Strange but True Facts

A financial planner and former client of mine, Mark Stoeker, sent this email to me.  It contains facts and figures about who is benefiting from today's economy.  I found it to be strange, but true.  In a nutshell, if your net worth starts with an M (million) or B (billion), then you are benefiting.  These facts point out that the gap between the rich and the middle class gets bigger each year.  Interestingly enough, my prior job was insuring the middle to lower class, but the clientele of my new job consists of primarily the upper class so I am able to see more and more of these transactions and habits of the high net worth on a normal basis.  It is interesting that this economy is actually helping them unlike the rest of us!

• According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, face lifts for men jumped 14% last year.
• The average bonus for a worker on Wall Street in 2010 was only $128,530.  It appears that more Wall Street bailouts may be needed.
• According to DataQuick Information Systems, the sale of million dollar homes rose an average of 18.6% in the top 20 major metro areas in the U.S. in 2010.
• In 2010, for the first time ever, more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure.  That number is expected to grow even higher in 2011.
• According to Moody's Analytics, the wealthiest 5% of households in the U.S. now account for approximately 37% of all consumer spending.
• In 2009, only 18,288 vehicles with a price tag of $100,000 or more were sold in the U.S.  In 2010, 32,144 such vehicles were sold.
• Porsche recently reported that sales increased by 29% during 2010.
• Porsche has announced that they will soon be taking orders for their first hybrid sports car, the 918 Spyder.  The price tag on one of those puppies will only be $845,000.
• Approximately half of all American workers make $25,000 a year or less.
• According to the U.S. Energy Department, the average U.S. household will spend approximately $700 more on gasoline in 2011 than it did during 2010.
• According to a new study by America's Research Group, approximately 75% of all Americans are doing less shopping because of rising gasoline prices.
• According to the New York Post, Barack Obama enjoyed a total of ten separate vacations that stretched over a total of 90 vacation days during the years of 2009 and 2010.
• When 2007 began, 26 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today, an all-time record of 44 million Americans are on food stamps.
• The Ivex Packaging Paper Plant in Joliet, Illinois, is shutting down for good after 97 years in business. Seventy-nine jobs will be lost.
• Meanwhile, China has become the number one producer of paper products in the world.
• Luxury jewelry retailer, Tiffany & Co., recently announced that their profits increased by 29% in the 4th quarter of 2010.
• Average household debit in the U.S. has now reached a level of 136% of the average household income.
• The U.S. economy now has 10% fewer "middle class jobs" than it did just ten years ago.
• The average CEO now makes approximately 185 times more money than the average American worker.
• According to one recent study, 21% of all children in the U.S. were living below the poverty line during 2010.

Source: http://www.theeconomiccollapseblog.com/