MEMORIZE these economic facts! (updated with profits, wages, & defense spending)

[CabCurious]

Last edited Fri Aug 24, 2012, 09:13 PM - Edit history (11)

(all updates are being kept at http://www.democraticunderground.com/125170175 )

Bush started with a $128 billion SURPLUS & ended with a $1.4 trillion DEFICIT. Obama was handed that spending during the worst GLOBAL economic collapse in 100 years.

* $600 billion in deficit reduction since Bush's last budget.
* Lowest spending increases since Eisenhower.
* 30 months of private sector job growth, including small businesses.
* 35% of American companies are now hiring.
* Construction is on the rise.
* Record corporate profits & Wall Street values. They sit on $3.6 trillion in cash.
* More millionaires and billionaires every year.
* Lowest real tax rates on the rich since 1928.
* 21 new tax cuts for middle-class families.
* 18 new tax cuts for small businesses.
* First growth in manufacturing sectors in 30 years.
* Americans #1 in worker productivity.
* Household debt reduced by half-a-trillion.
* Gas prices peaked at $4.12 under Bush.

And:
* Obama has proposed $4 trillion in additional debt reduction, but the GOP have blocked him.
* Republicans partisanship in Congress is the primary reason for the downgrade of USA's credit rating.
* Romney has said military spending is off-limits for cutting ($683.7 billion in 2010)

But there's a 8% unemployment rate still, right? That's in large part due to the 700,000 government jobs that have been cut, including States cutting 230,000 teachers and 130,000 police/emergency responders.

* 7.5 million jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009. Expecting a quick recovery of equal magnitude is irrational.
* Historically, Democratic presidents have created jobs at a faster rate than Republicans (2m/y vs 1m/y).
* 2.8 million jobs have been added in the last 18 months.
* We're in a recovery, thanks to Obama.

We need more trickle down?

* CorpUSA and the 1% are sitting on $3.6 trillion cash.
* Wages & household income continues to drop in spite of record corporate profits

The overall argument we need to make: The GOP are peddling the wrong kind of (failed) capitalism. It's time to divest from Wall Street and the finance markets. It's time America return to Main Street and manufacturing. As long as we let the finance sector dominate our economy, it's just a matter of time before the society completely collapses.

TOTAL JOB GAIN/LOSS


PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT SINCE 2008


BUSH DEFICIT VS OBAMA DEFICIT


SLOWEST SPENDING SINCE EISENHOWER




CORPORATE PROFITS
[IMG][/IMG]

WAGES AS PERCENTAGE OF THE ECONOMY


POVERTY LEVELS




[IMG][/IMG]

MILITARY SPENDING IS OVER $1 TRILLION A YEAR


SOURCES:
http://www.businessinsider.com/politics-economics-facts-charts-2012-6?op=1
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-22/commentary/31802270_1_spending-federal-budget-drunken-sailor
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-26/small-business-job-creation-is-stronger-than-we-think
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2011/08/86-of-top-100-markets-add.html
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP
http://teachingwithdata.blogspot.com/2012/06/over-third-of-american-companies-are.html
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/09/02/public-sector-losses-continue-to-drive-poor-jobs-numbers
http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/14/news/economy/recovery_act_jobs/index.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-11-06/federal-borrowing-rises-sharply/51097800/1
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/08/03-jobs-greenstone-looney
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/06/ray-of-light-u-s-corporate-worker-productivity-continues-to-r/
http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2011/11/06/federal-borrowing-up-household-debt-shrinks/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html
http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/b3c8228599526db24002f4a6d38369c1/publication/490/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/14/executive-pay-increase-america-ceos
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/10/number-of-the-week-finances-share-of-economy-continues-to-grow/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/super-rich-offshore-havens_n_1692608.html
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/obamas-spending-inferno-or-not/
http://www.governing.com/blogs/by-the-numbers/public-private-sector-cuts-during-recession-by-state.html
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/has-obama-made-the-job-situation-worse/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals
http://teachingwithdata.blogspot.com/2012/07/construction-spending-rises-slowly.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904265504576568543968213896.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/household-income-is-below-recession-levels-report-says/2012/08/23/aa497460-ec80-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html

This information is being updated at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/125170175

[HappyMe]

1. k&r

I have this bookmarked. Good job, Cab.

[CabCurious]

3. Bookmark this link, instead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125170175

I'm keeping all updates there.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. It's vital to note congesses stalling on signing a balanced budget proposed by the Democrats...

Is about to send us spiraling into to another recession.

We need to drive that one home!

[CabCurious]

4. Absolutely, but let's realize they want to claim Obama's proposal will make things worse

They continue to pin the economic crisis on Obama and continue to argue for trickle-down.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I agree 100%

I've bookmarked your main link and am printing out the page.

Great information!

[SalviaBlue]

6. Thanks!

rec.

[Scuba]

7. Great compilation. Bookmarked. Welcome to DU!!

[CabCurious]

10. Thanks :)

[berni_mccoy]

8. Thank you for collecting this in one place.

[jimlup]

9. Thanks - particularly for the graphs

I'll need this link for later reference~!

[CabCurious]

11. I'm expecting updated employment graphs in the coming months, of course

We can certainly expect a heated debate in the coming weeks about the 2013 budgets.

[Blanks]

12. I'm looking for a graph showing...

Federal government growth as a percent increase from the previous year.

Actually the data would be good (I have a spreadsheet I'd like to put it in) ideally both data and a graph from at least 1981, preferably from 1913.

Does anyone have a link to that information. I expect a spike in 2009 (Dubya's last budget).

[CabCurious]

13. Do mean annual SPENDING growth?

That's the cumulative data. I've seen the annual breakdown, but not in a chart (yet).

2008: $2.98 trillion
2009: $3.27 trillion
2010: $3.46 trillion
2011: $3.60 trillion
2012: $3.65 trillion
2013: $3.58/$3.72 trillion (estimated)

?uuid=c49a7602-a379-11e1-827e-002128049ad6

[Blanks]

25. In the third chart it shows an Obama increase.

I assume that's the stimulus program.

[CabCurious]

28. Absolutely. Bush's 2008 and 2009 spending, plus Obama's 2010 spending

And there's also a spike in government jobs in 2010, due to census hiring. A similar drop is seen afterwards.

[CabCurious]

14. percentages, 2009-2013

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-22/commentary/31802270_1_spending-federal-budget-drunken-sailor

2009 (+) 17.9% (bush's final budget)
2010 (-) 1.8%
2011 (+) 4.3%
2012 (+) 0.7%
2013 (-) 1.3%

[Blanks]

24. Thanks

Just as I expected. Bush kicked up federal spending over 1/6th in his final year in office. Obamas first budget as president actually decreased the budget (if I'm reading that right).

I get tired of people whining about Obama's deficit spending. All of Obama's budget increases combined for his first term probably won't equal the dollar increase in Bush's last budget.

Thanks again.

[CabCurious]

29. GOP are trying to blame Obama for all stimulus spending, job losses, and the weak recovery

Meanwhile, CorpUSA is doing better than ever...

[Loudestlib]

15. Thank's for puting this together.

I wish more people cared about facts.

[CabCurious]

31. Emotion and sophistry rule the population

Even here, people would rather argue about Julian Assange than learn about and talk about the economy.

[JaneyVee]

16. Great stuff & sources too!

[Lucky Luciano]

17. Marked. nt

[Blue Belle]

18. Thanks for doing the leg-work on this...

It will come in handy when I get into a facebook flame war with my idiot relatives.

[CabCurious]

20. Others have helped... we could always use more info!

[Stuart G]

19. very important, thanks for postitng...k and r..nt

[eaglesfanintn]

21. Thanks!

I have some nut jobs who blather on and on about deficits and debts being run up under President Obama. Nice to have some data to back up my side. Not that they'll believe anything that Faux Noise didn't tell them, but it's worth a shot.

[riverbendviewgal]

22. don't forget about the record number of filabusters

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/filibusters_and_debate_curbs/index.html

The nature and frequency of filibusters has changed since then, and what politicians think of them often depends on who is in power. In 2009 and 2010, with Democrats in control of the Senate, Republicans launched a record number of filibusters, forcing more than 90 “cloture” votes, which require 60 senators to agree to limit debate on a measure before it can move to a vote. Republicans said they often had no choice since Democratic leaders denied them the opportunity to offer amendments to legislation more than 40 times.

In December 2010, frustrated by routine filibusters and other procedural blockades, Senate Democrats urged their leadership to negotiate with Republicans to change the rules that govern how the Senate does business. A number of them proposed requiring senators to remain on the floor of the chamber during a filibuster, a step that would likely to have dramatically shortened them. They also called

In January, negotiations between the parties led to an agreement that it seemed could cut the length of time senators would be allowed to impose anonymous objections against bills and nominations. Another change would exempt hundreds of less senior executive branch nominees from Senate confirmation votes. And Senators would also bar opponents of legislation from being able to require the reading of lengthy amendments to consume time and block votes.

[CabCurious]

23. great points

[rrneck]

26. This should be pinned.

And tweeters and Facebook liked and all that other stuff.

[CabCurious]

27. corporate profits & wages

CORPORATE PROFITS


PROFIT PER DOLLAR OF SALES


WAGES AS PERCENT OF THE ECONOMY


http://www.businessinsider.com/politics-economics-facts-charts-2012-6?op=1

[CabCurious]

30. These 3 charts precisely show what's wrong with America

We've turned away from the kind of capitalism that once worked: manufacturing and middle class growth.

Today's America is all about finance games and CEOs who hop from company to company with no intention on staying.

[Selatius]

32. This is why everything is made in China.

What used to be made in the United States has been outsourced because a living wage has become "too expensive" to the bottom line of Wall Street bankers and businessmen. Better to have a Chinese worker doing the same task for 60 cents an hour instead. The wonders of free trade or, as I like to call it, "global labor arbitrage."

[CabCurious]

33. I believe our CEOs are the competitive problem, not the workers.

We're still #1 in productivity.

Our CEOs get paid 300-400:1 against average workers. China CEOs make $180,000.

Japan = 11:1
Germany = 12:1
France = 15:1
Italy = 20:1
Canada = 20:1
Britain = 22:1 (I checked those ratios, they are not the incorrect ones that went around facebook a year ago)

When we consider the financial implications of this, especially with CEOs being so disinterested in long-term strength of companies, we can see that it's really not the cost of American workers that's the underlying problem.

[Selatius]

35. Oh yeah, I'm with you on that one. Sustainability is a lost concept on many CEOs.

Henry Ford knew about it. That's why he tried to pay decent wages to his workers. He understood that workers were also consumers, and the best way to keep things going for everybody was to ensure that workers were paid enough to afford the products they were making with their own hands.

With the current track America is taking with respect to free trade, out-sourcing, etc., we're going to end up a country with a very small middle class, an even smaller class of financial elites, and a gigantic underclass of working poor and unemployed people.

[CabCurious]

36. Agreed on all points, but...

I'm just not sure free trade per se is inherently a problem.

I believe that we can have win-win free trade with other nations that aren't as wealthy as us, even if it means short-term risk in terms of job growth. The same insight Ford had about his own workers applies to growing a middle class here. And I think it goes for the whole planet, too. The problem thus isn't the trading, it's the "free" part. When we're making such arrangements where there are no labor standards, no long-term growth of a middle class, living wage, education, women's rights, etc... then it's definitely not win-win. But for every case where I think jobs have shifted from the USA to a foreign manufacturer, I'd still say that it's still a CEOs values decision.

Rarely is it black/white that an American company MUST go out of business if it won't out-source or off-shore labor.

And perhaps sometimes it would be better if the company just went out of business...

[CabCurious]

34. And thanks for bringing this up!

I need to dig up some more charts and sources on this angle.

[CabCurious]

37. hiring, wages, poverty, record profits

* 35% of American companies are now hiring.
* Construction is up.
* The trade deficit is improving
* Wages continue to sink in spite of record profits

WAGES AS PERCENTAGE OF THE ECONOMY


CORPORATE PROFITS AT ALL-TIME HIGHS

[CabCurious]

38. Military spending is apparently nearly half our total spending

We apparently actually spend $1.2 TRILLION a year on defense, including war debts and nuclear weapons maintenance.

I'm not sure precisely how accurate these charts are, but the don't seem completely off the mark.





http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175361/
http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm
http://defense.aol.com/2012/03/16/the-military-imbalance-how-the-u-s-outspends-the-world/
http://www.usfederalbudget.us/spending_chart_2002_2017USb_13s1li111lcn_30t