The New Misery Index: Five Factors for Pain

Back in the woebegotten Carter era of the 1970s, someone came up with the "misery index"--you add the unemployment rate to the inflation rate to determine its value. Obviously, the higher the number meant the higher the people's misery.

But how about the new millennium? Do unemployment and inflation account for our current misery and economic woes? Unemployment is certainly still a factor, but inflation is just about non-existent. In fact, we were experiencing deflation up until recently.

Fortunately, someone came up with a new misery index made up of five indices: food stamps (number of people receiving them), bankruptcies, foreclosures, long-term unemployment, and credit card defaults.

>SEE THE RESULTS FOR YOURSELF!