article tools: email | print | read more Allison Kilkenny
In case you didn't know, the loss of 20,000 American jobs in April is actually good news. You see, economists had predicted 73,000 jobs would be lost last month, so thank God we dodged that bullet, right?!
In fact, the unemployment rate fell to 5.0% from 5.1% in March. Therefore, the unemployment rate is going down!! Surely, a .1% drop in the unemployment rate means America's determined locomotive is chugging toward the dawn of a new economic renaissance...right?
These kinds of figures can mislead citizens, particularly when delivered in sound bites by an ignorantly defiant leader. Let's first consider the possibility that less people are losing jobs because so many people are already unemployed. People can't lose jobs they don't have, and I know very few people that have been laid off the same job twice. These kind of polls also rarely consider the underemployed, who are in as much danger of bankruptcy as unemployed citizens due to medical bills.
Finally, the government doesn't count everyone who is unemployed. Only people who are actively looking for employment are considered unemployed.
Contrary to the philosophy of Reagan Republicans, these unemployed-and-not-looking citizens aren't all welfare queens. They're also spouses, veterans, the disabled, and the retired, all of who have nothing in common other than being screwed by the Bush administration. The "unemployed-and-not-looking" also includes the independently wealthy. Yes, believe it or not, some rich people refuse to contribute to the work force. What do we call those people -- Trust Fund Queens?
During his weekly radio address President Bush declared, "We saw the economic slowdown coming, we were up front about these concerns with the American people, and we've been taking decisive action."
For a moment, let's take Dubya at his word. He saw the slow-down coming. Why then did he spend two terms in the White House providing huge corporations tax breaks in the form of Corporate Welfare, while slashing social spending? A competent leader surveys a bad situation and acts to fix it. Dubya surveys the same situation, kicks it in the balls, and then hides behind Ben Bernanke, while snickering. It just doesn't make sense.
Back to Dubya's radio address. Let us overlook his own words, and this particular exchange with a reporter way back on September 20, 2007:
QUESTION: Do you think there's a risk of a recession? How do you rate that?
BUSH: You know, you need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible with the people's money.
I'll let it pass that Dubya's a douche bag, a condescending, spoiled brat who is more preoccupied with preserving D.C. cronyism than protecting American citizens' interests. But what I won't let slide is how he has treated the American people like children when he dressed up a recession in a clown suit and called it a "slow down." In this regard, President Bush and his sterling troop of economists have executed nothing resembling "decisive action." They have spent their time in denial and casting blame everywhere but at their own failed policies. They certainly have done nothing to fix the economy.
Unless, of course, you count forcing a shotgun wedding with JPMorgan and Bear Stearns with $236 million of taxpayer money. Personally, I see that as the rich protecting the wealth, but I've been called paranoid and moody in the past.
But I know when I'm beat, so if protecting rich people is decisive action, then yes, George W. Bush is the most decisive president in the history of the United States. Call him "the Decisiver." Tell him it's a real word. He'll believe you.
Dubya has been super to the rich, but lousy to everyone else. According to the Center for American Progress, since the Great Depression, Dubya is the only president (serving at least 52 months) who has overseen a net loss in the private sector. He has slashed funding for education, veterans' health care, law enforcement, and environmental protections. Dubya has repeatedly raised the ceiling on our national debt time, and at this rate the debt is on track to reach the $6.5 trillion mark by 2011, according to the Washington Post..
The economy is in the tank and most Americans feel the strain. They don't need pundits or politicians to tell them they're paying more at the pump and grocery store. Hopefully, citizens won't buy into the ridiculous belief that 20,000 lost jobs is a good thing - a sunny turnaround - a surge, if you will. The economy, like the war, is toast.
The first step of recovery is recognizing that there is a problem. Americans need to demand solutions from their leaders. The only way to fix the economy is to elect competent leaders to pull Americans out of this country-sized grave.
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National debt will hit $10 Trillion this year, not 6.5
And, the interest on the national debt must be paid every year. So it is not just our children who will have to pay this debt.
Whenever Democrats are challenged on how they will pay for social programs, they should respond they are going to fund social programs the same way our Simian in Chief funded the Iraq War - with tax cuts. But for the middle class, not for the wealthy.
$10 Trillion National Debt
It's good to see how quickly this correction was picked up. For Mac users, If you wish to keep track of how quickly the debt is accumulating, install on your dashboard the National Federal Debt Counter at http://www.jonbrown.org/widgets.html
This device on my computer reminds me each day how far we have descended when in 2000 we had surplus projections. Remember each billion is one thousand million....and....each Trillion is one thousand billion. Is it any wonder the American Dollar is tanking throughout the world. Thank you Bush for making us the largest debtor nation in the history of the world as we soak up funds from investors abroad to cover our indebtedness--funds that could have otherwise helped to strengthen other economies. But what happens when we no longer look like a good investment? Can't happen? Not so long as we keep paying interest, a must from our budget, that then cannot ever be used for our infrastructure or our many social needs. What a legacy.
Economics and Reality
The generally accepted wisdom is that rich people contribute to the economy regardless of whether they are working, simply by living affluent lifestyles they must be stimulating economic activity. Using precisely the same logic, we can conclude that theft and arson also stimulate valuable economic activity by releasing insurance payouts and providing much needed jobs in law enforcement.
A little bit of common sense would conclude that the economic indicators that we commonly see quoted are deeply flawed and largely disjoint from anything that happens in the real world.
The US economy used to be powerful for a few simple reasons:
[1] resources -- USA inherited a largely unexploited land from the native Indians, plenty of trees, minerals, space, etc.
[2] freedom -- the US founding fathers ensured that new enterprise could get underway without excessive government regulation and with minimal interference, and that people could find the lifestyle that suited them best. Live and let live.
[3] WWI & WWII -- twice America let Europe bash itself into insensibility only to step in at the last minute and rescue the side that would otherwise have lost, making massive profits each time and gaining excellent strategic position in the process.
[4] Technology -- the US gained a technological lead partly by inheriting skilled migrants from Europe, India and Asia, partly by a mix of public and private investment and in the early days by merely copying European material whilst ignoring offshore IP laws (yes that's right, US in the 19th and early 20th Century did exactly what China did in the late 20th up to the present day).
[5] Hegemony -- as a combination of the above, the US used its worldwide influence to gain access to foreign resources and to manipulate worldwide banking and politics (often in a heavy handed manner).
All of these advantages have been squandered.
The resources are gone, the freedoms have been taken away, Europe has recovered from WWII and the US no longer leads the world in any technology except the military and space (and both of those are slipping away). You can twiddle with interest rates, shuffle money back and forth into bonds and options and futures. You can run to your lawyers and your publicity agents. Push taxes up a bit, push taxes down a bit. But you can't change the intrinsics without recognizing what is really going on and then applying real-world policy to real world problems.
Spending all day arguing about macroeconomic indicators won't bring wisdom, it just distracts from the nature of the issue.
"Resources"
One other "resource" omitted from your list: much of the robust American economy of the 19th century was built by unpaid labor, i.e."slaves".
_______"Somebody get a rope!"
"inherited?"
"inherited a largely unexploited land from the native Indians" is surely a poor choice of words. By and large, the indigenous population of America was exterminated, or treaties were signed with them (which were quickly broken), and finally, the remainder were rounded up and put on "reservations."
$3.2 million paid for this wonderful service.
What strikes me most when I read of the outcome of Bush's follies is that we, the American taxpayer, paid, and are paying, a pretty penny for this monstrosity of malfeasance to be heaped upon us.
The President is now paid $400,000 a year, on top of the free housing, lavish board, 24/365 protection, personal airline and myriad other fringe benefits. By contrast, a Sergeant E-5 in the Army serving in Iraq, and holding a modicum of authority, is paid around $30,000 a year, and while she/he has a fairly good set of benefits, the board could hardly be called lavish.
Yes, we will, on January 20th, 2009, have paid Mr. Bush $3.2 million dollars for his service to our country. But what I want to know is, who do we see about getting a refund?
_______Remember.... Every time you vote for a republican, God kills a puppy.
The CEO President.
"Yes, we will, on January 20th, 2009, have paid Mr. Bush $3.2 million dollars for his service to our country."
The perfect American "CEO President",he destroys the business(the country)and then skips off to a happy,wealthy retirement.
_______I've got values but I don't know how or why.
Why The Economy Is Worse Than We Know.
The enclosed links are summaries of the article by Kevin Phillips in Harpers Magazine on May 1 titled, Why The Economy Is Worse Than We Know. The full article is only available to Harpers subscribers.
The article explains how the stats on Unemployment, Inflation and Gross Product have been constantly cooked over the past 40+ years. In conclusion it shows that the unemployment rate is likely over 10%, the inflation rate is about 12% and the GDP is significantly less than reported.
If the useles media would tell the truth, maybe people would understand why they have been falling behind for the past 30 years.
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2008/Pollyanna-Creep-Economy1may08.htm
Wait for it....
Don't get too excited about those newly released figures from the Department of Labor.
The DOL, or "Dolts" as they are commonly referred to, always comes out with more accurate figures in the following month.
For instance, last month they understated job losses by 3%, and the unemployment rate was a little higher as well.
Their record is written in stone: They never report accurate figures.
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You must also understand that unemployment only refers to the people who actually apply for and receive a check. Once their time expires, people who still haven't found a job disappear off the charts.
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Ditto the inflation rate: Fuel and food have not been counted since Ronald Regan was in office. This is important to remember since during Jim Carter's term, food and fuel added to the high, double digit inflation rate. While under Regan, the economy seemed better because inflation seemed to decrease. It was a neat trick and the Liberal media allowed him to get away with it.
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I'm not worried, most Americans now realize that the GOP and Bush government has lied, and screwed us. They will not forget in November.
"You can't enslave a free man, the best you can do is kill him" R.A.Heinlein
You can still be activiely looking for a job after 6 months...
Only about 30% get unemployment,the rest not counted from the start. I suspect that the acual un-employement and under-employment numbers are much higher than even Kevin Phillips would count.
You could even find interem employment (poverty wages) and still be searching. You could also find that the only jobs you can get are temporary,part-time,on contract and definitely impermanent & probably not in your field. Thank gov't sponsored outsourcing and insourcing along with desperate illegal immigration caused by NAFTA.
Wages have been stagnant since the 1970's,in adjusted dollars, so cost of living is up even without the enflation factored in. Inflation not counted by the Fed either.
We are being squeezed from both ends or being burned if you will. Death rates are increasing and the fact that ER's are being closed down due to over use and food banks are running out of food while they are doing record business since the last depression in 1929.
I am sorry for this I misplaced the previous password.
How about the next 11 steps
for our recovery?
Just kidding! Yes, we all need to see the elephant in the living room, but not all will do so.
Though Allison's perspective is refreshing, I will have to disagree with "The only way to fix the economy is to elect competent leaders to pull Americans out of this country-sized grave." I believe the POTUS has been extremely competent. Has he not done what "money" wants successfully? The last eight years have been a scam to get everyone else, including future generations, to pay for the excessive greed of today's top 1%.