Tuesday, December 29, 2009

It still isn't fair and they still don't care

This is the data that

Unemployment Rate: 10%
Number of Metropolitan Areas where unemployment is higher than a year ago: 372
Number of Metropolitan Areas tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 372
Total consumer bankruptcy filings through November 2009: 1,300,000
Total consumer bankruptcy filings in 2009: 1,095,344
Homes currently in foreclosure: more than 1,000,000
Home Home Equity Loans and lines of credit extended through third quarter, 2009: $40 billion
Home Home Equity Loans and lines of credit extended in 2006: $430 billion
Profits earned by Wall Street firms collectively through third quarter 2009: $49.7 billion
Amount lost by Wall Street firms collectively in 2008: $42.6 billion
Total corporate profits, third quarter 2009: $132.4 billion
Financial services profits, third quarter 2009: $82.8 billion
Goldman Sachs earnings, 2008: $2.8 billion
Goldman Sachs taxes paid, 2008: $14 million
Wall Street Bonuses 2009(1): $149 billion
Wall Street Bonuses 2008: $140 billion
Total Lobbying spending 2009: $3.33 billion*
Lobbying spending by finance industry to influence regulatory reform: more than $300 million
Finance industry lobbyists per member of Congress: 5
Federal government share of GDP 2009: 26%
Federal government share of GDP 2000: 18.4%
Size of Federal Reserve balance sheet: $2.2 trillion

*Expected. The record, set in 2008, was $3.30 billion.

1) Six largest banks: Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Morgan Stanley (MS).