "have" to pay to live, save less than a pack a day of smokes (which I will not do away with in these aggrivating times)

My apt $700
My car $350

Now if one feels that I'm speaking BS, I will be happy to detail where all of it goes, and I'll show that it all goes to bills and the need to survive, leaving hardly nothing left over.

It scares me to think how a person can live with bad credit...

Originally posted by TFCJay

Originally posted by KaiserSoze

Originally posted by TFCJay

#36 Overall, Americans are carrying a grand total of $798 billion in credit card debt. If you were alive when Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day since then, you still would not have spent $798 billion by now.

That should read

If you were alive when millions of crazy whack-jobs actually think a fictional character named Jesus was born

Seriously? Is it really necessary to use the time reference in the article to display a blatant example of douchebaggery?

You really need to man up if this offended you.

You really need to stay on topic. Im more than happy to report such posts, causing you to look... well.. You'll figure it out.

Now back ON TOPIC

reply to post by Lynzer


what about those that have kept up with their bills, but fell in a hole once or twice and ended up behind, still trying to get out? Those companies want you in that hole. They dont want you to get out.

It's not always about the gadgets. Often enough, it's a means to feel their families. I dont own any cards, anymore.. But when I did, it was for groceries and nessissary items. I stopped using them because even with that, it was very hard to overcome.

I dont get this high interest rate on people with bad credit. It's a catch 22. It's made to keep you under. Why not just simply deny people the abilty to have them, rather than give them one and charge them WAY more than anyone else. That's such a dumb thing.

Sure people make mistakes.. But the system is definatly corrupt. You simply cant deny that. So why keep kicking the poor guy for his bad habbits.

Which is worse, the drug addict or the drug dealer?

Originally posted by theRhenn
reply to post by AuntB

 

I dont know anything about that. Never owned a pair in my life, and I still see the issues.

Some people will have problems due to poor spending, but try adding up the general, typical, or average cost of living, work wadges and the low end cost of an apartment and everything you need with that apartment and tell me how you could possibly save anything today.

I make 55K base a year and I find that I have very little in the way of savings at the end of each month and I dont spend money on much of anything outside of what I "have" to pay to live, save less than a pack a day of smokes (which I will not do away with in these aggrivating times)

My apt $700
My car $350

Now if one feels that I'm speaking BS, I will be happy to detail where all of it goes, and I'll show that it all goes to bills and the need to survive, leaving hardly nothing left over.

It scares me to think how a person can live with bad credit...

I don't even make 30k a year,.. I'm a contract worker that is regularly unemployed,.. my credit is absolutely screwed,...

The only way I can make it in my situation is to live with another person and live off of ramen noodles and fried potatoes. It's pretty damn sad when I get excited at the thought of having a can of chili for dinner.

Originally posted by JizzyMcButter

The only way I can make it in my situation is to live with another person and live off of ramen noodles and fried potatoes. It's pretty damn sad when I get excited at the thought of having a can of chili for dinner.

You got to try the Mac & Cheese… with fried Bologna, now thats life.