Courtesy of Zerohedge:
- GDP Growth: Then +2.5%; Now +1.6%
- Regular Gas Price: Then $2.75; Now $3.73
- Americans Unemployed (in Labor Force): Then 6.7 million; Now 13.2 million
- Americans On Food Stamps: Then 26.9 million; Now 47.69 million
- Size of Fed’s Balance Sheet: Then $0.89 trillion; Now $3.01 trillion
- US Debt as a Percentage of GDP: Then ~38%; Now 74.2%
- US Deficit (LTM): Then $97 billion; Now $975.6 billion
- Total US Debt Oustanding: Then $9.008 trillion; Now $16.43 trillion
- Gold: Then $748; Now $1583
However, this is the number I find most significant:
Total Credit Market Debt Outstanding: Then $50 trillion; Now $55.3 trillion.
October 2007 was the last quarter before Z1 fell below 2 percent quarterly growth for the first time in sixty years. The numbers above reflect the heroic efforts required simply to lift Z1 by $5 trillion when the simple continuance of the 60-year average credit growth would have had it at $77.9 trillion.
It is also interesting to note that the price of gold doubled in the six years that the Dow remained flat.