Americans Are Hurting And It’s Going To Get Much Worse – Here’s Why

December 8, 2010 by Editor · 2 Comments
The despair in the air is almost palpable – for good reason!

You thought 2010 was bad? Well, you haven’t seen anything yet. 2010 was a Sunday picnic compared to what is coming. Get ready to get squeezed. Get ready for higher food prices, higher gas prices, higher health insurance premiums and higher taxes. Get ready to try to do a lot more with a lot less. Average Americans are going to be squeezed until they have nothing left to give – then they are going to be squeezed just a little bit more. Are you ready? Words: 1110

So says theeconomiccollapseblog.com in an article* which Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com, has reformatted and edited [...] below for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. (Please note that this paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.) The article goes on to say:

Already hordes of Americans are truly and honestly hurting. The reality is that it is getting really hard to make it out there. Not only do most households have both parents working, but in many cases both parents are getting second or even third jobs. Things have gotten so bad that millions of Americans have felt forced to turn to the government for assistance just to survive. It can be really disheartening to come to the end of the month and realize that despite your best efforts you have less money than you did at the beginning of the month but that is where millions upon millions of American families now find themselves.

Editor’s Note: Don’t forget to sign up for our FREE weekly “Top 100 Stock Market, Asset Ratio & Economic Indicators in Review”.

The following are ten reasons why ordinary hard-working Americans are about to really start feeling the squeeze….

#1 Gas prices are going up again

AAA says that the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States… is 32.6 cents higher than it was during the same time period in 2009. As oil and gas prices continue to go up, that is also going to have a significant impact on… [heating and travel] bills for American families this winter.

#2 The price of food is poised to rise substantially

Bloomberg is reporting that the the cost of meat in the United States is going nowhere but up [as is] wheat, corn, soybeans and almost every other major agricultural commodity. As this continues, it is inevitable that ordinary Americans will see much higher food prices at their local grocery stores.

#3 Social Security recipients are not going to be seeing cost-of-living increases again

The Associated Press is reporting that the U.S. government is expected to announce soon that the tens of millions of Americans that receive Social Security will go through yet another year without an increase in their monthly benefit payments. You see, Social Security cost-of-living adjustments are tied to the official government inflation numbers and, according to the U.S. government, there is basically very little inflation right now!

#4 The cost of health care continues to soar

Americans already pay more for health care than anyone else in the world, and yet costs continue to spiral out of control. The cost of health care increased a staggering 9.6% for all U.S. households from 2007 to 2009. Now, health insurance companies from coast to coast are announcing that they must raise health insurance premiums substantially due to the new health care law.

#5 A recovery in the housing industry is simply not going to happen

Foreclosure-Gate is getting worse by the day and it threatens to bring the U.S. real estate industry to a complete and total standstill. If it is ultimately proven that the paperwork for millions of mortgages in the United States is seriously deficient, it could push hordes of mortgage lenders into bankruptcy and render mountains of mortgage-backed securities nearly worthless. Regardless, it is now going to be much more difficult to get a mortgage, much more difficult to buy a home and much more difficult to sell a home. We could very well be looking at the next stage of the housing crash. Ordinary Americans could end up losing trillions more in home equity.

#6 More Americans than ever are having their wages garnisheed

With more Americans unable to pay their bills an increasing number of frustrated creditors are resorting to wage garnishment (i.e. going after the weekly paychecks of debtors).

#7 Americans now owe more on student loans than they do on credit cards

Americans now owe more than $849 billion on student loans, which is a new all-time record and, sadly, student loan debt is nearly impossible to get rid of. Once you are committed, it will follow you around for the rest of your life.

#8 Even as expenses rise, incomes are down from coast to coast

Median household income in the U.S. declined [2.9%] from 2008 to 2009 affecting 51 of the 52 largest metro areas in the United States.

#9 The U.S. Federal Reserve [believes] we need more inflation

A number of top Federal Reserve officials have come out recently and have publicly supported the notion that the Fed needs to purposely create more inflation in order to stimulate the economy. Of course what they don’t tell the American people is that inflation is a hidden tax on every single dollar in our wallets and in our bank accounts. More inflation would be really bad news for ordinary Americans, because they are already having a tough time getting their dollars to stretch far enough.

#10 The U.S. government (and many state and local governments) are implementing a slew of new taxes

2011 is being called ”the year of the tax increase” and the Americans that are going to be affected worst are the out of every six American households who are going to get hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax amounting to $3,900 – and most of them don’t even know that it is coming.

Conclusion

You thought 2010 was bad? Well, you haven’t seen anything yet. 2010 was a Sunday picnic compared to what is coming. Get ready to get squeezed. Get ready for higher food prices, higher gas prices, higher health insurance premiums and higher taxes. Get ready to try to do a lot more with a lot less.

Average Americans are going to be squeezed until they have nothing left to give – then they are going to be squeezed just a little bit more. Are you ready?

*http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-reasons-why-ordinary-hard-working-americans-are-about-to-really-start-feeling-the-squeeze

My table isn't showing up correctly. Go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Minimum_Tax

Look at the table of the years previously and this year what's going to change. It's staggering.


AMT Tax Rate and Exemption Amounts

I'm not an expert at taxes, but from that article, if they don't pass that extension like they have been since 2001, looks like it will be a big tax hit.