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Submitted by: Donald Hank 17 Facts That Prove That The Average American Family Is Getting Absolutely Pulverized By This Economy Posted: 27 Sep 2011 06:58 PM PDT How in the world does the average American family survive in this economy?  The median household income is a little bit less than $50,000 a year right now.  So let's call that about $4000 a month.  But before any of that money gets spent, you have to take out at least $1000 in taxes.  That leaves about $3000 a month to pay all the bills with.  With that $3000 you have to pay the mortgage (or rent), make the car payments, make the student loan payments, pay for power and water, pay for health insurance, pay for home insurance, pay for car insurance, pay the phone bill, pay the Internet bill and pay the cable bill.  On top of all that, every member of the family needs three meals a day and the cars need to be filled up with gasoline or they won't go anywhere.  Of course I haven't even mentioned expenses that don't happen every month such as car repairs or new shoes.  No wonder so many families are feeling so financially stressed! The truth is that American families are getting squeezed harder than they have been in ages.  The number of good jobs is declining, incomes are going down, and the cost of living just keeps going up. The following are 17 facts that prove that the average American family is getting absolutely pulverized by this economy.... #1 The cost of a health insurance policy for the average American family rose by a whopping 9 percent last year.  According to a report put out by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, the average family health insurance policy now costs over $15,000 a year. How in the world can most families afford that?  Yes, in many cases employers are paying for at least a portion of that, but still that seems absolutely outrageous. #2 Due to rising costs, a lot of employers are completely getting rid of health plans for their employees.  In fact, the percentage of Americans covered by employer-based health plans has fallen for 11 years in a row. #3 The number of uninsured Americans continues to rise.  Things have gotten so bad that an all-time record 49.9 millionAmericans do not have any health insurance at all. #4 At this point, most American families are tapped out financially.  According to the U.S. Labor Department, incomes and spending were both down for the second straight year in 2010. #5 At the same time, the employment picture continues to look worse with each passing month.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of layoffs in the United States was up 14 percent in August. #6 Even if you do have a job that doesn't mean that you are doing much more than surviving.  According to Paul Osterman, a professor of economics at MIT, approximately 20 percent of all employed Americans are making $10.65 an hour or less. #7 The amount of debt that the average American family has piled up is absolutely staggering.  The median yearly wage in the United States is just $26,261, but the average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt. #8 Consumer confidence is extremely low right now.  If the U.S. economy was in good shape, the Consumer Confidence Index would be up around 90.  Instead, it is sitting at 45.4. #9 Nearly every recent survey shows that the American people are feeling really depressed about the economy right now.  In fact, one poll found that 80 percent of them believe that we are actually in a recession right now. #10 Many consumers are seriously starting to cut back on spending again, and that is not a good sign for the U.S. economy.  According to one recent study, 40 percent of all Americans have cut back on their spending within the last 60 days. #11 It certainly does not help that millions of good jobs have been shipped out of the country.  Sadly, the trend of offshoring our jobs is going to continue to accelerate if something is not done.  According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades. #12 There is a lot of fear in the workforce right now.  According to Gallup, 30 percent of all employed Americans are worried that they will be laid off soon. #13 Today, there are 5.9 million Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 that are living with their parents.  That is putting an even greater strain on the budgets of many families. #14 American families have gotten very accustomed to using plastic to pay for things.  Today, the average U.S. household has 13 different credit cards. #15 Many American families are not making it at all in this economy.  Last year, 2.6 million more Americans dropped into poverty.  That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959. #16 For many American families, living on food stamps has become a way of life.  Today, there are more than 45 millionAmericans on food stamps and we keep setting a brand new record almost every single month. #17 Things have gotten so bad that many American families are selling off whatever they can in order to survive.  For example, down in Florida hundreds of people have been selling off their burial plots in an attempt to raise cash.  The following is an excerpt from a local news report about this new trend.... Sellers are posting online, using burial plot brokers, and also funeral homes to market the real estate. Some of those advertisements show single plots starting at about $1,000, while family plots can go for up to $50,000. Most American families are living in a state of almost constant financial stress.  Way too many parents are spending way too many sleepless nights wondering how in the world they will be able to keep their heads above water for another month. Very few families seem to have "extra money" for stuff these days.  Yeah, there are the "privileged few", but most people are really struggling to get by. In America today, if you are able to keep your home from being foreclosed and you are able to put food on the table and clothes on the backs of your family then you are doing pretty good. Sadly, as our current economic crisis deepens, the average American family is going to have an even more difficult time trying to survive financially. So do you have any tips to share for how the average American family can survive in this very tough economy?  Please feel free to share your ideas and thoughts below....

Record Low New Home Sales In 2011 Posted: 27 Sep 2011 11:28 AM PDT New home sales in the United States are on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.  This will be the third year in a row that new home sales have set a new record low.  Sadly, this is yet another sign that the U.S. economy continues to grow weaker.  Back in 2005, more than four times as many new homes were being sold as are being sold today.  The home building industry is one of the central pillars of the U.S. economy, and the fact that we are going to set another new record low for home sales in 2011 is a really bad sign for those hoping for an economic recovery.  Unlike most of those that work in the financial industry, those that build new homes produce something of lasting value for American families.  In addition, millions of Americans have traditionally made a solid living by building and selling new homes.  But today the market for new homes has totally dried up and large numbers of those jobs are disappearing.  Some of the reasons for this include high unemployment, a glut of foreclosures on the market and the tightening of lending standards on home loans.  In order for the U.S. to have anything resembling a healthy economy again, we are going to need a revival in the sale of new homes. But unfortunately, it looks like things are getting even worse.  In August, the number of new home sales declined for the fourth month in a row.  That is a very troubling sign because typically summer is the best time for new home sales. Celia Chen, the director of housing economics at Moody’s Analytics, is saying the following about the dismal numbers.... "With job growth at a standstill, the stock market swinging wildly, Congress wrangling over the debt ceiling and the euro zone’s problems sending consumer confidence down, sales of new homes are slipping from an already weak pace." When you take a close look at the numbers, it really is shocking to see how far we have fallen. Back in 1963, the U.S. Census Bureau began monitoring new home sales.  Prior to the most recent economic downturn, the record low for new home sales happened in 1982. In that year, only 412,000 new homes were sold. Well, that record was broken in 2009. Then it was broken again in 2010. And it will be broken again in 2011. This year, we are on pace to see only 303,000 new homes sold in America. That is beyond pathetic. To get an idea of just how bad that is, just check out the following chart which comes from the Calculated Risk blog.  The first number is the year, the second number is the total number of new homes sold during that year, and the third number is the total number of new homes sold through the month of August during that year.  The number of new homes sold during 2011 is a projected number.... 2000:  877  608 2001:  908  644 2002:  973  670 2003:  1,086  759 2004:  1,203  841 2005:  1,283  906 2006:  1,051  756 2007:  776  577 2008:  485  365 2009:  375  261 2010:  323  231 2011:  303  211 As you can see, this will be the fifth year in a row that new home sales have fallen. And yet the folks on television keep telling us that the recession is over. The frightening thing is that new home sales are this anemic even with mortgage rates at historic lows. So what is going to happen once mortgage rates start going up? It is hard to imagine new home sales getting even worse than they are now. And we desperately need to get things turned around.  New home construction is very good for the economy. According to the National Association of Home Builders, each new home that is constructed creates the equivalent of 3 jobs for an entire year and generates approximately $90,000 in taxes. So what is holding things back? Well, for one thing, if people do not have good jobs they cannot afford to buy new homes. Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job.  In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job. That is a massive problem that needs to be solved. Unfortunately, our leaders continue to allow millions of our jobs to be shipped overseas. If you gathered together all of the people in the United States that are "officially unemployed" right now, they would constitute the 68th largest country in the world.  It would be a nation larger than Greece. Secondly, there is a gigantic glut of foreclosed homes on the market right now that is competing with new homes for the few qualified home buyers that are out there. It is absolutely shocking how many vacant homes there are in some areas of the country. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant.  That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago. In the city of Detroit alone, there are more than 33,000 abandoned homes. Until the number of vacant homes goes down, there is just not going to be a need in the marketplace for a lot of new homes. Sadly, it looks like another huge wave of foreclosures could be on the way. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 8 million Americans are currently at least one month behind on their mortgage payments. That is more than a bit frightening. Thirdly, lending standards on home loans have dramatically changed. Five or six years ago, if you were breathing you could get a home loan. Even the family dog could get a home loan. But now the pendulum has swung to the opposite end of the spectrum. Applying for a mortgage today is like getting a series of proctology exams from a very rude and very uncaring doctor. Many mortgage lenders today will deny you at the slightest hint of a problem. Even if you have a very high income, near perfect credit, very little debt and a long history of financial responsibility there is still a very good chance that you will be turned down. If you don't believe this, just start talking to people that have applied for home loans lately. A ton of pending home sales are being cancelled because potential home buyers simply cannot get approved. Until some sort of "balance" is restored to the mortgage lending process, this is going to continue to be a major problem. It would be nice if I could tell you that things are going to get better soon, but the truth is that there are all kinds of signs that the U.S. economy is getting even worse and there are all kinds of signs that the global financial system is on the verge of a massivenervous breakdown. So if you make a living by building or selling new homes, you might want to find other ways to supplement your income for a while. Things are not going to turn around significantly any time soon.