Interesting Facts

According to a study compiled for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, couples with two children  now need just under £40,600 between them to afford a decent lifestyle. (The biggest problem is, the actual cost of living in the UK has risen five times as much as earnings since before the recession. So, £40,600 is enough to provide ordinary food, clothes, and leisure activities, for a small family, as well as items judged necessary to survive in modern Britain, without extravagance.)

According to research from the University of Chicago, in the USA women now outnumber men in the workforce. (Unfortunately this isn't because women are now being treated more fairly, it's simply an effect of the recession, men have been losing their jobs faster than women, some people are even referring to the downturn as a “man-cession.”)

According to the UN's annual drug report global markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or declining. (This is maybe one of the best results of the recession. Less spare cash = less misery and suffering around the world to fuel an evil demand.)

According to retail research firm Experian, up to 35,000 shops could close in the UK this year. (After surveying British town centres, they discovered that the high streets in Walkden - Greater Manchester, Harwich - Essex and Gateshead - Tyneside had the most vacant shops with almost 60% of retail premises standing empty. As the recession starts to really bite people have stopped shopping till they drop.)

$2trn (That's two trillion dollars) of the combined worth of planet Earth's billionaires has disappeared over the past year. (Across the globe, the number of those who can boast a fortune of over a thousand million US dollars has shrivelled from 1,125 to 793. The 10 biggest dollar-losers between them have this year lost more than the annual GDP (gross domestic product) of Ireland. Of course for those of us who are struggling to hold onto our jobs, or our houses, this is barely on our radar.)