Vice President Joe Biden said on May 28 that the U.S. Economy is 'recovering and is's gaining traction." Has the economy emerged from the recession?
If you listen to these kind of talks in the media often enough, you might be tempted to believe that the economic crisis is over and we are on the road to economy recovery.
Let us read and ponder over the statistics. Then you decide whether the economic crisis is still far from over.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.0 percent (about 14 million people) in April 2011, a 0.2 percent increase from March.
According to April's numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5.8 million Americans have been out of work for more than 27 weeks.
Those who have used up their traditional 26 weeks of state benefits and are collecting federal emergency and extended payments dropped by about 63,215 to 4.05 million in the week ending May 7.
The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits dropped by 46,000 to 3.69 million in the week that ended May 14. This is the lowest level in a month.
However, first-time applications for unemployment benefits, most popularly for an unemployment extension, rose (10,000 more) for the week ending May 21. 10,000. This is the first increase in three weeks.
Overall, 40 states and territories reported a decrease in claims, while 13 showed an increase.
Gasoline prices declined 12 cents for the week ending May 21, the biggest drop since November 2008.
The economy grew at a mere 1.8 percent in the January-March quarter.
The import of goods is still growing more rapid that export from U.S. Factories.
The Federal Reserve has been printing, borrowing and spending money at a dizzying pace.
According to RealtyPartner.com, the average price of a home in the U.S. is about 8 percent lower than it was a year ago and that it continues to fall about 1 percent a month.
Fifty nine percent of all Americans now receive money from the federal government. U.S. households are now receiving more income from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes.
In 2010, more homes were repossessed than ever before, more Americans were on food stamps than ever before. Tens of millions of Americans can't find a decent job and 44 million Americans are on food stamps.
The U.S. national debt is more than 14 trillion dollars. During April, the federal government incurred a deficit of $40.5 billion. Average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136% of average household income.
As you can tell from the statistics, America is in economic decline. The economy is a mess right now. Tell me, are we seeing an economic recovery yet? I certainly hope so.
Author Resource:
All Unemployment Extension and General Unemployment Current info and filing at Unemployment-Extension.org .
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