HOUSING AND INCOMES

Inflation-adjusted median household income in 2000: $49,158

Median household income in 2006: $48,201

8-year increase in median household income in 2001:
$6,000

6-year decrease in median household income in 2007:
$1,100

Historical Income Tables - Households, H-6 Tables, U.S. Census 2000 and 2006

The salary of a full-time minimum wage employee without vacation, 2007: $12,168

The average salary of a CEO of a Fortune 500 company: $15.2 million

CEO Compensation, Forbes Magazine. May 3, 2007

Number of Americans living in poverty in 2001: 31.6 million

Number of Americans living in poverty in 2008: 36.5 million


[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

Amount more Americans earned than spent in 2001: +2.3 percent

Amount less Americans are earning than spending in 2008: -0.5 percent

[Bureau of Economic Analysis]

Total consumer credit debt in 2001: $7.65 trillion

Total consumer credit debt in 2008: $12.8 trillion

[Insurance Information Institute]

ENERGY

Average price of home heating oil on January 3, 2000: $1.40/gallon

Average price of home heating oil on January 7, 2008: $3.39/gallon

United States Energy Information Administration. "U.S. Weekly No. 2 Heating Oil Residential Prices-cents per gallon." December 24, 2007.

Percentage of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that was imported in 2001: 52.75 percent

Percentage of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that is imported in 2008: 60.38 percent

[U.S. Energy Information Administration]

Exxon Mobil profits in 2000: $7.9 billion

Exxon Mobil profits in 2006: $36.1 billion

Exxon Mobil's profit during the second quarter of 2006, per second: $1,318

CNNMoney.Com, Fortune 500 2006; Exxon Mobil; CNN.com, "Exxon Mobile makes more than $10 billion." July 27, 2006.

HEALTH CARE

Percentage of Americans receiving employment-based health insurance, 2000 : 64.2

Percentage of Americans receiving employment-based health insurance, 2006: 59.7

U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. August 2007

Inflation-adjusted annual cost of a family health insurance premium in 2000: $7,643

Annual cost of a family health insurance premium in 2006: 11,480

Employer Health Benefits 2000 and 2006, Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust

The number of Americans without health insurance in 2000: 38.4 million

The number of Americans without health insurance in 2006: 46.9 million

U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. August 2007

Decrease over 2 years in the number of uninsured Americans in 2001: 4.5 million

Increase over 6 years in the number of uninsured Americans in 2008: 8.5 million

[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

Number of children without health insurance: 8.7 million

Number of Bush vetoes for additional health insurance for children: 2

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. Current Population Reports, Consumer Income. August 2007

DEBTS AND DEFICITS

The national debt in 2001: $5.7 trillion

The national debt in Jan. 2008: $9.2 trillion

[U.S. Dept. of the Treasury]

U.S. trade deficit in October 2000, monthly: $33.8 billion

U.S. trade deficit in October 2007, monthly: $57.8 billion

U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics. December 12, 2007.

Value of one euro in dollars, January 2000: $1.01

Value of one euro in dollars, January 2008: $1.45

Loss of value of U.S. dollar relative to the euro, January 3, 2000-January 2, 2008, percentage: 45

Federal Reserve Statistical Release. H-10 Historical Rates for Euro Area

Value of an ounce of gold in 2000 (Adjusted for inflation.): $319
Value of an ounce of gold, 2008: $892

"Hike Interest Rates, Lower the Hold Price?" National Review. March 30, 2006; GoldPrice.org 22 January 2008

U.S. budget balance in fiscal year 2000: $236 billion surplus

U.S. budget balance in fiscal year 2007: $354 billion deficit

House Office of Management and Budget. Historical Tables; White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S-1. Budget Totals."

http://www.ourfuture.org/real-state-union-2008-numbers

good job cosmic

Those numbers are definitely a scathing indictment of Congress, and the average consumers inability to put away the credit card.

Those numbers are definitely a scathing indictment of Congress, and the average consumers inability to put away the credit card.

how are they a scathing indictment of the current congress

how are they a scathing indictment of the current congress

How are they not? Congress holds the purse strings. Nothing goes in or out without Congress signing the checks.

The shameful number of uninsured falls squarely on Congress for not addressing the broken Medicare/Medicaid system.

Here are my solutions:

-Implement the FairTax.
-Everyone, put away the credit card, pay off debts, and quit looking to the government for assistance and handouts.
-Government, reduce your size, put a cap on your spending, reduce federal regulations on health care, and stop proposing universal health care bullshit.

Here are my solutions:

-Implement the FairTax.
-Everyone, put away the credit card, pay off debts, and quit looking to the government for assistance and handouts.
-Government, reduce your size, put a cap on your spending, reduce federal regulations on health care, and stop proposing universal health care bullshit.

Amen. :)

Here are my solutions:

-Implement the FairTax.
-Everyone, put away the credit card, pay off debts, and quit looking to the government for assistance and handouts.
-Government, reduce your size, put a cap on your spending, reduce federal regulations on health care, and stop proposing universal health care bullshit.

universal health care is not bullshit plus some american companies have implied it would be better for them. so better for most people and our corporations why don't we have it

They won't be happy until American workers are treated worse than the average Chinese peasant.

They won't be happy until American workers are treated worse than the average Chinese peasant.

yep they want to bring back the robber barons of old

universal health care is not bullshit plus some american companies have implied it would be better for them. so better for most people and our corporations why don't we have it

The only reason many companies want to stop providing coverage is because it's very expensive. Why is it expensive? They pay a huge chunk of it. Why do they pay a huge chunk? Because Americans over use and even abuse the health care system. I mean, when someone is paying say %30 of your bill, you are going to use even more than you would have if you paid for it on your own. People go to their doctor ($100+ bill) just for a common cold. Come on.

Think about it. If the government stopped with their heath care proposals and companies stopped providing coverage all together, everyone wanting coverage will pay for it and use it less (to keep their premiums down). In the long run, our "health care crisis" will solve itself in the free market.


You also fail to take into account the people in this country that can afford health care but just don't buy it for whatever reason.

And don't give me bullshit like "x% can't afford it!" I don't count idiots that rent-to-own TVs or "phat" rims. I also don't count people that pawn their car titles, get tax refund loans, lease cars, or play the lottery.

The only reason many companies want to stop providing coverage is because it's very expensive. Why is it expensive? They pay a huge chunk of it. Why do they pay a huge chunk? Because Americans over use and even abuse the health care system. I mean, when someone is paying say %30 of your bill, you are going to use even more than you would have if you paid for it on your own. People go to their doctor ($100+ bill) just for a common cold. Come on. Americans get less, not more, medical care per year than Norwegians and Canadians. They pay more, not less, per year for the care they get.

The amount employers pay for equivalent medical insurance has more than doubled in the past few years. Have Americans been going to the doctor twice as much, getting twice as many operations, etc, on their eimployer's health coverage ?

The only reason many companies want to stop providing coverage is because it's very expensive. Why is it expensive? They pay a huge chunk of it. Why do they pay a huge chunk? Because Americans over use and even abuse the health care system. I mean, when someone is paying say %30 of your bill, you are going to use even more than you would have if you paid for it on your own. People go to their doctor ($100+ bill) just for a common cold. Come on.

Think about it. If the government stopped with their heath care proposals and companies stopped providing coverage all together, everyone wanting coverage will pay for it and use it less (to keep their premiums down). In the long run, our "health care crisis" will solve itself in the free market.


You also fail to take into account the people in this country that can afford health care but just don't buy it for whatever reason.

And don't give me bullshit like "x% can't afford it!" I don't count idiots that rent-to-own TVs or "phat" rims. I also don't count people that pawn their car titles, get tax refund loans, lease cars, or play the lottery.

how bout the kid right out of college who makes 20k a year and has all of his college loans to pay of or does they not count as well

Americans get less, not more, medical care per year than Norwegians and Canadians. They pay more, not less, per year for the care they get.

Explain why canadians come to the US for treatment. And explain to me why there is an emerging private sector of health care in Norway.

The amount employers pay for equivalent medical insurance has more than doubled in the past few years. Have Americans been going to the doctor twice as much, getting twice as many operations, etc, on their eimployer's health coverage ?

It's easy for insurance companies to charge more, too. Remember, it's illegal in many parts of the country to obtain health insurance from another state. Why does this matter? It's easy to set up a local monopoly.

Americans do many unhealthy stuff, too. Why? A few reasons. The first (and probably most important) is that many unhealthy things are fun. A second reason is that the free market strives for efficiency. Example: technology + food = unhealthy food. White bread is a perfect example of this. In general, people prefer white bread over the healthier wheat bread. However, white bread by itself is not healthy. It's missing all the key nutrients (discovered and undiscovered nutrients) and so it's basically a dry sugar sponge. Sure, we "enrich" it but it's not the same. And the thing with efficiency is that if we want to make an extra dollar, we need to do everything faster. This means we don't have time to exercise or to sit down and eat. The latter means we go to McDonald's. But since we want the food to be cheap, McDonald's does whatever it takes to make the food cheap, tasty, and quickly available. Disaster.

That alone drives up costs. If I pay $30 for an office visit that costs $90 but I am willing to spend no more than $100 OF MY OWN MONEY on any single visit, this means that with insurance I am going to make 3 visits. In total, it costs $270 but I only spend $100. What a sweet deal.

But then you forget, YOU ARE PAYING FOR IT ALL ANYWAY. Money flows. That "extra" $70 in that one visit didn't come from thin air. Even if that $70 didn't directly flow from my pocket to the insurance company back to the doctor, it came from somewhere.

how bout the kid right out of college who makes 20k a year and has all of his college loans to pay of or does they not count as well

What is your point? My point is it's misleading to say that x percent of the population is uninsured when they are counting the wrong people. I mean, congress does this shit all the time. According to them, you can have $10 million in the bank, a paid for house, and a paid for BMW and be considered to be living in poverty.

how bout the kid right out of college who makes 20k a year and has all of his college loans to pay of or does they not count as well

Who the hell gets out of college to only make 20k? Someone who went to Hamburger U? :confused:

Who the hell gets out of college to only make 20k? Someone who went to Hamburger U? :confused:

happens at times

happens at times

That's not even $10/hr. You can make that at WalMart. :rolleyes:

That's not even $10/hr. You can make that at WalMart. :rolleyes:

I don't see you trying to defend POTUS now, why not? :shrug:

That's not even $10/hr. You can make that at WalMart. :rolleyes:

and your point being if you have one

Explain why canadians come to the US for treatment. And explain to me why there is an emerging private sector of health care in Norway. Explain why US citizens go to Thailand for major surgery.

Rich people don't like to wait for elective surgery. And Canada doesn't do boob jobs on the public tic - probably Norway doesn't either.

If you pay the freight, you can get what you want in the US - however ill advised and unnecessary. The resources are diverted from more necessary and beneficial care, by the profits to be made.

And Canada has to contend with a brain drain - some kinds of specialists get paid more, in the US, and so their services are more available in the US. It's like the Indian docs - get their education on the taxpayer, in India, and come to the US where the salaries are inflated by the need to pay off huge student loans. (One of the reasons the US system hasn't completely collapsed yet is the draw of foreign educated medical folks to the high salaries required by the domestic system. If we had to rely on the domestic high schools and colleges and even more borrowing by students - - - ).
That alone drives up costs. If I pay $30 for an office visit that costs $90 but I am willing to spend no more than $100 OF MY OWN MONEY on any single visit, this means that with insurance I am going to make 3 visits. In total, it costs $270 but I only spend $100. What a sweet deal. So you're saying you would schedule two unnecessary trips to the doc just to use up the $100 you had budgeted for doc visits? I'd buy a round at the bar and concert tickets.

That's not even $10/hr. You can make that at WalMart. Mysterious, isn't it. Wal Mart is the largest single employer in many states, second to a major temp agency in others. They usually don't hire full time.