Sunday, January 3, 2016

Cooking The Books - Government Stats

The latest reports from the government are that unemployment is down and inflation is non-existant. The way they calculate it, this may be true, but for the rest of us things are not so hot
Here is a chart on Vox that shows that while yes, more people are finding jobs, the rate at which they're finding them is truly abysmal. It also notes that people are giving up on the job market faster than they are finding jobs.

Just remember: If you're not looking, you don't count as unemployed, thus reducing the unemployment rate. Another item to keep in mind when the news folk read the headlines is that it takes 300,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth in this country. 200,000 new jobs created sounds good compared to say last month, but it represents about 100,000 more people out of work.

The other bit about the near zero inflation contrasts with my observations of people going on Social Security at the earliest opportunity. These people aren't retiring, they're taking the reduced SS payments as a supplement to incomes that no longer cover their expenses. This sort of thing puts larger demands on the federal budget, which requires either a tax increase or more borrowing, which reduces the amount people have to live on which increases demand for SS enrollments.

Economics is not a strong suit with the left.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Economics is not a strong suit with the left."

Economics is not a strong suit with the right, either.

Billll said...

I have to admit that economics isn't a strong suit with anybody it seems. Historically the right does less damage. Which do you prefer, cronyism or outright socialism?

Anonymous said...

"cronyism or outright socialism"

False dilemma.

The opposite of socialism isn't always freedom or cronyism. Often it is oligarchy.

But it's nice see a right-winger finally admit to being in favor of cronyism.

Billll said...

Please re-read the post. You seem to have missed something.