Whoop-Dee-Doo

Just because fewer people are filing for jobless claims doesn't mean the economy is "improving." It doesn't mean shit.

Few jobs are being created. THAT'S the problem. Congress and the White House seem to have no clue what to do about it.

Despite Claims

the economy is getting "better," the misery index is actually increasing, with more and more people out of work and losing their benefits. The government is also playing games with the unemployment figures:

The official jobless rate of 9.5 percent excludes both those who have stopped looking for jobs because local conditions are so bleak and those obliged to accept part-time employment.

If these unemployed and underemployed were included, the real jobless rate in the country’s most populous state, California, for example, would be 20.3 percent, according to the Times. In Oregon it would be 23.5 percent, in Michigan and Rhode Island, 21.5 percent, and in South Carolina, 20.5 percent. The figure would be just below 20 percent in Tennessee, Nevada and a number of “states that have relied heavily on manufacturing and housing.”

Given that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ national jobless rate is skewed, for political reasons, to minimize the actual conditions, various analysts step in and attempt to come up with a “real unemployment” number.

I find it hard to believe, however, employers are taking "experience" over youth; age discrimination is alive and well, as older employees are a bigger expense than younger workers.

Regardless, this is all a deliberate policy to destroy Americans' living standards to those of the Third World. Our politicians will do little about it, for they are on the take from those who want this country to descend into third worldom.

The Economic Mess

Jobless claims continue to rise, which is no surprise here.

And, in the neighborhood where I live, apartment and house vacancies are up, and they are hard to rent out or sell. Across the street is an apartment complex, and the rent for a two-bedroom is now $625. I am paying this landlord $650 for a one-bedroom, and I am extremely pissed off at him as a result. He jacked the rent up $100 a month last summer, and he should never have done it. He lives on site in the basement apartment, yet he still lives like he has the old guesthouse he operated for 37 years until he sold it ten years ago (it was later demolished). Back then, he was getting $2,000 or more a week from over 20 tenants and over $100K a year. He had expenses, to be sure, but he would squander money on stupid things like his POS truck and a 27-foot sailboat he has NEVER had in the water (he bought it in 1987 using his CDs he had for years after he inherited money from his parents). Worse still, although he was self-employed, he NEVER paid into Social Security. He receives only the minimum from the years when he held jobs pre-1961. He STILL has the boat AND the truck and is paying ridiculous amounts of auto insurance for the latter ($1,800 a year for a 42-year-old truck he rarely drives anywhere). The fact is he shouldn't have either thing and should sell them. If the tenant next door moves or I do (which is a probability now since there are NO job prospects at all in northern Nevada), this landlord is going to be in dire, dire straits. I am so disgusted with him, words can't even describe it, not even obscenities.

The Booming Economy

One in eleven Nevada workers, including yours truly, is jobless.
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Best Buy will be laying off employees.
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The Booming Economy

I strongly suspect the latest jobless figures are conservative; I wouldn't be surprised if the jobless rate is 10 percent.
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Boise Cascade will close down its White City, Oregon, plywood plant and lay off 110 workers thanks to the horrible housing crisis. More than half of the workers have been with the company for more than 10 years, with some as long as 42 years.
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The Booming Economy [Updated]

Some 533,000 jobs were slashed in November.
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GM--2,000 jobs to be cut.
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Now that the latest jobless figures have shocked some sense into Congress, it appears an agreement is nearing regarding the auto industry crisis.
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This article exposes the LIES about the U.S. auto industry which continue to be peddled, especially by so-called liberals.
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The Booming Economy

Jobless claims have shot up to a 16-year high.

After years of being bullheaded about unemployment benefits extension, our dictator has decided to cave in:

The jobless figures come as the Senate is expected to vote Thursday on legislation that would extend unemployment benefits. The White House said President George W. Bush would quickly sign the bill.

The measure would provide seven additional weeks of payments to those who have exhausted their benefits. Those in states where the unemployment rate is above 6 percent would be eligible for an additional 13 weeks beyond the 26 weeks of regular benefits. Benefit checks average about $300 a week nationwide.

Without the legislation, its proponents say, 1.1 million people will have exhausted their unemployment insurance by the end of the year.

The Booming Economy

The banks get bailed out while workers are tossed overboard.
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Retirees are finding their portfolios are going into the crapper like everything else in this economy.

The Booming Economy [Updated]

The unemployment rate has shot up to the highest level in 14 years.
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Among other proposals to fix this shithole of an economy, Obama today talked about extending unemployment benefits, which should have no trouble passing both houses of Congress now, let alone have to worry about a presidential veto.

We will have to see if he really acts like a Democrat or is going to act like a neoliberal.

This is the transcript of the press conference.

Here is the video:


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The Booming Economy

Recession looms as job layoffs continue from coast to coast.
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There is a dirty little secret about the Wall Street bailout.

Selected Editorials

Wichita Eagle: The long, long, long, long campaign is finally nearing the end.
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The Augusta Chronicle: Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a plumber to cut through the political bullshit.
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Akron Beacon Journal: Congress needs to put together a stimulus package to reverse the downhill slide of the economy.
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Buffalo News: The jobless rate is a civic shame.

The Booming Economy

Unemployment is up again.

The Booming Economy.

The job market still stinks.
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Record numbers of people in Michigan and Ohio are using food stamps.
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The Booming Economy.

Despite a decline in the jobless rate, U.S. payrolls have shrunk in 2008 by some 260,000.

California school districts are being screwed over, thanks to statewide budget cuts.

The Booming Economy.

Are the new jobless figures indicative of a new economic depression?