10 Statistics Worse Than the Trade Deficit
The federal trade deficit has now reached $891 billion. This number comes after President Trump campaigned (and won) off of claims to reduce the trade deficit. Instead, he’s making the debt go up. While this increase in the deficit should be cause for concern, there are many more numbers that exist in this country that are nothing short of policy violence that we should be focusing on.
1: The ranking of the United States in world prison populations. Despite being the third most populous country, the U.S. takes first place when it comes to the number of people incarcerated. This number is further compounded by the number of people in jail for misdemeanor drug charges or are sitting in cells because they can’t afford to make bail.
6: The number of states in the U.S. where you can afford a basic apartment on under $15 per hour. While numerous states are taking steps toward increasing their minimum wage, only New York has actually implemented a $15 minimum wage, and that’s only for large employers. Keep in mind, you’d have to make $24.23 per hour to even afford a studio apartment in New York.
12: The number of years we have to limit irreversible climate change. Despite the claims by this administration, we all know that climate change is real and what it is doing to our planet. The United Nations says we have 12 years to make significant changes before droughts, floods, extreme heat, and poverty become commonplace.
15%: The percentage of Medicaid recipients that could lose coverage under the Trump administration. In 2018, the administration gave states permission to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients. However, 60 percent of Medicaid recipients already work, and those that don’t are either in school, taking care of family members, or are physically or mentally disabled. The nation’s most vulnerable and those in need of care could lose their coverage, because they don’t meet technical requirements. That includes people who work multiple part-time jobs, are seasonal employees, and contractors.
25: The number of states with restrictive voter laws. When the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, states across the country rushed to implement oppressive voting laws that made it harder for the elderly, homeless, disabled, and people of color to vote. This includes voter ID laws and reduction of early voting periods. This is racist voter suppression, and we should call it that.
$4,822 — $22,631: The annual cost of child care across the country. If a single parent was working a minimum-wage job full-time, they’d only make $15,080 per year. In many states, that parent would not be able to afford child care.
39,773: The number of people who died from guns in 2017. According to the CDC, 37 percent of those deaths were homicides. Yet many of our elected leaders remain caught in the purse strings of the NRA and refuse to pass legislation that could prevent many of these killings from happening.
140 Million: The number of people who are poor or low-income in the U.S. today. That means 140 million people who are struggling to pay their rent, put food on the table, keep the lights on, and put clothes on their children’s backs.
$892.7 Billion: The amount of money that will be spent on the U.S. military in 2019. Military spending comes out of a chunk of the annual budget called discretionary spending. This bucket covers the military and all other domestic programs like Health and Human Services, Education, and Housing and Urban Development. Over half of that budget goes to the military.
$1.1 Trillion: The number of dollars spent on stock buybacks in 2018. In 2017, Republicans passed a new tax bill that cut the corporate tax rate down to 21 percent without doing much for working families and the poor. They claimed that the savings corporations and the wealthy received would come back ten-fold for workers in the form of new jobs and higher wages. Instead, corporations took their savings and gave it back to their wealthy shareholders in the form of stock buybacks.
All of these numbers can be compounded into a singular problem: systemic oppression. By refusing to increase the minimum wage, the government is keeping the poor in poverty. Our nation’s immoral levels of incarceration continually punish those who would dare make a mistake. Our immoral elected leaders continue to send us their thoughts and prayers as our children, friends, and neighbors are gunned down in their homes, schools, and places of worship.
We know that the right to vote is our most sacred right and that it should be guaranteed to all Americans without barriers. It is wrong for a handful of the rich in this country to own the same amount of wealth as the bottom 50 percent. So while we acknowledge that yes, the increasing federal trade deficit is of great concern, we also acknowledge the many other areas of concern that exist in this country. And we hope that the media and our politicians begin to pay attention to these numbers, lest we go down in history as a nation silently complicit with its own demise.
Repairers of the Breach is building a moral movement and is a cosponsor of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. To learn more about both, visit www.breachrepairers.org.
