Economic Info From Motley Fool

Motley Fool has an interesting list of 50 facts about the American economy.  Here are the ten I found to be the most interesting.

50. From 1948 until 2007, the average duration of unemployment was 13.5 weeks. Today, it's 40.5 weeks.

47. In 1952, corporate taxes were 6.1% of GDP, and employment taxes were 1.8% of GDP. In 2009, corporate taxes were 1% of GDP, and employment taxes were 6.3% of GDP.

39. Health care for an average family now runs $19,393 a year, according to the Milliman Medical Index. It was about half that much in 2002.

36. The labor force participation rate for men has dropped from 87% in 1948 to 71% today.

34. 5.5 million Americans are unemployed and not receiving unemployment benefits. Last year, that number was 1.4 million.

33. The U.S. government provides health care for a minority of its population (elderly and poor) at a greater cost per citizen than many European countries spend on universal coverage.

32. As a percentage of GDP, federal taxes in 2010 were the lowest since 1950.

19. One percent of households captured 52% of all income gains from 1993-2008.

15. Private jobs growth over the past two years has been faster than it was from 2001-2003.Public job losses have been a major factor in our current jobs crisis.

5. Cash flow among S&P 500 companies set a new all-time record last year, at $1.2 trillion.