Unemployment

[kandrathe]

So, can you trust it? The question is: trust it for what? And compared to what?

It seems to me that our government is reluctant to share bad news, but takes every opportunity to over sell any positive news. For example, in April when the rate at which people are losing their jobs seems to slow (which turns out to have been a lie all along), they claimed that the downturn was over and that the recovery was beginning. Actually, the bottom was probably more like August to November 2009, and dipped out of the slump due to the fall Christmas shopping season where retailers usually add temporary help through the holiday. This last January they were let go early rather than the usual practice of keeping some on to help process returns and rearrange the store for spring. Comparisons are always to the best looking statistic like "the same time last year", or compared to last month, or quarter.

<blockquote>"Ah, but that begs the question: if the government numbers are that grotesquely wrong, what does that say about the government’s policy with regard to joblessness, about it’s policy towards economic stimulus, about the government’s policy towards alleviating the suffering of the struggling citizenry? After all, policies are supposed to be designed around a solid set of facts."Government Labor Statistics: Lies and Damned Lies</blockquote>They made a 17% error! The government agency who's job is to calculate statistics! C'mon, you don't find that staggering. It would be like discovering that the Food and Drug Administration was allowing untested additives into food products. Or that the EPA intentionally allows some toxic waste dumping of garbage into the oceans.

Then there are more realistic views, like; http://www.shadowstats.com/

The US policy makers are insane! I nearly tossed my coffee cup at my TV this week when I heard about a couple of Sen. Kucinich's plans. First there was the plan to create a million jobs by lowering the SSI age and then in an interview Kucinich said that since the private sector was so sluggish, the public sector would need to pick up the slack and put people to work. Which has already happened as far as I can tell, the public sector has grown by 1%, while the private sector has contracted by 15% to 20%.

The question I ask is; Who will pay for the increased deficit spending? China? For how long?

Have you seen the DefeatTheDebt.com commercial? <blockquote>"I pledge allegiance to America’s debt, and to the Chinese government that lends us money, and to the interest, for which we pay, compoundable, with higher taxes and lower pay, until the day we die.”</blockquote>