Our world economy is sustaining itself on massive levels of debt. Debt is like a drug. It creates a false sense of security while poisoning the mind and the body. The delusions of debt can cause people to start believing in an imaginary future.
There is also the fact that global economic inequality is higher today than any other point in history. The record disparity of wealth in our globe is one of the defining issues of our time. A small 1% of the global elite own over half the wealth on the planet, and the legion of the global poor, third world slums and starving children is growing rapidly.
Is this plutocratic system working? Read our key news stories and charts below to decide for yourself.
THE REAL ECONOMY
The Real U.S. Economy (World Future Fund Chart) American wages have gone down in 40 years. Minimum wage is below where it was 50 years ago. Labor force participation is at record low levels. This is not a healthy economy.
Money Supply: The New World Economy in Four Charts (Financial Times, 10-8-14)
THE DEBT CRISIS
Global Debt (World Future Fund)
Seven years after the global economic bubble burst, levels of global debt have skyrocketed, and only continue to grow larger with each passing year. In fact, rather than reducing indebtedness, or deleveraging, all major economies today have higher levels of borrowing relative to GDP than they did in 2007 when the crisis began.
Total U.S. Debt As A Share of GNP: (World Future Fund Chart) Debt as a percent of GNP at highest level in history.
International Savings and Investment (World Future Fund Chart) Once the world's greatest creditor, America is now a basket case with a stunning $4 trillion more debts than assets.
Collapse of America's International Investment Position (World Future Fund Chart) America is falling dangerously behind in terms of investing in its own future. Chinese savings are more than three times higher than American savings and investment rates.
America's Balance of Payments Deficit (World Future Fund Chart) America's enormous losses in world trade.
Trillions in Debt—but for Now, No Reason to Worry (The Wall Street Journal, 5-25-16)
Record Global Debt (RT, 9-30-14) REPORT
A picture of the world's global debt.
What Argentina’s Sovereign Debt Dispute Means for Global Finance ( NACLA, 11-18-14)
Argentina’s debt dispute with U.S. holdout creditors sparked a global conversation on debt restructuring, and may determine the fate of how debt restructuring is resolved in a future crisis.
The Hidden Deficit (My Gov Cost, 10-28-14)
The Global 2008 Financial Crisis
In 2008 the world suffered a financial crisis that nearly caused the complete collapse of the global economy. The crisis came from severe problems inside America. However, the crisis is not over yet - far from it. Much of this debt was swept under the rug when the US Government, and others around the globe, launched multi-trillion dollar rescue programs designed to prop up the financial industry. In other words a whole new wave of debt has been run up to pay off old bad debts. This certainly won't last forever.
A chart of the global distribution of money (World Future Fund Chart)
The growing gap between the rich and the poor since 1700-2000 (World Future Fund Chart)
Third World Wages (World Future Fund Chart) The unhappy reality behind the rhetoric of progress. (I didn't see this on the index)
Growth of the World's Slums (World Future Fund Chart)
1 percent of the world's people control 50 percent of its wealth (VOX, 10-15-15)
Here’s all the money in the world, in one chart (Market Watch, 12-21-15)
Richest 1% own 53% of India’s wealth (Live Mint, 10-14-15)
Richest 1% to own more than half world's wealth by 2016 - Oxfam REPORT
A report from Oxfam discusses how the richest 1% will own more than half of the world's wealth by 2016.
With 41% of global wealth in the hands of less than 1%, elites and citizens agree inequality is a top priority (Pew Research, 11-8-14)
In many ways, inequality is not just a financial issue. It is a major problem linked to so many other challenges, such as poverty, environmental degradation, persistent unemployment, political instability, violence and conflict. People around the world are now starting to agree that it is a critical issue that needs to be solved, if we are to address other world problems as well.
Economic Class Size Around the World (Economix New York Times Blog, 9-11-09)
MONEY PRINTING
Money Printing (World Future Fund)
The current "recovery" is not much of a recovery at all, but the result of money printing to bail out the rich, while neglecting the needy.
WALL STREET GREED
Wall Street House of Cards (World Future Fund)
Is the U.S. economy truly on the road to recovery? Many people point to the rising stock market numbers as evidence of a healthy and robust economy. Five years after the official end of the Great Recession corporate profits are at a record high and the stock market is booming.
Stock Buybacks Are Killing the American Economy (The Atlantic, 2-8-15)
Profits once flowed to higher wages or increased investment. Now, they enrich a small number of shareholders.
AMERICA'S LOW LEVEL OF TAXES
America's Low Level of Taxes (World Future Fund Chart)
Are taxes really too high? Is cutting taxes going to solve America's economic problems? Far from it. America's taxes are currently lower than almost all other major modern states.
Taxes and Deficit 1980-2010 (Shows need to raise taxes.)
Realistically, higher taxes need to be part of any major budget reform. The unrealistic tax cuts in 1981 produced a budget train wreck. More unrealistic tax cuts in 2001 produced an even greater train wreck.
Top U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates on Regular Income and Capital Gains (360 Data)
This page shows a chart of data revealing tax levels from 1916 to today. Taxes during America's period of prosperity, the 50's and 60's, were much higher than they are today. Today tax levels are at an all time low, and most of the tax cuts put through by President George Bush were kept by President Barack Obama.
International Tax Rates as a Percent of GDP (Citizens for Tax Justice)
The United States has one of the lowest tax rates in the world when you look at taxes as a percent of GDP.
Chart of the Day: Corporate Taxation in America (Mother Jones)
Corporate tax rates are at an all time low in America. Only slightly lower than they were in 2008, at the height of the recession.
THE NEED FOR A GAS TAX
The Need to Raise America's Energy Taxes (World Future Fund Report)
America's gas taxes are ridiculously low, lower than almost every other developed nation. Simply cutting spending and raising taxes across the board could make matters worse, not better. What we need to do is increase incentives for investments while raising taxes on consumption. In particular, we favor rises in energy taxes to protect both our national security and the security of our planet's environmental foundations of life.
Raise the gas tax. A lot. (Washington Post, 1-8-15)
AMERICA AND POVERTY
America and Poverty A Sorry Record (World Future Fund Chart)
America has the lowest commitment of aid to the poor of any developed nation (World Future Fund Chart)
Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 45 Million for 49 Straight Months (Before It's News, 8-12-15)
Some 66 million Americans have ‘zero’ emergency savings (Market Watch, 6-21-16)
America’s Racial Wealth Divide Is Nothing Short of Shocking (Common Dreams, 8-10-16)
More Than Half Of American Public Schoolchildren Now Live In Poverty: Study (Huffington Post, 1-16-15) For the first time, more than half of U.S. school students live in low-income households, according to a new analysis from the Southern Education Foundation.
More Evidence That Half of America Is In Or Near Poverty (Truth Out, 3-24-14) There are more Americans living in poverty than what the official numbers indicate. The official poverty threshold reflects living standards that prevailed in the mid-1950's. It needs to be adjusted for the current day standard of living. Food costs have doubled since the 1980's, housing has tripled, medical costs are six times higher and college tuition is eleven times higher. Not to mention that half of Americans own NOTHING. 47% of Americans on the bottom own 1.1% of America's net wealth. What all this means is that HALF of Americans are in poverty!
Half of Food Stamp Recipients are Children (CNN Money, 11-26-13) Food stamps are currently feeding 47 million people. Enrollment in the program has surged since the recession, 15% of the population is on the program. Children account for 45% of food stamps. The White House also highlighted in a 2011 survey that most of food stamps go to the elderly, children and people with disabilities.
RECORD UNEMPLOYMENT
Record Low Number of Adults in Workforce (MSN Money, 2-10-14)
Today, one in six men are unemployed in their prime working years
(ages 25-54) . In the early 1970's, this number only included 6% of
American men. By late 2007, that number was 13%. In 2009, that number
was the worst of the recession, nearly 20% of working age men didn't
have jobs. For women, the numbers are a different story. In the 1950's,
only a third of working aged women had jobs. Now that number has risen
to 70% of working aged women being employed.
You can also read this story at More Men in Prime Working Age Don't Have Jobs (The Wall Street Journal, 2-6-14)
America Needs a Better Measure of Unemployment (Against Crony Capitalism, 3-24-14) If we measured unemployment today in the same way that we did during the Great Depression of the 1930's, today's unemployment would be worse than any single year of the Great Depression. Even with the Fed saying that unemployment rates are at "6.5%," much of the numbers are very doctored. The official numbers do not take into account the people who have dropped out of the job market completely and given up looking for work.
AMERICA'S DECLINING WAGES
American minimum wages (adjusted for inflation) are back to where they were in the 1960's. It peaked in 1968 and hasn't recovered since. Studies show that if minimum wage kept up with productivity, it would be $21.72 an hour.
Minimum wage would be $21.72 if it kept pace with increase in productivity (Huffington Post, 2-13-13)
THE COMING ECONOMIC BUBBLE
The $12 Trillion Dollar Bailout (World Future Fund Data Table)
Never before in American history has so much public money been used to
bailout private blunders and crimes. The money spent so far is higher
than the cost of world war II in constant dollars.
Gross Says Negative Rates Are Like ‘Supernova’ That Will Explode (Bloomberg, 6-9-16)
$12 trillion of QE and the lowest rates in 5,000 years ... for this? (CNBC, 6-13-16
Market Euphoria: The Mother of All Ponzi Schemes (Global Research, 12-14-14)
Federal Reserve is printing $85 billion dollars worth of new money into economy monthly: Economists call this a big mistake (Forbes, 9-20-13)
Predictions of coming economic collapse in America from The Economic Collapse Blog
The "official" unemployment numbers do not reflect the real situation in America. The reality is that there are less jobs now for Americans than when this century first began. A key factor in unemployment is the off-shoring of millions of jobs that will not be coming back. There is also the replacement of workers with technology. Yet there are predictions that America has not seen the worst of its economic crisis. There are predictions that this whole situation is about to get even worse.
WARNINGS OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE FROM DAVID STOCKMAN
David Stockman is the former director of the Office of Management and Budget, as well as a former U.S. Republican Representative and business man. The following articles below are from his blog.
How Many More “Saves” Are Left in the Central Bank Bazookas? (The David Stockman Blog, 2-20-15)
David Stockman Interview: The Clock Is Ticking, The Carnage Is Coming Soon (The David Stockman Blog, 2-19-15)
The US Stock Market is at its Most Overvalued Level in History (The David Stockman Blog, 2-19-15)
David Stockman Talks Historical Dominoes—–Rise Of the Warfare State And Keynesian Central Banking (The David Stockman Blog, 12-15-14)
Duck And Cover——-The Lull Is Breaking, The Storm Is Nigh (The David Stockman Blog, 12-10-14)
VIDEOS ON THE CRISIS
Videos on the Financial Crisis (World Future Fund)
Are big banks too big to jail? (World Future Fund)
SOLUTIONS
In summary, the situation looks pretty bad. However, is there hope? Absolutely. With the current economic crisis what is needed is real reform and drastic reform, not fake reform. Take a look at our solutions below to get started.
Building a Sustainable Future This page defines some priorities for real reform so people are not deceived by false reforms produced by political leaders.
World Future Outlook A basic summary of the world situation which discusses in detail the weak political structure of today's world order and the deep roots of totalitarianism in history. This is one of our most important works.
U.S. Budget for a Real Economic Future Severe problems require severe medicine. This page gives detailed solutions for changes to the U.S. budget that focus on building a long-term, sustainable future.
Broadband for All Broadband for all should be a national priority. In the same way that American roads and railroads brought this country together, it's time to bring this country into the 21st century. Would the American economy have been successful without railroads in the 19th century, or without roads in the 20th century? That is very doubtful. As our competitors around the world forge ahead with faster and more widespread internet connections, America is getting left behind. It's time to make a serious commitment to national broadband for all.
America and the World in 2030 A vision of the real future ahead if drastic reform is not implemented.
Index of World Future Fund Budget Reports and Charts
ECONOMIC NEWS SITES
KEY FINANCIAL NEWS
Bloomberg CNBC The Financial Times The Wall Street Journal Forbes
INFORMATIVE BLOGS:
Club Orlov End of the American Dream The Economic Collapse Blog Zero Hedge National Inflation Association