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36 Statistics Which Prove That The American Dream Is Turning Into An Absolute Nightmare For The Middle Class
The U.S. middle class is being shredded, ripped apart and systematically wiped out. If you doubt this, just check out the statistics below. The American Dream is being transformed into an absolute nightmare. Once upon a time, the rest of the world knew that most Americans were able to live a middle class lifestyle. Most American families had nice homes, most American families had a car or two, most American families had nice clothes, most American families had an overabundance of food and most American families could even look forward to sending their children to college if that is what the kids wanted to do. There was an implicit promise that this was the way that it was always going to be. Most of us grew up believing that if we worked really hard in school and that if we stayed out of trouble and that if we did everything that 'the system' told us to do that there would be a place for us in the middle class too. Well, it turns out that 'the system' is breaking down. There aren't enough good jobs for all of us anymore. In fact, there aren't very many crappy jobs either. Millions are out of work, millions have lost their homes and nearly all of the long-term economic trends just keep getting worse and worse. So is there any hope for the U.S. middle class?
No, there is not.
Unless fundamental changes are made economically, financially and politically, the long-term trends that are destroying the U.S. middle class will continue to do so.
The number of good jobs has been declining for a long time. The good jobs that have been lost are being replaced by a smaller number of low paying 'service jobs'.
Meanwhile, the cost of everything is going up. It is getting really hard for American families to be able to afford to put food on the table and to put gas in the tank. Health care costs are absolutely outrageous and college tuition is now out of reach for millions of American families.
Every single month more American families fall out of the middle class. Today there are 18 million more Americans on food stamps than there were just four years ago. More than one out of every five U.S. children is living in poverty. Things are getting really, really bad out there.
The following are 36 statistics which prove that the American Dream is turning into an absolute nightmare for the middle class....
#1 The competition for decent jobs in America has gotten absolutely insane. There have been reports of people actually getting down on their knees and begging for jobs. Many Americans are starting to wonder if they will ever get a decent job again. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average duration of unemployment in the United States is now an all-time record 39 weeks....
#2 According to the Wall Street Journal, there are 5.5 million Americans that are unemployed and yet are not receiving unemployment benefits.
#3 The number of 'low income jobs' in the U.S. has risen steadily over the past 30 years and they now account for 41 percent of all jobs in the United States.
#4 Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in all of U.S. history.
#5 Once upon a time, anyone could get hired at McDonald's. But today McDonald's turns away a higher percentage of applicants than Harvard does. Approximately 7 percent of all those that apply to get into Harvard are accepted. At a recent 'National Hiring Day' held by McDonald's only about 6.2 percent of the one million Americans that applied for a job were hired.
#6 There are now about 7.25 million fewer jobs in America than when the recession began back in 2007.
#7 The United States has lost an average of about 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
#8 A New York post analysis has found that the rate of inflation in New York City has been about 14 percent over the past year.
#9 The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is now up to $3.91 a gallon.
#10 Over the past 12 months the average price of gasoline in the United States has gone up by about 30%.
#11 Spending on energy now accounts for more than 6 percent of all consumer spending. Every time this has happened since 1970 we have also had a recession that followed.
#12 The average American driver will spend somewhere around $750 more for gasoline in 2011. Unfortunately, it seems likely that the price of oil is going to go up even higher. Already the price of oil is closing in on the all-time record....
#13 In the United States, over 20 percent of all children are living in poverty. In the UK and in France that figure is well under 10 percent.
#14 According to the U.S. Census, the number of children living in poverty has gone up by about 2 million in just the past 2 years.
#15 The wealthiest 1% of all Americans now own more than a third of all the wealth in the United States.
#16 The poorest 50% collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
#17 The wealthiest 1% of all Americans own over 50% of all the stocks and bonds.
#18 According to a new report from the AFL-CIO, the average CEO made 343 times more money than the average American did last year.
#19 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for 18.4% of all income.
#20 U.S. households are now receiving more income from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes.
#21 59 percent of all Americans now receive money from the federal government in one form or another.
#22 The average cost of tuition, room and board at America's public universities is now $16,000 a year. For America's private universities, that figure is $37,000 a year.
#23 The cost of college tuition in the United States has gone up by over 900 percent since 1978.
#24 Approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loan debt.
#25 17 million college graduates are doing jobs that do not even require a college degree.
#26 According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.
#27 One study found that approximately 41 percent of working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
#28 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.
#29 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#30 During the first three months of this year, less new homes were sold in the U.S. than in any three month period ever recorded.
#31 Now home sales in the United States are now down 80% from the peak in July 2005.
#32 U.S. home prices have now declined 32% from the peak of the housing bubble.
#33 For most middle class families, the family home is the number one financial asset. Unfortunately, U.S. home values have declined an astounding 6.3 trillion dollars since the housing crisis first began.
#34 According to a recent census report, 13% of all homes in the United States are currently sitting empty.
#35 The housing crisis just seems to keep on getting worse. 31 percent of the homeowners that responded to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that they are 'underwater' on their mortgages.
#36 Unfortunately, it looks like millions more middle class Americans could soon be in danger of losing their homes. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 8 million Americans are at least one month behind on their mortgage payments at this point.
Source: endoftheamericandream.com
Did Fukushima Daiichi Unit No. 4 catch on fire today? (VIDEO)
Unit No. 4 is on the far right
Live feed from May 4 at 9:00 pm in Japan shows smoke/steam rising from Unit No. 4
Still photo at 9:00 pm in Japan
Live feed from May 4 at 9:00 pm in Japan shows smoke/steam rising from Unit No. 4
Still photo at 9:00 pm in Japan
For the original report see: Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 4 On Fire
Death's door
Before jumping into today's essay here is the latest news: Radioactive levels at Fukushima were about250 times higher than a month before. TEPCO said the levels ofcaesium-134 and -137 increased about 250-foldand iodine-131 increased about 12 times compared with one month ago, after the accident had already happened.
The water level in the No. 4 reactor's turbine building rose by 20 centimeters in 10 days. TEPCO hasdetected 8,100 becquerels of caesium-137and 7,800 becquerels of caesium-134 per cubic centimeter in thewaterin the turbine building's basement. The utility company said on Tuesday the 26th of April that the water level in the tunnel of the No. 3 reactor rose by 10 centimeters over three days.
Beyond that door isdeath. It's death's door and it has brought us a new hell onearth. What's behind this door and several others like it is so hot, in terms of death, that its effects can be seen 10,000 miles away. Though thanks to the media we almost forgot about this and other similar doors and the nuclear meltdowns that are occurring right here right now on planet earth.
Today you have to be a hound dog to sniff up any credible news about what is actually going on at that destroyed nuclear plant. It's very scary how the media has clamped down on most of the news so it seems like multiple nuclear meltdowns are not a big deal.
On April 21 radiation levels stood atup to 110 microsieverts per hourin the air in the town of Okuma inTokyo, some 3 kilometers southwest of that door you see above.
If a person is exposed to this quantity of radiation for about nine hours, the cumulative dose is estimated to reach one millisieverts, the annual safety limit set by thegovernment. Do the math. In just30 daysa person living there would have a lethal dose!
On Sunday, April 24,2011Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) disclosed a map of radiation levels at the damagedFukushimaDaiichi nuclear plant. Radiation levels around the No. 3 reactor building, which was damaged by a powerful hydrogenexplosion, are higher than in other locations, and 300 millisieverts per hour of radiation was detected in debris on a nearby mountainside. Stand near that and30 hourslater kisslifegoodbye.
Work started on April 6th to remove contaminated rubble that had been obstructing the restoration process. TEPCO says much of the debris around the former office building has been removed, and it has started clearing the rubble around the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. Enough debris has been removed to fill 50 containers, and it is being kept in a field on the mountainside.
The radiation levels one meter away are 1 to 2 millisieverts per hour. Gee, that would be a walk in the park, meaning we could hang around endlessly until 20 days go by and then we too areradioactivetoast.
Okay so let's translate that into a bit of practical reality for people 10,000 miles away on the east coast of the United States. We're getting pretty far away from that damn door and yet its nuclear wretchedness is reaching around the world just like Chernobyl did.
Radiation a Personal Account
"I am a retired biologist who used to work in radiation biology. Just wanted to share with you what we've been doing lately. We live in the mid-Atlantic area of the U.S. We have a Geiger counter and have been testing daily for radiation (am and pm) since the Fukushima incident. Since March 11, our numbers normally are 25-30 cpm inside and 31-35 cpm outside (Geiger counter sits at an open window). This is within background radiation numbers. When it rains, the numbers rise to about 35 cpm for inside and 40 cpm for outside. Our grass reads around 50 cpm. I noticed today after I did some weeding (sunny day) and washing my hands that they read around 50 cpm. I had to wash them 3-4 times before the reading went down.
"Also noticed a couple of dandelions looking abnormal (their stems were twice as thick as others and heads were joined). Never saw that before.
"We had orderedkelpgranules from the company Maine Coast three weeks ago. We typically use kelp in our foods, and this was a bigger order than usual because of the nuclear incident. Just got the shipment today! We tested the bags of kelp for radiation and they tested 182 cpm! We called the company but they had their answering machine on, stating that they won't be open until April 25th because they're doing inventory. We plan to return the kelp! Noticed the expiration date is April 16, 2013, which makes us wonder if they filled the order after the Fukushima incident (maybe April 16, 2011?).
Patty"
Video with Radiation test in Waterville.
Life with Geiger counters will become much more common in our futures as well as nuclear weather reports. They might as well have ripped a hole into another universe with so much hell to be released each month for as long as we can see into thefuture. Best-case scenario at this point would be several years of relentless radiation buildup around the world but most particularly in the northern hemisphere where it will be increasingly difficult to get uncontaminatedfood. Let's not even think of worst-case scenarios for not many of us will be around for long if such were to occur.
Authorities will keep everything under their hat for as long as humanly possible to avoid panic and migrations. Withfinancialcollapse on the horizon, private citizens will not be able to afford any movement anyway and will have to dig in and weather the radiation. With the help of the media, the entire populations of the north are caught like deer in the headlights and are totally unaware of and unprepared for this increasing nuclear radiation. In case no one has informed you, radioactivity makes it harder for our bodies to live.
Today's Nuclear News
The Number 4 spent fuel pool stores1,535 fuel rods, the most at the nuclear complex. TEPCO says it will inject 210 tons of water into the pool on Monday, after finding on Sunday evening that the temperature in the pool had risen to 81 degrees Celsius. The utility firm had earlier limited the amount of water being injected into the pool to 70 tons a day, saying the weight of the water could weaken the reactor building, which was already damaged in last month'shydrogenexplosion.
On Friday, TEPCO found that the pool's temperature had reached 91 degrees, so it began injecting 2 to 3 times the amount of water. TEPCO says the pool's water temperature dropped to 66 degrees on Saturday after water was injected, but started to rise again, to 81 degrees. The operator says the water level in the pool was 2.5 meters lower than normal after 165 tons of water was injected on Sunday.
Conclusion
But there is absolutely nothing to worry about! Doctors are not worried thatiodinedeficiency will make you much more vulnerable to death rays in the form of radioactive iodine, which your thyroid will mop up like a sponge. But what dodoctorsor our friendly governments care?
"I have been trying to get a prescription for iodine from a medicaldoctor, but I can't find one that will do it. They tell me BS like you don't need it; it's dangerous to take supplemental iodine without a battery of thyroid tests, and a bunch of other BS ad nauseum. I used to be able to get it over the counter at a drugstore, but no longer. I need to find an MD with common sense that will actually help me. David Ostrander"
Photograph: Robert Brook/Alamy/Alamy
Radiation Hell at the disused plutonium reactors at
Sellafield, England are a"slow motion Chernobyl"according
to Greenpeace campaigners against nuclear energy.
The BBCsays, "There are about 440 operational reactors in 32 countries, generating 16 percent of the world's electricity. Only 27 new reactors are under construction, mainly in EasternEuropeand Asia. Not one of the remaining 22 countries withnuclear poweris currently building any new reactors, including the USA, Canada and all of Western Europe. The western world has put its nuclearpowerprogram on hold. This is arguably due at least in part to the Chernobyl accident and the ensuing perception that no matter how small the risk, it is just not worth it."
For all the references, sources and more articles onradiationandchemical toxicityplease visitDr. Mark Sircus blog.
Sourece: NaturalNews.com
The water level in the No. 4 reactor's turbine building rose by 20 centimeters in 10 days. TEPCO hasdetected 8,100 becquerels of caesium-137and 7,800 becquerels of caesium-134 per cubic centimeter in thewaterin the turbine building's basement. The utility company said on Tuesday the 26th of April that the water level in the tunnel of the No. 3 reactor rose by 10 centimeters over three days.
Beyond that door isdeath. It's death's door and it has brought us a new hell onearth. What's behind this door and several others like it is so hot, in terms of death, that its effects can be seen 10,000 miles away. Though thanks to the media we almost forgot about this and other similar doors and the nuclear meltdowns that are occurring right here right now on planet earth.
Today you have to be a hound dog to sniff up any credible news about what is actually going on at that destroyed nuclear plant. It's very scary how the media has clamped down on most of the news so it seems like multiple nuclear meltdowns are not a big deal.
On April 21 radiation levels stood atup to 110 microsieverts per hourin the air in the town of Okuma inTokyo, some 3 kilometers southwest of that door you see above.
If a person is exposed to this quantity of radiation for about nine hours, the cumulative dose is estimated to reach one millisieverts, the annual safety limit set by thegovernment. Do the math. In just30 daysa person living there would have a lethal dose!
On Sunday, April 24,2011Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) disclosed a map of radiation levels at the damagedFukushimaDaiichi nuclear plant. Radiation levels around the No. 3 reactor building, which was damaged by a powerful hydrogenexplosion, are higher than in other locations, and 300 millisieverts per hour of radiation was detected in debris on a nearby mountainside. Stand near that and30 hourslater kisslifegoodbye.
Work started on April 6th to remove contaminated rubble that had been obstructing the restoration process. TEPCO says much of the debris around the former office building has been removed, and it has started clearing the rubble around the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. Enough debris has been removed to fill 50 containers, and it is being kept in a field on the mountainside.
The radiation levels one meter away are 1 to 2 millisieverts per hour. Gee, that would be a walk in the park, meaning we could hang around endlessly until 20 days go by and then we too areradioactivetoast.
Okay so let's translate that into a bit of practical reality for people 10,000 miles away on the east coast of the United States. We're getting pretty far away from that damn door and yet its nuclear wretchedness is reaching around the world just like Chernobyl did.
Radiation a Personal Account
"I am a retired biologist who used to work in radiation biology. Just wanted to share with you what we've been doing lately. We live in the mid-Atlantic area of the U.S. We have a Geiger counter and have been testing daily for radiation (am and pm) since the Fukushima incident. Since March 11, our numbers normally are 25-30 cpm inside and 31-35 cpm outside (Geiger counter sits at an open window). This is within background radiation numbers. When it rains, the numbers rise to about 35 cpm for inside and 40 cpm for outside. Our grass reads around 50 cpm. I noticed today after I did some weeding (sunny day) and washing my hands that they read around 50 cpm. I had to wash them 3-4 times before the reading went down.
"Also noticed a couple of dandelions looking abnormal (their stems were twice as thick as others and heads were joined). Never saw that before.
"We had orderedkelpgranules from the company Maine Coast three weeks ago. We typically use kelp in our foods, and this was a bigger order than usual because of the nuclear incident. Just got the shipment today! We tested the bags of kelp for radiation and they tested 182 cpm! We called the company but they had their answering machine on, stating that they won't be open until April 25th because they're doing inventory. We plan to return the kelp! Noticed the expiration date is April 16, 2013, which makes us wonder if they filled the order after the Fukushima incident (maybe April 16, 2011?).
Patty"
Video with Radiation test in Waterville.
Life with Geiger counters will become much more common in our futures as well as nuclear weather reports. They might as well have ripped a hole into another universe with so much hell to be released each month for as long as we can see into thefuture. Best-case scenario at this point would be several years of relentless radiation buildup around the world but most particularly in the northern hemisphere where it will be increasingly difficult to get uncontaminatedfood. Let's not even think of worst-case scenarios for not many of us will be around for long if such were to occur.
Authorities will keep everything under their hat for as long as humanly possible to avoid panic and migrations. Withfinancialcollapse on the horizon, private citizens will not be able to afford any movement anyway and will have to dig in and weather the radiation. With the help of the media, the entire populations of the north are caught like deer in the headlights and are totally unaware of and unprepared for this increasing nuclear radiation. In case no one has informed you, radioactivity makes it harder for our bodies to live.
Today's Nuclear News
The Number 4 spent fuel pool stores1,535 fuel rods, the most at the nuclear complex. TEPCO says it will inject 210 tons of water into the pool on Monday, after finding on Sunday evening that the temperature in the pool had risen to 81 degrees Celsius. The utility firm had earlier limited the amount of water being injected into the pool to 70 tons a day, saying the weight of the water could weaken the reactor building, which was already damaged in last month'shydrogenexplosion.
On Friday, TEPCO found that the pool's temperature had reached 91 degrees, so it began injecting 2 to 3 times the amount of water. TEPCO says the pool's water temperature dropped to 66 degrees on Saturday after water was injected, but started to rise again, to 81 degrees. The operator says the water level in the pool was 2.5 meters lower than normal after 165 tons of water was injected on Sunday.
Conclusion
But there is absolutely nothing to worry about! Doctors are not worried thatiodinedeficiency will make you much more vulnerable to death rays in the form of radioactive iodine, which your thyroid will mop up like a sponge. But what dodoctorsor our friendly governments care?
"I have been trying to get a prescription for iodine from a medicaldoctor, but I can't find one that will do it. They tell me BS like you don't need it; it's dangerous to take supplemental iodine without a battery of thyroid tests, and a bunch of other BS ad nauseum. I used to be able to get it over the counter at a drugstore, but no longer. I need to find an MD with common sense that will actually help me. David Ostrander"
Photograph: Robert Brook/Alamy/Alamy
Radiation Hell at the disused plutonium reactors at
Sellafield, England are a"slow motion Chernobyl"according
to Greenpeace campaigners against nuclear energy.
The BBCsays, "There are about 440 operational reactors in 32 countries, generating 16 percent of the world's electricity. Only 27 new reactors are under construction, mainly in EasternEuropeand Asia. Not one of the remaining 22 countries withnuclear poweris currently building any new reactors, including the USA, Canada and all of Western Europe. The western world has put its nuclearpowerprogram on hold. This is arguably due at least in part to the Chernobyl accident and the ensuing perception that no matter how small the risk, it is just not worth it."
For all the references, sources and more articles onradiationandchemical toxicityplease visitDr. Mark Sircus blog.
Sourece: NaturalNews.com
Sprint Confirms Release Date for Motorola Xoom (WiFi Only Version)
It was only a few days ago I posted the leak on the Motorola Xoom WiFi only version being sold in stores May 8th. Well, it looks like our sources held up. Sprint, in a press release earlier today, has officially confirmed the May 8th launch date and a $599 price point. So, if for some reason you were waiting this whole time to pick up your own Xoom from Sprint and not say — the countless other retailers already selling the tablet, Sunday will be your lucky day! (Go get ‘em, Yarell!)
Now, Mr. Hesse. Lets talk about this 4G WiMax version…
Source Sprint / Phandroid
Viewsonic Viewpad 10 Leaps From Android 1.6 to 2.2
It ain’t Honeycomb – heck it ain’t even Gingerbread – but the Viewsonic Viewpad 10 update to Android 2.2 will certainly be welcomed by everyone who owns the device. The upgrade also makes the Viewpad 10 instantly more attractive to potential buyers as the device was previously running Android 1.6. Don’t forget this bad boy is capable of dual booting Windows 7. Thankfully they didn’t have to upgrade from Windows 3.1.Current devices running Android 1.6 are small in numbers due to the evolution of Android and robots aren’t immune to Darwin’s Theory: either they should update and adapt or die. I’m glad to see Viewsonic make the huge update to Android 2.2. While it isn’t Android 3.0, it shows the manufacturer is committed to continually improving their devices. Better late than never.
Any Viewsonic owners out there intrigued by this update? Feel free to organize in our Viewsonic Tablet Forum and maybe one of these days we’ll see them freezing up Ice Cream Sandwiches.
Source: phandroid.com
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