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Published on Monday, July 20, 2009 by The Nation
Will Unemployment Sink the Obama Agenda?
The Nation's Washington, D.C. Correspondent, John Nichols, explains how the rising rates of unemployment could imperil The Obama Presidency. Nichols looks at the political risks of joblessness, and discusses the need for a second stimulus.
© 2009 The Nation
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27 Comments so far
Show AllThere are some things more important than working for someone else. This is from a 112 year old retiree;
Breuning said he's more grateful for his health than he is for a world title.
"If you're in good health, you've got everything there is," he told the Great Falls Tribune.
By continuing to push the low interest rate agenda that was one of the major drivers of the bubble and the bust, Obama and Bernanke are turning what could have been a 3 year recession into a 30 year depression.
Contrary to benefitting the working class (and the unemployed class), the low interest rates combined with the taxpayer-funded bailouts (in a financial market that remains unregulated) are giving speculators cheap money to speculate on commodities, fueling inflation that hurts the rest of us. Only $2 of the nearly $3 you now pay for a gallon of gas is the result of supply and demand...the additional $1 is the result of speculation.
Obama has no intention to stop bailing out banks with taxpayers' money or impose meaningful regulation on the financial markets. This will result in continued high unemployment.
John Nichols is being too kind to Obama. Obama should have vetoed the first bill. He knew it stank, giving out checks to the public which had zero stimulus value and filled with 8000 earmarks, when he had said "No earmarks". Instead, he gave trillions to the banks, especially his best friend, Goldman Sachs, without conditions. They did not use the money to increase lending, which would have helped small business. They threw parties, bought jets, swallowed up competitors, and paid lobbyists to fight being regulated. Great, now even too bigger to fail.
This IS becoming Obama's mess. As long as he sticks with the financial wizards who are not here to rescue the country but to bail out Goldman Sachs, job recovery is doomed. They've turned their backs on job creation, they're looking at cap and trade derivatives for their next bubble. And when that one pops...
It's hard to believe he cares about the unemployed any more than he cares about the Afghani children the drones are blowing up. If he did, he would do something about it. It's easy to believe he cares a lot about Goldman Sachs.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
You forgot the bonuses.
Quote: "They did not use the money to increase lending, which would have helped small business. They threw parties, bought jets, swallowed up competitors, and paid lobbyists to fight being regulated. Great, now even too bigger to fail".
I don't see mention of bonuses in that quoted text. Hefty bonuses, too. For the job "well" done; "of course". They done cooked the books, but didn't perform jobs "well" done; unless we were planning on racket work, which I don't think most people were counting on.
The documentary film, "The Money Masters", comes to mind again; www.themoneymasters.com, also viewable at Google.
According to what that documentary on historical economics, culminating with focus on U.S. economics, monetary system, starting in the early 19th century, tells viewers, they or we should be able to now see that the "boys" of Wall Street, along with their political, government counterparts (as historically too usual), have done a "well"-performed job, alright; racket-style. They're orchestratic conductors and composers of astute kind. They first compose and then conduct, and the orchestra plays as planned. They "miss" many "notes", or chords, say, but pretend the audience is wrong about this. That way they don't have to return the entrance or attendance fees.
They sure know how to apply screws, or vises, and vices. With vice(s), they apply.
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Thanks for the Sesame Street decription of the unemployment issue, John. Unemployment is bad news for an incumbent president, huh? Who could have imagined?
The first stimulus was not a political compromise; it was a Wall Street bill.
The second stimulus will be the same. Dick Durbin has already explained why.
Has any other president insured that he will be a one termer faster than this one has?
q
Obama and crew continue via the Treasury and Federal Reserve to shovel unaccountable multi-billions to the Wall Street bankster/gangsters who committed criminal fraud in the largest criminal heist in human history. Put it on the scales: $11 trillion and counting to Wall Street and about $770 billion in the economic recovery bill for the rest of the US. Rounded off to about 10 to 1, with the banksters still giving themselves $700,000 and up bonuses. Obama stays totally silent as the theft continues. Guess the Godman Sachs boys embedded all over his adminstration keep him on a tight leash.
Nichols and the Nation might want to ask themselves sometime if any administration, Dem or Repug, is going to stray from Wall Street and the wealthy elites first and the rest of the population a very distant 2nd, 3rd or 4th, or 10th. Or ponder Senator Durbin's (Illinois) open assessment that the bankers own the Congress. Just as the insurance, drug and hospital boys own the Congress on healthcare, or the military contractors own it on "defense" appropriations, or the oil/gas, timber, grazing, and mining own them on Federal lands policies. There's no visible or organized presence representing the ever more dire needs of the people.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand: it never did, it never will." Frederick Douglass
Forget Obama and Washington. If they do anything it's not going to be enough. Make the personal changes necessary to insure your families survival. You know the drill. Do it.
Wise words. We know what Obama's Agenda is. Same Shit, Different Day. The help comes from ourselves and only ourselves, period.
Wise words? My ass. Stone sermonizes, but doesn't teach anything; only pretending that people inherently know how to survive in economic societies like the ones we have or live in, and many people don't know how to do this, while having real needs; like food, lodging, and other necessities, needing to be attended or seen to.
It's easy to say, "Swim, you all know how to swim", while many people don't know how.
Real teaching requires teaching, not bs sermons.
You are right that compassion should trump even self preservation in a just society. But we do not live in a just society. Stone has probably a bitter experience with helping or teaching someone in need, only to see that same person turn a deaf ear to others. I understand your point but you cannot take care of ANYONE or help ANYONE if you don't get your own ducks in a row first. And that was my point with the "wise words" comment.
Let's face it, Bubba Clinton and the Bush family out-sourced out industrial base to China and the only rewards are to
the Bush Family {Halliburton} and Hillary, {Walmart}.
Both parties are guilty of this charade, and are not about
to admit the crime. We came out of the 1929 depression because we still had manufacturing in this country, namely, cotton mills, Woolen mills, paper mills, steel mills, Ford, Chevrolet, plymouth, Dodge, and we were still using the Model "T" Ford.
All this industry has been sent to China by Corporate America with their slaves Clinton and Bush helping out.
No one in either party dares mention China, and the sell-out.
We will never recover from this depression as we do not have
any officials, in either party, with the Balls to stand up to the treasonous acts of either party. WE have been producing yes-men in both parties, who recycle themselves in office, in what seems like a never ending game of perpetuation.
To many like Chris Dodd, AIG, Lieberman and his wife Hadasah,
a lobbyist for big Pharma, and of course, Jacke Clegg Dodd who is in conflicts with Pharma, Banking, Insurace etc.
We have no one to represent the working classes. WE are dead.
Who will tell the people?
Double-posting's not good. People who do this should delete their duplicate posts; delete the contents of them, anyway.
Yes, I know, this post is not a reply to or using the duplicate I'm speaking of, but this is only because I and another reader have already posted replies using the duplicate post. In my case, perhaps both of our cases, I view and respond to or based upon posts while viewing them in most recent to oldest sort order, instead of reading them in the order that they were posted in.
Let's face it, Bubba Clinton and the Bush family out-sourced out industrial base to China and the only rewards are to
the Bush Family {Halliburton} and Hillary, {Walmart}.
Both parties are guilty of this charade, and are not about
to admit the crime. We came out of the 1929 depression because we still had manufacturing in this country, namely, cotton mills, Woolen mills, paper mills, steel mills, Ford, Chevrolet, plymouth, Dodge, and we were still using the Model "T" Ford.
All this industry has been sent to China by Corporate America with their slaves Clinton and Bush helping out.
No one in either party dares mention China, and the sell-out.
We will never recover from this depression as we do not have
any officials in either party with the Balls to stand up to the treasonous acts of either party. WE have been producing yes-men in both parties, who recycle themselves in office, in what seems like a never ending game of perpetuation.
To many like Chris Dodd, AIG, Lieberman and his wife Hadasah,
a lobbyist for big Pharma, and of course, Jacke Clegg Dodd who is in conflicts with Pharma, Banking, Insurace etc.
We have no one to represent the working classes. WE are dead.
Who will tell the people?
Correct Clinton started it and Bush added steroids, but not without the consent of the people. Elizabeth Dole sold out the NC textile industry while she was senator. Finally, the people here voted her out--too little, too late. I wonder if they still buy Dole at the grocery store. Sigh.
"Bush Family {Halliburton}"? Are you sure you don't mean the Cheney family? The Bush family is or has been in the oil business, it's a fact most people already know about.
The Wikipedia page on George Herbert Walker Bush doesn't have him directly associated with an oil company since the 1960's, when, Wikipedia says, he turned to being "political". He, however, was, until recently anyway, and that's if he's left this position, with the Carlyle Group. That company or firm is invested in a considerable range of industries, including oil. However, it, from what I've read, is an investment firm; not an oil company, manufacturer (other than manufacturing lies, that is), etc.
Otoh, the Wikipedia page on Halliburton says the following.
Quote: "In 1998 Halliburton merged with Dresser Industries, which included Kellogg. Prescott Bush was a director of Dresser Industries, which is now part of Halliburton. Former United States president George H. W. Bush worked for Dresser Industries in several positions from 1948–1951, before he founded Zapata Corporation".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton
That page seems to say that GHW Bush would not have been with Halliburton after 1951, and that he was, before this, only associated. That's only based on the above Wikipedia page and it's certainly possible that the Bush family has Halliburton shares, but then many people also do. The Bush family evidently doesn't own that company, and while the family may own stocks in the company, this doesn't mean that they're majority shareholders.
You need to provide links to sources of information that back up this notion of "Bush Family {Halliburton}". And you should explain how that has anything to do with the topic of this CD page.
Service jobs without manufacturing will not keep the economy afloat. Unless, the race to the bottom is halted, unemployment will continue to rise. Any stimulus will be sucked up by China (especially if it is used to buy their goods). Great deal, China lends us money for the stimulus and we send it back to them, and then pay interest on the loan. Our economy has been raped coming and going, and the rape continues under Obama, even as he woos us with his fancy rhetoric.
The avaricial capitalists, ... of the U.S. drew in China, Japan, ..., and they're just being like the U.S.; capitalist, capitalising, profiting. If we don't want fires, then we shouldn't start them.
And it's U.S. voters who constantly, in majority, the majority of those voting, that is, keep voting in evil, electing and re-electing evils. The "liberal" democrats argue the nonsensical bs of, "Oh, but my or our evil is not as bad as yours", that is, recognising they're voting for evil, but while not even being able to support or prove their claims of "lesser" vs ... the other, alternative, evil. They claim their evil is less than the others', but provide nothing to support this. Au contraire, they lie by omission, for their so-called lesser evil, the Dem. Party evil, is more guilty of war crimes than the others' evil or evil-ified party is, historically.
Voters! They're very much to blame.
"Liberal" democrats! They neglect that liberalism is what Satanism, that is, evil, is about. Evil wants to do as it liberally pleases, and once it sets is manner, then it obstinately wants to conservive this. It's conservative of evil liberalism, and liberal about such conservatism. Lovely. Quite a mess.
Damn voters!
Interesting, I suppose, but if the following article is accurate, then John Nichols is speaking in past-tense terms, for this following article explains or argues that the [real] unemployment rate is around 16.5%, [already]. That's above the highest rates that John Nichols speaks of getting the Obama presidency into such trouble that it'll then have, pragmatically, no other issue, as John Nichols puts it.
"The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think
The average length of unemployment is higher than it's been since government began tracking the data in 1948",
by Mortimer Zuckerman, WSJ, July 14, 2009
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14374
EXCERPTS:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary estimate for job losses for June is 467,000, which means 7.2 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. The cumulative job losses over the last six months have been greater than for any other half year period since World War II, including the military demobilization after the war. The job losses are also now equal to the net job gains over the previous nine years, making this the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all job growth from the previous expansion.
Here are 10 reasons we are in even more trouble than the 9.5% unemployment rate indicates:
- June's total assumed 185,000 people at work who probably were not. ...
- More companies are asking employees to take unpaid leave. ...
- The number of workers taking part-time jobs due to the slack economy, a kind of stealth underemployment, has doubled in this recession to about nine million, or 5.8% of the work force. Add those whose hours have been cut to those who cannot find a full-time job and the total unemployed rises to 16.5%, putting the number of involuntarily idle in the range of 25 million.
...
- The average work week for rank-and-file employees in the private sector, roughly 80% of the work force, slipped to 33 hours. That's 48 minutes a week less than before the recession began, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data 45 years ago. ...
...
... Unemployment has doubled to 9.5% from 4.8% in only 16 months, ....
...
It may have made him unpopular in parts of the Obama administration, but Vice President Joe Biden was right when he said a week ago that the administration misread how bad the economy was and how effective the stimulus would be. It was supposed to be about jobs but it wasn't. The Recovery Act was a single piece of legislation but it included thousands of funding schemes for tens of thousands of projects, and those programs are stuck in the bureaucracy as the government releases the funds with typical inefficiency.
END OF EXCERPTS
I don't know what the validity of that article is, and find it odd that the writer thinks that "48 minutes a week less" than before for employment is a "big deal". I'd be glad to get a job with 33 hours or even 32 a week. Even if that's not enough with min. wage jobs, it's better than nothing, which is about all there is in the area I unfortunately reside in. There are a few reasons for that condition, but they amount to no full-time jobs, and f-t includes, I believe, jobs of only 25 hours a week. Too many college and university students who have no other interest in being here soak up jobs that should really be f-t for any locals available for the work, f.e. Once these students finish their degrees, then they're the heck out of here faster than you can shout, "Outta here". They know it's a very worthless place to live. But if you're resident and poor, then you have no job opportunities, and can't afford to move elsewhere.
So 32, 33 hours a week? Bring the jobs!
And I just read that the unemployment benefits (between 59 and 79 weeks in most states) are, even with the congressional extensions, expiring to the tune 650,000 plus individuals as of September 1, 2009. Each month thereafter, it gets worse. With the Clinton gutted welfare, will people have enough to eat? Many years ago I knew some poor people that started selling food they got on welfare in a type of black market to get money for gasolene or other "non-covered" items. Is that next? People need more than an avoidance of starvation. If only some logic would dawn on the crooks that make wars and they stopped the wars and weapons manufacture in order to straighten out our economy and give the people some dignity. The elite will either face this reality or the copycat guillotine ladies from the French revolution will begin to appear. Madame DeFarge is coming to a gated community for you rich folks, SOON.
I agree, although didn't know about some of the details you provided. F.e., I had no idea that unemp. insurance (UI) benefits had ever been extended beyond the regular six months, which, in some states, if not all, used to be renewable after a six-month departure fron the benefits. That is, if a person became unemp'd and was eligible for the UI benefits, then he or should would get six months of the benefits, unless finding working before the end of the six months; and that's all they'd get, even if the person continued to be unemp'd. But six months later, so a year after the start, the person could be eligible to get back on UI benefits.
That's the last that I knew of UI benefits in the U.S. from my years working there in the 1990's, for I had to collect at one point. I had no idea that the six months, the initial six, had been extended to a full year, much less longer than that.
And I also didn't know that people on welfare sold the food they got for money. I guess that'd be food they got besides the money they received on welfare; the little money. And, I suppose, this food was obtained with food stamps, which'd be usable only for obtaining food. Otherwise, how could they possibly make any profit from selling food they paid for, since it'd cost the same as for everyone else?
Yes, people finding themselves in "dirt" poverty have a right to do what they need in order to eat, as long as it excludes violence.
I'm reminded of the story of Mexican children who were orphans and totally abandoned by society. They lived in a dump or dumps in the victinity of Mexico City and rummaged through the garbage to try to find something to eat; something like too many Palestinian children have to do today, among possibly other children, in other countries, like where the U.S. (and NATO) wages wars of aggression, imperialism, corporate-gain, .... Once in a while, these Mexican children would go into town, maybe once or twice a week, perhaps even daily, but not all of the time; and they would steal some food from merchants that, f.e., had food stands on sidewalks or along the road. Oh, the merchants would bitch about this; bitch, bitch .... about this. My philosophy? Heh, the children were starving, and man's law is not God's. Pay attention to His and it'll make a better human out of you! A RCC priest started an orphange to provide a home and food for these children. This, I believe, was back in the 1980's; or maybe the orphange had been started earlier, but no more than a decade or so. I'm pretty sure to recall that this was during the 1980's though.
Being able to eat and to have shelter is what? It's a human [right] and should be inalienable! According to God's law; it's an inalienable right, but He doesn't micro-control us, our governments, etc., either.
So if the impoverished get itchy fingers, then I won't complain about them trying to resolve the itch; as long as it's done without violence. When it's violent, then tell them to stop the violence and to only steal what they need for sustinance. That way, they'll never be criminals in moral terms. Man's law is not God's.
Steal to survive, but do it nicely. Heh, such poor people could even leave a "thank you" note; maybe an, "Io-you; some day, when times are better. Until then, may God bless you for your generosity", say.
What's life, if you can't have some fun? Boring.
We have to be merciful, if we want mercy for ourselves! We have to have humane compassion for others in need.
Only the rich would disagree, except when they're the thieves. In that case, they come up with all kinds of nonsensical excuses; nonsensical, and diabolical. When it's real poor who steal because they have nothing, then the rich and well-to-do bitch.
"how could they possibly make any profit from selling food they paid for, since it'd cost the same as for everyone else?"
Profit was the last thing on their minds. They sold the food cheaper than they got it on food stamps because they needed cash for non covered items. It was made worse by the fact that some would take sustenance from their children to by cigarrettes or rum. When people lose their dignity, anything can happen. I abhor violence and would rather die than kill someone. Even someone who wanted to kill me. But the poor will get violent no matter how we sermonize to them. I'm just observing reality and hope some elite rich moron reads it and starts modifying his greedy behavior for his own good.
As for John Nichols, however, is he an economist, at all? If not, and I think he isn't, then it's from real economists that we should want to hear and/or read; the honest and competent ones, too. After all, he makes or states no reference to real economists, and maybe he's somewhat mistaken. F.e., he might be mistaken about there being no other issue for Obama, if the unemp. rate rises further or to a certain point higher than it already officially is; pragmatically speaking. He might be very right about that, but is he.
If he's right about that, then it'd only again illustrate that Americans primarily are a self-centered lot, which is evidently true, regularly, but isn't pleasant to be reminded of. After all, there are other critical issues that would remain more important, and all of the problems are due to U.S. voters constantly voting for evils, so they've laid out their own (and everyone else's) "fates". Others shouldn't be made to suffer because U.S. voters are screwed up. Ya know; should, anyway.
Since they, U.S. voters, the majority who vote, won't get off their damn asses to fight for Dennis Kucinich to be included in Dem. Party candidate debates, and won't accept that a third party candidate, such as Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney, f.e., should be voted for, the majority of U.S. voters decide that the whole world has to suffer because most Americans who vote are a damn spineless lot. Repub. Party voters could vote for Ron Paul; alternatively. But the majority of people who vote only elect and re-elect more evil and thereby lay out the fate for everyone else.
Spineless (and charlatan, and ignorant, ...) voters!
No, Hillary Clinton wouldn't be better. She sides with her "hubby" and he screwed many tens of thousands of hi-tech U.S. professionals during his two terms in office; and this was not his sole economic faux pas that was a faut pas, also. "Wifey" is just another imperialist, ... society hypocrite.
Sen. McCain, better? I might be possibly mistaken about this, but doubt it very, very much that he'd be better; doubting it like quite entirely. But maybe he'd "pull off" some surprises of welcome sort. Maybe, a remote possibility? Probably not.
Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Ron Paul, now these were candidates who might make a seriously improved difference, but there's no guarantee that they would, either. The ruling "elites" would certainly do all they could to prevent social or socio-economic, or social and economic, ... justice. If it's just, then they hate it; whatever it justly is or might be.
Oh, oh. I'm starting to feel like I'm living in "Lord of the Rings", again. No, I don't delusionally think that I ever lived there; it's just that I've sometimes felt as if I was there, sort of. And I'm starting to feel that way again. Oh, my, click your heels together three times to be transported to another place and time; hopefully, better. Just make sure you click those heels together correctly, to try to avoid ending up with bad surprises. Oh well, I just tried that and am still here. Well, c'est la vie, I guess.
Clinton didn't start it, but NAFTA and Bush II's baby CAFTA certainly have exacerbated what began with the Reagan admin. It all goes back to Reagans 'Trickle Down Economics'.
I'd practically kill for a minimum wage job at this point. I don't know what part of the country is fortunate enough to have college students working the low level jobs. In the west, it is all illegals. You don't find teens working at entry level jobs in fast food stores any longer. Kitchens at finer eating establishments are entrenched with illegals. You can't even get a slightly higher than min. wage fast food managerial position unless you speak Spanish. In the worst times of the recent past, you could swing a hammer at a construction site for $16 - $17 per hour, but the illegals have those jobs, too and the wage is dropped to about $10 per hour.
Trickle down economics began the outsourcing of the manufacturing base, so we were advised to up our skill level for the 'New Frontier' of tech jobs. These jobs have now been either outsourced to other countries or have negatively affected American workers because of the H1-B visas that allows high tech/telecom companies to import workers for the tech jobs that are left and pay them a far lower wage than an American worker.
Reagan began destroying the welfare safety net, and the Republican controlled congress under Clinon hammered the final nail in that coffin so that unless you've popped out some out of wedlock young 'uns, you are totally out of luck when the economy turns to shit. Having a dependent is the last qualification for gov't rent assistance. If you don't have this, you are homeless. Not 'effectively' homeless, but literally without a roof over your head. No pot to piss in. Male or female.
I used to worry about how difficult it would be to find a job while homeless, but now I don't have to worry about it - there are no jobs to apply for.
At least finally someone is talking about this issue. It's been all health care which is all well and good, but there is an explosion of homelessness in this country from the Bush Cities popping up around the country, to the people living in tents along the Platte River in Denver.
Both types of 'communities' are now under attack by local authorities who want to 'wish away' this new type of homeless that do not qualify for homeless shelters because of the lack of dependents, or because they are 'regular' people who will not mix and mingle with the felons, sexual predators, child molesters and mentally ill that typically inhabit the 'Mission' areas where the charities dole out the soup kitchen food and places to sleep. Here in Denver, the charities have an actual lottery each week to see which homeless will be lucky enough to sleep indoors.
We are seeing the fruits of the War on (insert noun here), which is a war on the 'would love to be working' working poor. It all began with Reagan. Fact: Reagan is responsible for the largest tax hike in history, followed by Bush II. These tax hikes effectively began the war on working people and have dealt the most recent crushing blow to American workers.
The question is can we, the workers, get back in the fight?
A: Only if we get involved and raise our voices loudly enough.
Until then, the erosion of unions, lack of cohesive gov't employment policy, conservative-driven tax policies that create deficits which transfer the wealth not yet in the pockets of the rich to the rich and the malaise of those of us left will ensure the further downward spiral of the American dream.
And you thought slavery was only a racial thing eliminated long ago?
I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled,
But it's on the table
The fire is cooking
And they're farming babies
While slaves are working
Blood is on the table
And the mouths are choking
But I'm growing hungry
-Temple of the Dog, 1991
written by Chris Cornell
Because I love CD so much, I'm going to present the Black Anarch's People's Stimulus Package right here. If this package was adopted, in toto, we'd see a turn around tomorrow.
1. Abolish the Fed, repudiate all current debt and turn over the creation of 'money' to the Treasury. The Treasury would then license banks to loan money on a interest free, Social Credit basis.
2. Eliminate private title to all land, water, EM Spectrum and all other natural resources and institute use fees, determined by the true scarcity of the resource. The fees are to be collected and then given to all citizens as a National Dividend.
3. Determine the difference between current prices and purchasing power of the people and have the Treasury cut a check for the difference to every citizen pro rata.
3. Have all current prices frozen until the new money comes into the marketplace and offer all businesses that lower prices by 10% a rebate to be funded by the Treasury.
This is easy to do and I'm not even an economist but, just a regular Joe. Okay, tear it apart or add to it. Good luck!
As Mike C has pointed out, the unemployment rate may already be at 16.5 percent. Kind of blows Nichols' thesis.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a funny formula for counting the unemployed. If you haven't found a job in four months, you are considered "discouraged" and no longer looking and not included in the unemployed total.
This sort of accounting would seriously undercount unemployment, but thats' what they do.
Nichols is rather optimistic about Obama. Why would Obama have to do anything about unemployment? He's done nothing about the wars, for instance. If you don't like that - and most don't - you'll have to wait another three years to vote for someone else.
I don't think Obama has to do much more than give a good speech to get reelected, quite frankly. The gullible and the fearful voted for him the first time; they'll vote for him again too. The electorate has a hard time remembering things.
-TIA
I suspect that this would spell sunset on the Empire, except like with everything else they do, they're going to lie about it right up to the last possible minute. Cooking the CPI and the Unemployment number can go on for how long?
The unemployment number only counts those who are receiving an unemployment check. When those benefits run out, the jobless person is no longer counted when he gets to tent city. So, real national unemployment, if you count everybody, is probably way over 20%.
There are a lot of big sins going on with government reporting. Let's start with the Plunge Protection Team which illegally, and artifically drives the markets up and down using taxpayer money to buy stock and securities! Type it into Wikipedia. Caution, you may need a barf bag.
It's a real sin to use GDP instead of GNP, imho. The gov used to provide GNP numbers, but not anymore. Another sin, which I can't believe they get away with, is not to report the Money Supply M3. We have no idea just how worthless our paper dollars are going to be in a few years. Why, Yahoo is not even reporting auto and truck sales because they are so dismal. Little dashes go where the sales figures used to sit. Huge numbers of car lots have boarded up their dealerships where I used to live. The local Grocery was deserted as many of the chain restaurants are. I asked the lone checker in this huge store where the hell was everybody? How can you be in business with no customers? He said "please don't say that too loud" and he started to shake.....
This whole economy is a Giant Ponzi Scheme in my humble opinion. Maybe it has been for decades and we just didn't know it..... This would explain the switch to organized Fortune 500 Crime....
Instead of the New Deal, Obomber has given us the Raw Deal.
As Mr Klumps (Eddie Murphy) said on "the Nutty Proffessor": "This is some Scary Shit going on!"
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson