1. Blacks account for 13% of the U.S. population but about 50% of the two million prisoners. Writing in Sunday’s New York Times, Harvard professor Orlando Patterson attributes this “virtual gulag of racial incarceration” to unfair law enforcement, draconian mandatory sentencing, retreat from rehabilitation, far higher crimes committed by blacks and the catastrophic state of black family life.

2.  According to Nancy Benac of the Associated Press, 40% of Americans – a whopping 116 million – have never lived when there wasn’t a Bush or Clinton in the White House, either as President or Vice President. To all those Indians who whine about the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty’s hold on power, take heart. Things in America ain’t no better.

3. When you read that 23% of cars sold in the U.S. are manufactured elsewhere (mainly Japan, South Korea, Germany), you begin to realize why the American auto industry is going down the toilet. Just watch, things are only gonna get much worse for U.S. auto workers when the American car companies GM, Ford and Chrysler start importing cars from China and other low wage countries.

4. About 47 million Americans do not have health insurance. This means most of them cannot afford to visit a doctor unless they are unlucky enough to be struck with a catastrophic illness in which case they become bankrupt.

5. According to the New York Times, the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11 is projected to hit $800 billion by the end of 2008.