"One absolutely essential prerequisite is: educate, educate, educate. Societies need to find ways to make adult education, including economic and financial literacy, far more available and far more compelling. If voters are uninformed and easily swayed towards demagogues peddling short-term ill-considered policies, there is little hope for righting the course of capitalist countries"...The Crisis in Capitalism Series, The Financial Times
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32%...Decrease in charitable giving for every level of increased economic anxiety over the future, on a scale of one to five, regardless of actual financial circumstances. Source: "Feeling Poor, Acting Stingy: The Effect of Money Perceptions on Charitable Giving," by the Centers of Philanthropy at the Universities of Kent and Amsterdam.
$118.3 trillion....The amount of net wealth in the United States after all debts to foreigners have been paid off. Source: The Office of Management and Budget in the Bush White House. Reported in the 2010 Budget of the United States, which added: "The size of the net foreign debt is relatively small compared with the total stock of U.S. assets. In 2007, it amounted to 7% of total assets."
8%...Number of American workers employed in manufacturing. There were 30% in 1950. Yet factory output has actually increased five-fold during the same time due to increases in productivity. Worker wages and benefits have only risen half as much. Source: The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2012.
15%...Percent of America's GDP consumed by federal taxes. That's actually the lowest percentage since 1950. Source: The Economist, September 18, 2010
45%...Percent of America's GDP consumed by federal taxes as perceived by surveyed Tea Partiers. Source: Forbes.com, March, 19, 2010.
29.6%...Percent of GDP consumed by total taxes in the United States. Sweden's percentage is 54.2%, Denmark's is 48.8%, France's is 45.3%, Norway's is 40.3%, Germany's is 37.9%, the United Kingdom's is 37.4%, and Canada's is 35.8%. Source: OECD
$513, 612%...Per capita wealth of Americans. We ranked fourth, behind Switzerland with $548,241, Denmark with $575,138, and Sweden with $413,424. Source: Where is the Wealth of Nations?, The World Bank, 2000.
$2,300...Per capita private wealth of the average human on earth. Source: The Economist
25%...Percent of federal income tax, including Social Security, on an American making $100,000 annually (roughly twice the average). America ranked 14th of 16 nations surveyed. Only Russia and the United Arab Emirates were lower. Source: The Economist, May 2011
