In the last couple of months, official stats claim that unemployment in the U.S. has dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%, and now to 9.0%. One would think we are in an instant, massive economic recovery. But as if magic were the most important ingredient in politics, all the government needs to do to make the unemployment number drop is to reduce the number of people in the labor force.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, your tax dollars at work, has determined that 2.1 million people have left the labor pool in just the last year. By reducing the number in the labor pool, you automatically lower the unemployment rate. With this method, we could easily drop unemployment to zero. Shoot, why not even make it a negative number? It's all magic anyway!
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/labor-force-participations-plunges-fresh-26-year-low
The simple fact, as anyone who actually works anymore knows, the labor situation is the worst of our lifetimes and getting worse. Unless you count sign-throwing and Wal-Mart to be good jobs. I do a lot of driving in Scottsdale and it is hard to drive anywhere without seeing sign-throwers. A lot of these guys are impressive and they work hard for their little bit of money. I have nothing against them. But the government actually acts like things are getting better and you are expected to believe it. All you have to do is keep your eyes closed.
At 55 years of age, I have seen things that many have not. People my age understand what things used to be like, and our way of life used to be much better. It might not be so easy to see if you are only in your 20s or 30s.
For instance, only 10 years ago, if you got a bachelor's degree in engineering you could get a good engineering job at Motorola with no experience for $60k/year plus benefits. We're talking 2 weeks vacation, 5 sick days, 10 holidays, 2 years salary of life insurance, great family health insurance including dental coverage for very little money, etc.
What does the same degree get you today? It gets you jack, unless you like tossing signs. It might be understandable if you still had opportunities in other industries, but with the natural forces of supply and demand, when the supply of workers is massively more than available jobs, well, you get the picture.
In the 1960s when I was growing up, 90% of cars on the road were made in America. And they had V8 motors and were comfortable to ride in. We made everything. The only reason ANYBODY didn't have a good job was because they were too lazy to work. We really did live in the land of opportunity then, although the seeds of the decline were already planted. If you ask anybody my age when things started to go south, most will say in the mid-1970s. By the 1980s factories started pulling up stakes and moving out of the country. We used to be the marvel of the world in the textile and shoe manufacturing business. I used to work at a shoe factory in Maine in the 1970s. New England used to be the envy of the world in manufacturing shoes. I saw the industry dying with my own eyes. Now those people just toss signs.
So why would the government fudge numbers? The answer is obvious.
By the way, the number of food stamp recipients continues to skyrocket. Last month hit another all-time high of 43.6 million, an increase of 400k in just one month.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/02/02/some-43-million-americans-use-food-stamps/
Arizona, the state I live in, has 16.4% of the population on food stamps, 14.1% for the nation. But then that number is from the USDA. Can we believe it?
As a final note, I was in Chase bank a few days ago and I saw something I still can't believe. If you get a 13-month CD from Chase, they will give you .6%! That's right, POINT 6 percent interest. So if you give them $10,000 for 13 months you will receive $60. AND THEY ADVERTISE IT ON A SIGN!
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