Today’s news stated that in the last year job increased in San Diego county by 15,000 and for the state of California by 43,000.  Actually unemployment must have increased for more than 43,000 people who had been gainfully employed had mov3ed to California.  And what of the gain from those finishing their schooling? 

Stats on corporate crime, Citizen works, Ralph Nader

Health care, $100 billion, estimate from Government Accounting Office.

Trade violations $250 billion annually, Prof. Francis Cullen, U. of Cincinnati, Criminal Justice Dept.

Burglary, larceny, motor vehicle, & arson, under $18 billion, FBI for 2002.

66,971 job-related injury and occupational disease deaths (doesn’t include deaths of non-employees due to pollution, tainted foods, and like), 1992, Professor J. Paul Leigh.

Enron Corporation fraud and bankruptcy cost investors, pensioners, and employees $60 billion.

STATS ON DEFICATE FINANCING & CHANGES IN US ECONOMY:

Trade deficit for, 4/04, $48.3 billion,

Manpower  output up 3% per year from 95-03—SR

Foreign investors hold 43% of all U.S> Treasury debt, 25% of corporate paper, 12% U.S. equities—SR

U.S. consumer, business, government savings after allowances for depreciation of existing investment is 1-2% of GDP for 03-4; average for 1960-1999 was 7.5%--SR

Current Account Deficit (What foreigners earn on U.S. investments minus what U.S> garners from foreign investments is $660B, or nearly 6% of the GDP, thus consuming 80% of the world’s saving surplus annually.  (A 5% reading is normally enough to trigger an IMF intervention.—SR

In 2003 deficit of $2.7T; in 1980 a surplus of $360B.—SR

Future signs:

Drop in capacity-enhancing spending, down in 03 60% from the 00 high.  This entail a slowing of expansion and thus a less attractive investment for foreign countries.

The $150 billion for corporate subsidies and tax benefits eclipses the annual budget deficit of $130 billion. It's more than the $145 billion paid out annually for the core programs of the social welfare state: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), student aid, housing, food and nutrition, and all direct public assistance (excluding Social Security and medical care)."

"After World War II, the nation's tax bill was roughly split between corporations and individuals. But after years of changes in the federal tax code and international economy, the corporate share of taxes has declined to a fourth the amount individuals pay, according to the US Office of Management and Budget." --Boston Globe series on Corporate Welfare, 1996

$521 billion federal deficit, estimate Common Cause, Vol. IX, No. 21, May 28, 2004.

Social Security is a fairly simple system to administer, both for the government and for employers.  Social Security spends less than 2 cents of every dollar on administrative costs.  A system of privatized accounts, however, would be quite different.  Privatized accounts would place massive burdens on employers and the government – and they could never be administered successfully.  The fees on the accounts, meanwhile, could soak up 40% of the value of the investment, reducing benefits while providing a huge wind to Wall Street.,

http://ourfuture.org/issues_and_campaigns/socialsecurity/index.cfm

Every day corporations and other wealthy special interests pump another $2 million into the coffers of our elected officials in Washington ad their party committees. For their money they get an estimated $160 billion a year in tax breaks, subsidies, and other sweet deals. That’s $160 billion lifted from taxpayers’ pockets—or about $1500 per taxpayer per year.

http://www.publicampaign.org/publications/index.htm

During the second quarter of 2003, when the war in Iraq was in full swing, some 60 per cent of the 3.3 per cent GDP growth rate was attributable to military spending.

The Bush deficit has not yet reached Reaganesque proportions (it stands at roughly 4.5 per cent of GDP). But Professor Pollin, for one, predicts that the resulting debt burden could rapidly rise to the levels seen in the 1980s, with interest repayments eating up as much as 18-19 per cent of the overall federal budget.