Why the Rich Love High Unemployment

Mark Provost  
Dissident Voice

Christina Romer, former member of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, accuses the administration of "shamefully ignoring" the unemployed. Paul Krugman echoes her concerns, observing that Washington has lost interest in "the forgotten millions." America's unemployed have been ignored and forgotten, but they are far from superfluous. Over the last two years, out-of-work Americans have played a critical role in helping the richest one percent recover trillions in financial wealth.

Obama's advisers often congratulate themselves for avoiding another Great Depression – an assertion not amenable to serious analysis or debate. A better way to evaluate their claims is to compare the US economy to other rich countries over the last few years.

On the basis of sustaining economic growth, the United States is doing better than nearly all advanced economies. From the first quarter of 2008 to the end of 2010, US gross domestic product (GDP) growth outperformed every G-7 country except Canada.

We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined.

Census Worker AFP File image

Stephen Moore
Wall Street Journal

If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?

Every state in America today except for two—Indiana and Wisconsin—has more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods. Consider California, which has the highest budget deficit in the history of the states. The not-so Golden State now has an incredible 2.4 million government employees—twice as many as people at work in manufacturing. New Jersey has just under two-and-a-half as many government employees as manufacturers. Florida's ratio is more than 3 to 1. So is New York's.

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Unemployed: Stop Searching for a Job, Learn to Forage and Produce

Good jobs are not returning to America anytime soon.  It's time to stop hoping someone will pay you to do useless tasks and learn to forage and produce for yourself.

Howard Beale
Activist Post

A good friend of mine has been unemployed for over 18 months.  He is 32 years old with a master's degree from a respectable university and an impressive resume of non-profit charitable work, as well as international business experience.  He is even fluent in two languages; English and Spanish. Yet he is just beginning to realize after countless job applications, with few interviews, that he is a dime-a-dozen in in America's new paradigm of over-educated, over-qualified people who can't find a job to sustain them.

In his tenacious quest, he joined a cooperative that provides office space with Internet and phone service, job training courses, and kinship for the unemployed.  He even applied to the only entity that seemed to be openly hiring -- government:  The United Nations, the U.S. State Department, the CIA and, yes, the IRS too.  He attended a high-level interview for a U.N. position that was set up by a very connected family friend.  Apparently the U.N. hired someone with even more connections and qualifications.

It is probably a blessing that he never received call-backs from those federal agencies, but at the time it didn't feel that way to him.  In essence, he has used all of tools in the matrix to pursue employment, but to no avail.  It seems the wheel no longer needs his cog.


My friend, like many others going through the same struggle, is finally beginning to see the system for what it is: a rigged game to create dependence.  Dependence for employment, or dependence on government assistance.  It is a system that makes the unemployed feel worthless and hopeless. Unfortunately, this horrible feeling may be a necessary phase of waking up to the nature of this prison.

As everyone already knows, the manufacturing jobs will never return to America in any measurable way, because the incentives have been sent offshore.  Therefore, the only American job growth will take place in a Ponzi-style economy in non-productive sectors.  Since America no longer produces anything, it seems that they must break things in order to create false economic "growth."  Consequently, they can't implement any genuine solutions, because that would threaten even more jobs.

For instance, they can't end the foreign wars, or the War on Drugs, because where would all of the soldiers, contractors, DEA agents, prison guards, court workers, and all their support staff find new employment?  They can't simplify the tax code because where would all the accountants, bookkeepers, tax attorneys, and accounting professors work? They can't undo the Patriot Act because where would the millions of people who make up the surveillance-industrial complex work? They can't clamp down on the exotic games at the Wall Street casino, or virtually no one would be left with a job.

This is the nature of the phony matrix we call the American Economy.  Even if you're "lucky" enough to have a position in the above-mentioned professions (and many other non-productive capacities), you must realize that your job depends on the system remaining broken.  Indeed, many will fight to keep the broken system for their own self-interest.  This was blatantly obvious when police organizations were one of the biggest contributors for the campaign to defeat Prop 19 to legalize marijuana in California.

Since most people subconsciously know that their daily tasks are fundamentally worthless, or at least replaceable, job insecurity is at an all-time high.  It is the system's mechanism to perpetuate the rule of self-preservation that has deliberate consequences.  It creates an atmosphere where moral individuals will engage in immoral acts to preserve their livelihood. So, our survival instinct allows us to justify any moral or intellectual compromise.  In turn, they've convinced us that it is the only way to survive; hence our "dog-eat-dog" world. It's an evil trap and even the best-intentioned can fall prey to it.

The good news is that the system will eventually implode because it is built on an illusion, by fake money, and can only "produce" by destroying things through literal and figurative wars.  It destroys people, property, freedom, and basic morality. The bad news is that while it crumbles the human suffering will get much worse before it gets better.  The only way we can avoid or limit this suffering is by becoming aware and changing our approach to the matrix.

Back to my buddy.  A lot of good his $100,000-plus education has done for him in this system. He is only now taking the initiative to create something productive for himself out of sheer necessity. Can you imagine the level of production he could have accomplished in eighteen months working on a personal project, side business, or learning new skills?

It seems that the times are ripe for the hopelessly unemployed to realize that the only person they can depend on to create labor is themselves. The wonderful thing is that you finally get to choose how you will deploy your precious time and effort.  Sure, you may not make boatloads of money, or have health insurance right away, but some positive income can be achieved.  And if you're truly driven by passion, your labor becomes effortless and enjoyable and will ultimately result in whatever level of income you desire.

You may have to learn to forage for a while before you find the best income vehicle for your passions.  Learning to appreciate incremental gains when they do come is also vital to success, as any gain is certainly better than wasting away as a blob in front of the TV, polishing your résumé , and circling want ads for the next 6 months.

There are countless ways to turn your passions into income by foraging.  You can start a blog for free about topics you care deeply about; learning how to monetize it as your audience grows.  You can treasure hunt for valuable relics at yard sales and shops and sell them online. You can grow, make, and sell homemade products to your local cooperative or farmers market.  And why not organize a local co-op in your community if there isn't one?

The point is: our belief, dedication, and complacency to a "system" that has been defined for us has led to a lost ability to forage and create. The key is taking the first step on our own and seeing where it leads.

Related Article by Howard Beale:
So Broke We Can't Pay Attention

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Unemployment rises to 9.8%, only 39,000 jobs gained ? The Truth about Unemployment Statistics

by Mark L. Daniels
Global Political Awakening

The unemployment rate edged closer to double digits in November according to the new release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, moving up two tenths of a point to 9.8%.  The private sector showed disappointing results, gaining only 39,000 jobs after a report yesterday from ADP suggested much higher gains.  A drop in retail employment suggests an ominous trend for this holiday season:

The unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 percent in November, and non farm payroll employment was little changed (+39,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Temporary help services and health care continued to add jobs over the month, while employment fell in retail trade. Employment in most major industries changed little in November. …

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 390,000 to 9.5 million in November. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed at 6.3 million and accounted for 41.9 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate held at 64.5 percent in November, and the employment-population ratio was essentially unchanged at 58.2 percent. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed over the month at 9.0 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in November, up from 2.3 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.3 million discouraged workers in November, an increase of 421,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.2 million persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Department stores lost 9,000 jobs, and furniture and home furnishings stores lost 5,000.  The latter may be part of the fallout from poor performance in home sales as well as weakness in retail sales.  Manufacturing dropped 13,000 jobs.  Wage growth was also flat in November across the board.

The increase in the overall rate appears linked directly to job losses rather than a return to the workforce of discouraged workers.  Those numbers have actually increased slightly year on year.  When they begin entering the workforce again, the overall rate will rise even higher, even if the overall job creation numbers improve.  That isn’t what happened in November.

Update: Reuters reports that the numbers were, well ….

U.S. employment increased far less than expected in November and the jobless rate jumped to a seven-month high of 9.8 percent, dampening hopes for a self-sustaining economic recovery.

Non farm payrolls rose 39,000, with private hiring gaining only 50,000, the Labor Department said. However, overall employment for September and October was revised to show 38,000 more jobs than previously estimated.

Economists had expected payrolls to increase 140,000 last month and the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 9.6 percent.

To be fair, I also expected similar numbers after seeing the ADP report yesterday; I was thinking closer to +150K and 9.6%.  Also, I changed the headline for accuracy, as overall employment increased by 39,000 jobs, but the private sector added 50,000; the difference came in reductions in government jobs.

Of course, we should be wary of any employment numbers reported by the U.S. Department of Labor.  The government crunches numbers whereby 2+2 does not always equal 4!

According to a July 16, 2010 report in Daily Finance entitled "The Jobless Effect:  Is the Real Unemployment Rate...16.5%, 22% or ?":

Raghavan Mayur, president at TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, follows unemployment date closely.  So, when his survey for May revealed that 28% of the 1,000-odd households surveyed reported that at least one member was looking for a full-time job, he was flummoxed.

"Our numbers are always very accurate, so I was surprised at the discrepancy with he government's numbers," says Mayur, whose firm owns the TIPP polling unit, a polling partner for Investor' Business Daily and Christian Science Monitor.  After all, the headline number shows the U.S. unemployment rate today is 9.5% with a total of 14.6 million jobless people.

However, Mayur's polls continued to find much worse figures. The June poll turned up 27.8% of households with a t least one member who's unemployed and looking for a job, while the latest poll conducted in the second week of July showed 28.6% in that situation.  That translates to an unemployment rate of over 22%, says Mayur, who has started questioning the accuracy of the Labor Departments' jobless numbers.

Even Austan Goolsbee Has Been Skeptical

Mayur isn't alone in harboring such doubts, nor is he the first to wonder about inaccuracies. For years, many economists have pointed to evidence that the government data under counts the unemployed.  Economist Helen Ginsbug, co-founder of advocacy group National Jobs for All Coalition, and John Williams of the newsletter Shadow Government Statistics have been questioning these numbers for years.

In fact, Austan Goolsbee, who is now part of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, wrote in a 2003 New York Times piece titled "The Unemployed Myth," that the government had "cooked the books" by not correctly counting all the people it should, thereby keeping the unemployment rate artificially low.  At the time, Goolsbee was a professor at the University of Chicago. when asked whether Goolsbee still believes the government under counts unemployment, a White House spokeswoman said Goolsbee wasn't available to comment.

Such under counting of unemployment can be an onerously dangerous exercise today.  It could lead to some lawmakers underestimating the gravity of the labor market's problems and base their policy making on a far-less-grim picture than actually exists.  Economically, and socially, that would make a bad situation much worse for America.

"The implications of such under counting is that policymakers aren't going to be thinking as big as they should be," says Ginsbug, also a professor emeritus of economics at Brooklyn College.  "It also means that [consumer] demand is not going to be there, because the income from people who are employed isn't going tot be there."

Indeed, it will add additional stress to an already strained economy.  Businesses that might start ramping up after seeing the jobless number drop could set themselves up for disappointment when customers don't appear or orders don't flow in (Read Full Report).

"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
— Adolf Hitler

"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
— Friedrich Nietzsche

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
— Mark Twain

"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you."
— Friedrich Nietzsche

"History is a set of lies agreed upon." 

— Napoleon Bonaparte

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."
— George Washington
"I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't." 
— Mark Twain
"When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts."
— Michael Ende (The Neverending Story)
"The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth."-H. L. Mencken

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember. They only kept but one. They promised they would take our land, and they took it.” ----Red Cloud

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Bernanke: Long-Term Unemployment Has SEVERE 'Social Consequences'

Kristina Cooke
Reuters

NEW YORK -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Tuesday that a long period of high unemployment could exact a steep social cost, as he and other Fed officials defended the central bank against criticism of its easy money policy.

Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said the Fed's controversial bond purchase program was needed given a "troubling" slowdown in U.S. economic growth and too low inflation and employment.

The Fed said earlier this month it would buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds to support a weak economy. Core inflation has averaged well below the Fed's informal target of about 2 percent and the jobless rate remains stubbornly high.

"There are obviously very severe economic and social consequences from this level of unemployment," Bernanke said at Ohio State University. "So getting new jobs, getting unemployment down is of an incredible importance."

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2 million lose jobless benefits as holidays arrive

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2 million lose jobless benefits as holidays arrive

Tom Breen
Associated Press

Extended unemployment benefits for nearly 2 million Americans begin to run out Wednesday, cutting off a steady stream of income and guaranteeing a dismal holiday season for people already struggling with bills they cannot pay.

Unless Congress changes its mind, benefits that had been extended up to 99 weeks will end this month.

That means Christmas is out of the question for Wayne Pittman, 46, of Lawrenceville, Ga., and his wife and 9-year-old son. The carpenter was working up to 80 hours a week at the beginning of the decade, but saw that gradually drop to 15 hours before it dried up completely. His last $297 check will go to necessities, not presents

"I have a little boy, and that's kind of hard to explain to him," Pittman said.


The average weekly unemployment benefit in the U.S. is $302.90, though it varies widely depending on how states calculate the payment. Because of supplemental state programs and other factors, it's hard to know for sure who will lose their benefits at any given time. But the Labor Department estimates that, without a Congress-approved extension, about 2 million people will be cut off by Christmas.

Congressional opponents of extending the benefits beyond this month say fiscal responsibility should come first. Republicans in the House and Senate, along with a handful of conservative Democrats, say they're open to extending benefits, but not if it means adding to the $13.8 trillion national debt.

Even if Congress does lengthen benefits, cash assistance is at best a stopgap measure, said Carol Hardison, executive director of Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte, N.C., which has seen 20,000 new clients since the Great Recession started in December 2007.

"We're going to have to have a new conversation with the people who are still suffering, about the potentially drastic changes they're going to have to make to stay out of the homeless shelter," she said.

Forget Christmas presents. What the so-called "99ers" want most of all is what remains elusive in the worst economy in generations: a job.

Read Full Article

RELATED ARTICLE:
CEOs Blame Consumer Class for Joblessness

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The REAL Unemployment Rate Is 22%

The Daily Bell

Details from John William’s Shadow Stats:

The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.

The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

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Applications for jobless aid rise sharply

Christopher S. Rugaber
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking jobless benefits jumped sharply last week, after two straight weeks of declines.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment aid rose by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 457,000 for the week ending Oct. 30. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a smaller rise.

The increase comes after claims fell in four of the previous five weeks. Those drops had brought claims to their lowest level since July and raised hopes the job market was improving.


Instead, claims have risen back above the 450,000 level they have fluctuated around all year. They will need to drop below 425,000 to signal sustained job gains.

The weekly applications for unemployment benefits are volatile, but are considered a real-time snapshot of the job market. They reflect the pace of layoffs and indicate whether companies are hiring.

The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose by 2,000 to 456,000.

Claims fell steadily last year, from about 600,000 in June 2009 when the recession ended to about 470,000 at the end of the year. There has been little improvement since then.

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