The annual State of the Union speech from the President of these United States is being prepared as we speak.  I am sure there will be much said and quite a rosy picture of American health will be painted.  There is much debate over the “seating arrangements” for the members of Congress.  Regardless of how the members and others are seated, I am quite sure there will be no mention of any of these pieces of information, as they do not show America in the wonderful light that they would hope to portray.

The following are pieces of information that will not be heard of or addressed in the State of the Union.

The current “official” unemployment rate is 9.4%.  But, for blue collar jobs, the  unemployed/underemployed rate has gone from 7.2% in 2000 to its current rate of 19.5%, an increase of almost 271% in a ten year period.

The percentage of employment in manufacturing areas in 1941 was around 9%.  We currently have approximately the same number employed in manufacturing now, as we did then.  The current rate of employment to the population is around 4%.  There are approximately the same number of people in manufacturing then as now, yet our population has more than doubled.

The United States has lost 32 % of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

Printed circuit boards are used in almost everything we use today. Asia now produces 84 % of them worldwide.

The U.S. Census Bureau states that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty. The highest number of poor Americans since 1960, when records were first kept.

Service sector employment has grown by over 68% since 1961.

U.S. multi-national corporations (those with the parent company being US based) increased employment at their foreign subsidiaries by 30% in the last ten years, while at the same time, decreasing employment at their US parent by 8%.

In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 % of U.S. economic output in 1959. Today, it represents less than 11.5 %.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is seeking to “repurpose” a portion of city property as a new way to save money.  Essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection will be completely eliminated for 20% of the city.

Ranked as the 2^nd most dangerous city in America, Camden, New Jersey, wishes to lay off around 50% of its police department, in order to save money.

The State of Illinois has just raised its personal income tax rate by 66%, FROM 3% to 5% and its corporate rate from 4.8% to 7%. To help eliminate a budget deficit of over $13 billion dollars.

These are a few examples of the true state of the nation.  This listing is FAR from the complete listing, it would take pages and pages to list them all.