33 Strange Facts About America That Most Americans Would Be Shocked To Learn

Here are few of the more interesting facts:

#1 The amount of cement that China used from 2011 to 2013 was greater than the total amount of cement that the United States used during the entire 20th century. 

#3 It costs the U.S. government 1.8 cents to mint a penny and 9.4 cents to mint a nickel 

#4 Almost half of all Americans (47 percent) do not put a single penny out of their paychecks into savings. 

#5 In 2014, police in the United States killed 1,100 people.  During that same year, police in Canada killed 14 people, police in China killed 12 people and police in Germany didn’t kill anyone at all. 

#9 When LBJ’s “War on Poverty” began, less than 10 percent of all U.S. children were growing up in single parent households.  Today, that number has skyrocketed to 33 percent. 

#10 In 1950, less than 5 percent of all babies in America were born to unmarried parents.  Today, that number is over 40 percent. 

#11 The poverty rate for households that are led by a married couple is 6.8 percent.  For households that are led by a female single parent, the poverty rate is 37.1 percent. 

#21 According to a study conducted by economist Carl Benedikt Frey and engineer Michael Osborne, 47 percent of the jobs in the United States could soon be lost to computers, robots and other forms of technology.

The new American retirement plan equates to working forever: Nonexistent nest eggs and most Americans are bad at planning as to how long they will live.

The retirement savings crisis 

Saving for retirement is flat out unsexy.  Advertising is designed to separate Americans from their money even if it involves them going into massive levels of debt.  Is it better to squirrel $500 a month away for 30 years in a boring index fund or is it better to lease a brand new shiny car?  Most opt for the car.  Also, with the median household income of $50,000 and the cost of living soaring, many Americans just don’t have money to set aside after all the bills are paid. 

One scary fact is 30 percent of Americans flat out have zero dollars in retirement savings:

Retirement money held in the hands of the few 

Half of Americans don’t own one stock.  And the bulk of wealth is in the hands of a few.  84 percent of the nation’s wealth is held in the hands of the top 20 percent:

The rest whether they admit it or not, are going to rely on Social Security.  Most retired Americans rely on Social Security as their primary source of income.  Half of people on Social Security would be out on the streets if it were not for their monthly payment.  As far as retirement planning goes, there very little retirement or planning going on.  And we have 10,000 Americans hitting retirement age per day for the next decade.

1 in 5 elderly Americans die broke – report

A new report looked at the financial health of Americans at the end of their lives and found that over 20 percent had no assets apart from their houses - and 12 percent had no assets left at all. 

The report found that one in five Americans who died at age 85 and older between 2010 and 2012 had no assets apart from a house. That house had an average worth of $141,000 for couples and $83,000 for single individuals. One in eight had no household assets at all. 

Those who died younger, between the ages of 50 and 64, were generally worse off. Almost 30 percent of households that lost a family member had no assets left. For singles who died at age 85 or above, nearly 10 percent had an outstanding debt other than mortgage debt, with the average amount of debt over $6,000.

Poterba found that “46 percent of Americans had less than $10,000 in financial assets in the last year of their life.” 

The National Institute on Retirement Security found the median savings for most Americans was just $14,500. 

DYI