In Perspective - State of our Union

January 28, 2010 Harry Applin 862 words

Last week President Obama gave the State of the Union address and the pundits were immediately out blasting this or that. There are questions I would like answered that neither side addressed. Therefore, I thought that this week I would put some of those numbers in perspective and let you judge what direction the country should go in.

One question I had is why is everyone so upset with the bonuses, but so afraid to reverse the tax cuts that were given to the same people that got the bonuses? If tax cuts are the way to stimulate the economy, then why were the tax breaks for college tuition shunned by the right?

Below are some numbers I have accumulated in dollars and years; I used increments of either five years or ten years for reference sake. I also selected some main categories that include taxes, debt, income, job loss, energy costs, health insurance, transportation funding, infrastructure costs and military funding for examples. The sources used for these numbers are at the end of the column.

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Taxes

As of 2007, there are about 138 million taxpayers in the United States

The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57% of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.

More than half of foreign companies and about 42 % of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.

Credit and Income

Total consumer credit debt in 2001: $7.65 trillion

Total consumer credit debt in 2008: $12.8 trillion

Decrease in median income from 2000-2006 in

White American households: $745

African American households: $2,766

Hispanic American households: $1,043

Asian American households: $1,381

Senior benefit costs rise 24% since 2000

Seniors have lost 50% of their purchasing power since 2000

Jobs

The U.S. has only 1.9% more jobs today than in March 2001.

Private sector jobs are up only 1.5%.

Number of U.S. manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2006: 3,066,000

Manufacturing lost 149,000 jobs 2008

Manufacturing employment dropped 2.1 million jobs since December of 2007:

Number of Construction Jobs gained between 2003 and 2006: 550,000

Number of Construction Jobs lost between 2007 and 2009: 1.7 million

The rate of construction unemployment soared to 15.3% - by far the highest of any group.

Yearly average number of new private sector jobs created from 1992-2000: 1.76 million

Yearly average number of new private sector jobs created from 2001-2008: 369,000

Energy

Average price of a gallon of home heating oil in Jan. 2000: $1.40

Average price of a gallon of home heating oil in Jan. 2008: $3.39

Average price of a gallon of gas in Jan. 2000: $1.59

Average price of a gallon of gas in Jan. 2008: $3.14

Average price of a gallon of gas in Jan. 2010: $2.74

The cost to find and develop a barrel of oil quadrupled to $18 last year from $4 in 2000.

Federal tax breaks that benefit oil companies include: the Percentage Depletion Allowance ($784 million to $1 billion per year), the Nonconventional Fuel Production Credit ($769 to $900 million), immediate expensing of exploration and development costs ($200 to $255 million), the Enhanced Oil Recovery Credit ($26.3 to $100 million), foreign tax credits ($1.11 to $3.4 billion), foreign income deferrals ($183 to $318 million), and accelerated depreciation allowances ($1.0 to $4.5 billion).

In total, annual tax breaks that support gasoline production and use amount to $9.1 to $17.8 billion.

Energy Imports

Amount of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that was imported in 2001: 52.75 %

Amount of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that is imported in 2008: 60.38 %

U.S. Oil Imports OPEC 2007: 789,607,000 bbl

U.S. Oil Imports OPEC 2008: 867,559,000 bbl

U.S. Oil Imports OPEC 2009: 630,802,000 bbl

Decrease between 2008 and 2009: ~27.3%

Health Insurance

Americans without health insurance in 2000: 38.4 million

Americans without health insurance in 2006: 46.9 million

Annual cost of family health insurance premiums in 2000: $7,643

Annual cost of family health insurance premiums in 2006: $11,480

Transportation

The funding bill (1998-2003): $174 billion for highway projects and $41 billion for transit projects.

U.S. Total Highway funding 2004 $118,2 billion

U.S. Total Highway funding 2006 $135.4 billion

Federal Highway funding 2008 $ 40 billion

U.S. High Speed Rail Funds 2010: $8 Billion

Las Vegas Airport Terminal 3 upgrade: $2.4 billion

$30 billion spent on Amtrak over the last 30 years, (1971-2001)

$1.89 TRILLION on air and highway modes over the last 30 years.(1971-2001)

Infrastructure Costs

U.S. Infrastructure Estimated 5 Year Investment Need 2005: $1.6 trillion

U.S. Infrastructure Estimated 5 Year Investment Need 2009: $2.2 Trillion

Military Budget

Military Budget 2000: $280.8 billion

Total U.S. military expenditures requested for 2008: $644 billion

Total military expenditures of the next top 10 spending countries combined: $446.1 billion

Sources

[Bureau of Labor Statistics]

[U.S. Energy Information Administration]

[Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust]

[U.S. Census Bureau]

[American Society of Civil Engineers]

[Insurance Information Institute]

[Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation]