Unemployment rate as of December 2009 was 10% in the United States

Unemployment rate as of December 2009 was 9.4% in Europe

Unemployment rate as of December 2009 was 4.3% in China

In the past year the public sector pension funds, whose collective $2,000bn-plus in assets make them key investors in every asset class, have lost about 40 per cent of their value through investment losses

Calpers, the largest fund, have lost $70bn in value in the past eight months, but still have to pay $11bn in benefits this year.

Higher labor force participation of workers 55 and older is at least in part a response to rising health care costs, plummeting home values, and losses in 401(k) s and individual retirement accounts, which are combining to make retirement unaffordable

17.9 million retirees have been forced to return to the workforce

Americans watched their net worth shrink by $1.3 trillion in the first three months

Credit dropped by $5.38 billion in 2009

Stagnant wages and falling home values mean consumer spending, about 70 percent of the economy, will take time to recover even as the recession eases.

In most of the developed countries, fertility rates, the number of children per couple, have now fallen well below the level that keeps the population constant.

Even if the retirement age does not decline further, the number of workers per retiree in the U.S. will plummet from 3.9 today to 2.2 in 2030, in Europe from 2.98 to 1.70, and in Japan from 2.85 to 1.46.

Because of these demographic trends, the Social Security system in the U.S., as well as virtually all public pension funds abroad, are seriously under funded.

Under current projections of the Trustees of Social Security System, the cost of the benefits will exceed the taxes collected in 2017, and the Trust Fund will run out of assets in 2041..