By Reginald Kaigler (DEMCAD)
As many of you know, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' jobless claims soared in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Last week, it reportedly dropped 21,000 to 393,000 new initial claims for unemployment. The media storyline is that sense the aftermath of the storm is easing, the jobless claims are dropping. The problem is that much of the increase in joblessness isn't even coming from New York and New Jersey. What's interesting is that many of the states that reported decreases weren't even in the affect area.
Read more about the jobless claims
U.S. Pending home sales 5.2% soared in October. If this is accurate, this maybe a sign that the housing market has found its bottom. What grabbed my attention was the stark contrast between regions.
Pending home sales in the Midwest and South rose 15.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, while the West and the Northeast dropped by 1.1 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. As a guy living in the Midwest, I can tell you that there are so many people leaving their homes for rentals (and other states) that I suspect a disproportional amount of these sales are going to rentals.
Read more about Housing Sales
Although, the housing sales are encouraging, I'm still concerned about wages, the quality of employment an the number of Americans still on food stamps. As of August 2012, we had a record 47.1 million Americans collecting food stamps. Some people have argued that much the increase is explained by the Obama's administration easing of the requirements. But the fact of the matter is that historically, we only see large increases in food stamp participation during recessions and hard economic times. The number soar in late 2008 before Obama even entered the Oval Office.
Between August 2011 and August 2012, there was a 1.6 million increase in the amount of Americans receiving food stamps. It's been climbing for 4 straight years.
The government has been able to artificially lower the unemployment rate by excluding the millions of Americans who have given up looking for work because there is no real work. The funny that is that the government's NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE continues to raise. Because people can't find work.
So all of the spin in the world won't change what is now obvious to anyone who is looking. This country is in an economic depression.
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ReplyDeleteUnemployment will keep going up as long as we continue to believe in the archaic idea of a 40 hour work week. The purpose of work has always been to meet our needs and wants. In this age, we're just too good at manipulating our environment with less labor to need everyone working.
ReplyDeleteUnemployment's here to stay until labor steps up and realizes we all should be working about 28 hours for the same pay we make at 40+. Otherwise the average citizen will never share in the wealth that technology provides. It's just that simple.
It's high time to shed the old industrial age standards, just how we shed the old sun up to sun down work standards when we moved from agrarian to industrialized society. Until then, companies will continue to do more with less and unemployment will continue to rise.
This reply is actually for Demcad,
DeleteThe USA workers are affected by the Chinese workers. Many people in the USA NOT working because people in China are working producing things for the USA.
People that own a business will often work 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week. Most people like to work & earn money for themselves. What people don't like about work is drudgery & most of the money going to the boss.
The Christian view: 'Christianity does NOT look upon work as demeaning or evil, as though leisure were more worthy of human dignity. Work ennobles a person's character and assimilates one to the Savior. ...
...This is the source of every man's duty to work loyally, as well as his right to work; moreover, it is the duty of society to see to it that , according to the prevailing circumstances all citizens have the >opportunity of finding employment.'
The Ruling-Class has decided to run a Trillion-dollar deficit each year in the USA,< 'exploit' the Chinese worker & put USA workers on welfare.
The Ruling-Class makes >more money with Chinese workers & USA workers on welfare. The Ruling-Class is buying & selling the goods, owning the 'cable-television-welfare-entertainment-programs,' & worst the Ruling-Class permits drugs to enter the USA to enslave people for life.
Some of the economic-predictors linked by Demcad say the situation can last for a few more years. BUT, they all say an economic-collapse will happen.
Instead of planning for a 28 hour work week. We should all be buying 'stuff' to prepare for a long economic depression. We will know when a collapse is eminent. More & more wealthy people will disappear from public view as they 'bug-out' to their havens.