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Scary statistics on unemployment, inequality, climate change and more
January 28, 2014 11:15 AM ET
In tonight's State of the Union speech, we're likely to hear a lot about the nation's continuing recovery from the Great Recession, and about President Obama's determination to run an executive end-run around obstructionist Republicans in order to kick the economy into a higher gear.
But as the nation pauses for this annual moment of reflection on our fiscal and social health, too many leading indicators get short shrift. Here are 27 statistics on unemployment, inequality, the drug war, defense spending, climate change and more that underscore the troubled reality of America in 2014:
1. New income generated since 2009 that has gone to the top 1 percent: 95 percent
2. Financial wealth controlled by the bottom 60 percent of all Americans: 2.3 percent
3. Record combined wealth of the top 400 richest Americans: $2,000,000,000,000
4. Real decline in median middle-class incomes since 1999: $5,000
5. Percentage of Hispanic and African-American children living in poverty, respectively: 33.8 percent; 36.7 percent
6. Amount that food stamps will be cut in 2014: $5 billion
7. Federal minimum wage: $7.25
8. What the minimum wage would be if it had kept pace with gains in worker productivity since 1968: $21.72
9. Number of U.S. workers laboring at or below minimum wage: 3.6 million the near equivalent of the population of Los Angeles.
10.Stealth taxpayer subsidy to the fast-food industry, paid out as safety-net benefits to McWorkers earning poverty wages: $7 billion
11. Global carbon dioxide levels measured in parts per million: 397
12. Maximum concentration of the greenhouse gas that scientists deem sustainable: 350
13. Years since the turn of this century that have ranked among the warmest 15 on record: All 13
14. Rank of 2013 on that list of the warmest years on record: Number Four
15. U.S. defense spending as of 2012: $682 billion
Read more: 27 Shocking Numbers That Reveal the True State of the Union | Politics News | Rolling Stone
January 28, 2014 11:15 AM ET
In tonight's State of the Union speech, we're likely to hear a lot about the nation's continuing recovery from the Great Recession, and about President Obama's determination to run an executive end-run around obstructionist Republicans in order to kick the economy into a higher gear.
But as the nation pauses for this annual moment of reflection on our fiscal and social health, too many leading indicators get short shrift. Here are 27 statistics on unemployment, inequality, the drug war, defense spending, climate change and more that underscore the troubled reality of America in 2014:
1. New income generated since 2009 that has gone to the top 1 percent: 95 percent
2. Financial wealth controlled by the bottom 60 percent of all Americans: 2.3 percent
3. Record combined wealth of the top 400 richest Americans: $2,000,000,000,000
4. Real decline in median middle-class incomes since 1999: $5,000
5. Percentage of Hispanic and African-American children living in poverty, respectively: 33.8 percent; 36.7 percent
6. Amount that food stamps will be cut in 2014: $5 billion
7. Federal minimum wage: $7.25
8. What the minimum wage would be if it had kept pace with gains in worker productivity since 1968: $21.72
9. Number of U.S. workers laboring at or below minimum wage: 3.6 million the near equivalent of the population of Los Angeles.
10.Stealth taxpayer subsidy to the fast-food industry, paid out as safety-net benefits to McWorkers earning poverty wages: $7 billion
11. Global carbon dioxide levels measured in parts per million: 397
12. Maximum concentration of the greenhouse gas that scientists deem sustainable: 350
13. Years since the turn of this century that have ranked among the warmest 15 on record: All 13
14. Rank of 2013 on that list of the warmest years on record: Number Four
15. U.S. defense spending as of 2012: $682 billion
Read more: 27 Shocking Numbers That Reveal the True State of the Union | Politics News | Rolling Stone
