If you have to spend Christmas with liberal relatives and they bring up the topic of the economy (because you as a conservative would not be so rude as to bring up political skirmishes at the dinner table), Economic Collapse Blog has put together a list of 50 facts that might elucidate them. Here goes:

1. A staggering 48% of all Americans are either considered to be low income or are living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57% of all children in the U.s. are living in homes that are considered to be low income or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that wanted jobs was the same today as it was back in 2007, the official unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11%.
4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the U.s. is now more than 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found that 77% of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the U.S. today than there were in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median household income in the U.S. has declined by a total of 6.8% once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self employed back in December 2006. Today that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20% of all U.s. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty level wages.
11. Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the U.S. were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the U.S. are low income jobs.
12. Back in 1969, 95% of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2% of men in that age group had a job.
13. One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
14. The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2011.
15. According to a recent study conducted by the Black Rock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the U.S. is now 154%.
16. As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51% of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72% of all U.S. adults were married.
17. The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, Calif., home prices have declined 64% from where they were when the housing market peaked.
19. Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.
20. If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6,000.
21. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18% of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63% larger than it was just 10 years ago.
22. New home construction in the U.S. is on pace to set a brand new all time record low in 2011.
23. 19% of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
24. Electricity bills in the U.S. have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

And it keeps on. The author lists 50, ending with this:

50. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

If you’d like to read them all, they are at http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/50-economic-numbers-from-2011-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe.