Scooter wrote:Hey, somebody had to take over Steve's role since he doesn't post here....
I might, but what's in it for ME?
US unemployment falls
Re: US unemployment falls
I might, but what's in it for ME?
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: US unemployment falls
You really want to give up your sense of humor?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Re: US unemployment falls
No
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: US unemployment falls
Gob wrote:The US economy created 243,000 jobs in January, the highest total for nine months
That is a step in the right direction, indeed. The number needs to grow substantially since the hole to climb out of is so deep, but we'll take some positive news to end the week.
Re: US unemployment falls
The labor force participation rate was driven down after Clinton left office.Liberty1 wrote:Unfortunately, this number is skewed by all the people falling out of the labor force, 1.2M in fact this time alone. IOW, giving up. It is now at a point that has not been lower since 1984.
...
This is the largest absolute jump in 'Persons Not In Labor Force' on record...and biggest percentage jump in 30 years.
From 2001 - 2008 incomes fell for the first time, over an 8-year period, since WWII.
yrs,
rubato
Re: US unemployment falls
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... jobs-data/
EDITORIAL: Obama’s bogus jobs data
Congress should investigate cooked employment books
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES
-
The Washington Times
Friday, February 3, 2012
The White House hyped the news Friday that January payrolls had risen by 243,000. The hitch is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also dropped 1.2 million from the calculated workforce. Somehow this net loss of a million workers in a single month was transformed into an improvement in the unemployment rate. As the old saying goes, figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.
“Job growth was widespread,” the BLS reported, but most Americans sense that something isn’t quite right with the numbers. The most important change was the deep decline in the workforce. While the overall population jumped an 1.6 million in January, the workforce declined a record-setting 1.2 million. This figure represents those who out of sheer frustration or for other reasons have dropped out of what the government defines as the active labor pool. They are worse than simply unemployed; they are both jobless and hopeless.
The good news for Obama administration statisticians is that these unfortunates don’t factor into the official unemployment rate, which only counts those thought to be looking for work. So while five people drop out of the system in despair for every new job created, the official unemployment rate declines and the White House enjoys a good news day.
<snip>
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: US unemployment falls
Local Op-Ed piece kinda puts the current data in perspective. Sunday, February 4:
The economy grew 1.7 percent in
2011, down from 3.1 percent the year
before, the Bureau of Economic
Analysis reported Jan 27.
The recession officially ended in
June 2009. It took until last August
—15quarters—for the grossdomestic
product to exceed pre-recession
levels. That’s three times longer
than the average for the recoveries
following the 10 previous recessions
since World War II.
This recession was very bad,
Democrats note. The only one comparable
was in 1981-82.
Usually, the more severe the
recession, themore robust the recovery.
In the first 10 quarters after the
1981-82 recession, GDP grew 15 percent.
The president then was Ronald
Reagan. His economic policies were
the opposite of Mr. Obama’s.
The most dramatic difference is
in job creation. About 790,000 jobs
have been added since the Obama
recovery began. In the first 10 quarters
of the Reagan recovery, the
economy gained 7.5 million jobs.
The unemployment rate declined
from 9.5 percent when the Obama
recovery began to 8.3 percent in
January. But there’d have been no
decline if the Bureau of Labor Statistics
counted discouraged workers.
Even though the working age
population has increased by about
4 million, the labor force, according
to the BLS, shrunk by 850,000. If the
labor force were the same size as
when Mr. Obama was inaugurated,
the unemployment rate would be
10.9 percent.
In the first 24 months of the Reagan
recovery, the unemployment
rate fell from 10.8 to 7.2 percent —
even though the labor force grew by
about 4 million.
The Obama recovery, such as it
is, has come in spite of his policies.
Much of the improvement in the
unemployment rate that is not the
product of statistical manipulation
is the result of reforms instituted by
Republican governors.
The four states where the unemployment
rate declined most in 2011
—Nevada, Florida, New Mexico and
Michigan — are all states where a
Republican replaced a Democrat in
2010.
The six states where jobs grew
fastest all have Republican governors
and right to work laws. Of 28
states the Bureau of Labor Statistics
said had statistically significant
job growth last year, 17 have
Republican governors.
Democrats control the state house
andthelegislatureinthreeofthefour
stateswhere unemployment rose.
Mr. Obama was blocked from
implementing fully his economic
policies when Republicans won control
of the House of Representatives.
To see what America would be like
if he had, look at his home state of
Illinois.
People in the Land of Lincoln pay
a lot in state and local taxes, but government
spends much more. Illinois
is $128.4 billion in debt. Its credit
rating is the worst in the nation.
Rather than cut spending, the
Democratic governor and Democratic
legislature raised corporate
taxes 46 percent, income taxes 67
percent. Thousands of people and
hundreds of businesses—including
Sears, Caterpillar and the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange—made plans
to leave the state. The economy
ground to a halt. Unemployment
rose from 9.2 percent to 9.8 percent.
Many fleeing Illinois are headed
for Wisconsin, where the business
climate has improved from 43rd to
17th since Scott Walker was elected
governor, according to Chief Executive
magazine. Gov. Walker closed
the $3 billion deficit he inherited
without raising taxes.
The evidence makes clear which
method makes the economy grow.
But for Democrats, ideology and
self- interest trump evidence.
Jack Kelly is a columnist for the
Post-Gazette
The economy grew 1.7 percent in
2011, down from 3.1 percent the year
before, the Bureau of Economic
Analysis reported Jan 27.
The recession officially ended in
June 2009. It took until last August
—15quarters—for the grossdomestic
product to exceed pre-recession
levels. That’s three times longer
than the average for the recoveries
following the 10 previous recessions
since World War II.
This recession was very bad,
Democrats note. The only one comparable
was in 1981-82.
Usually, the more severe the
recession, themore robust the recovery.
In the first 10 quarters after the
1981-82 recession, GDP grew 15 percent.
The president then was Ronald
Reagan. His economic policies were
the opposite of Mr. Obama’s.
The most dramatic difference is
in job creation. About 790,000 jobs
have been added since the Obama
recovery began. In the first 10 quarters
of the Reagan recovery, the
economy gained 7.5 million jobs.
The unemployment rate declined
from 9.5 percent when the Obama
recovery began to 8.3 percent in
January. But there’d have been no
decline if the Bureau of Labor Statistics
counted discouraged workers.
Even though the working age
population has increased by about
4 million, the labor force, according
to the BLS, shrunk by 850,000. If the
labor force were the same size as
when Mr. Obama was inaugurated,
the unemployment rate would be
10.9 percent.
In the first 24 months of the Reagan
recovery, the unemployment
rate fell from 10.8 to 7.2 percent —
even though the labor force grew by
about 4 million.
The Obama recovery, such as it
is, has come in spite of his policies.
Much of the improvement in the
unemployment rate that is not the
product of statistical manipulation
is the result of reforms instituted by
Republican governors.
The four states where the unemployment
rate declined most in 2011
—Nevada, Florida, New Mexico and
Michigan — are all states where a
Republican replaced a Democrat in
2010.
The six states where jobs grew
fastest all have Republican governors
and right to work laws. Of 28
states the Bureau of Labor Statistics
said had statistically significant
job growth last year, 17 have
Republican governors.
Democrats control the state house
andthelegislatureinthreeofthefour
stateswhere unemployment rose.
Mr. Obama was blocked from
implementing fully his economic
policies when Republicans won control
of the House of Representatives.
To see what America would be like
if he had, look at his home state of
Illinois.
People in the Land of Lincoln pay
a lot in state and local taxes, but government
spends much more. Illinois
is $128.4 billion in debt. Its credit
rating is the worst in the nation.
Rather than cut spending, the
Democratic governor and Democratic
legislature raised corporate
taxes 46 percent, income taxes 67
percent. Thousands of people and
hundreds of businesses—including
Sears, Caterpillar and the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange—made plans
to leave the state. The economy
ground to a halt. Unemployment
rose from 9.2 percent to 9.8 percent.
Many fleeing Illinois are headed
for Wisconsin, where the business
climate has improved from 43rd to
17th since Scott Walker was elected
governor, according to Chief Executive
magazine. Gov. Walker closed
the $3 billion deficit he inherited
without raising taxes.
The evidence makes clear which
method makes the economy grow.
But for Democrats, ideology and
self- interest trump evidence.
Jack Kelly is a columnist for the
Post-Gazette
Re: US unemployment falls
Yawn. It always makes me laugh when people who know jackshit about economics (or think their readers do) write bullshit based on the ridiculous premise that all recessions are the same.
The early 1980s recession was one that was deliberately engineered by raising interest rates. Coming out of that recession was as simple as lowering the high interest rates that caused it, once the inflation that brought about the need to raise them was reduced. And of course, the timing of those interest rate reductions was a decision of the Federal Reserve, and not the administration of the day. The latest recession was triggered by a financial crisis, a completely different animal that has historically required much longer for the economy to pull out of it than the eeliberately engineered variety. It is an apples and oranges comparison that would only fool those who didn't know what they were talking about.
And this:
The early 1980s recession was one that was deliberately engineered by raising interest rates. Coming out of that recession was as simple as lowering the high interest rates that caused it, once the inflation that brought about the need to raise them was reduced. And of course, the timing of those interest rate reductions was a decision of the Federal Reserve, and not the administration of the day. The latest recession was triggered by a financial crisis, a completely different animal that has historically required much longer for the economy to pull out of it than the eeliberately engineered variety. It is an apples and oranges comparison that would only fool those who didn't know what they were talking about.
And this:
further proves the writer to be an idiot. Both Nevada and Florida have had Republican governors continuously since 1999. Why their economies would have been among the fastest to recover is not brain surgery, they were among the hardest hit by the housing crisis and so their economies really had nowhere to go but up. Michigan's economy has benefitted hugely from the auto industry bailout, and New Mexico is a resource rich state whose economy is riding the coattails of rising energy prices (just like Texas, in spite of Rick Perry's claim to be some sort of miracle worker; his state owes its recovery to everyone else's misery and he's just the sort of fool to take credit for it).The four states where the unemployment rate declined most in 2011 — Nevada, Florida, New Mexico and Michigan — are all states where a Republican replaced a Democrat in 2010.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Re: US unemployment falls
Reagan used huge deficit spending which the Republican's in the legislature have, for the most part, prevented Obama from doing. Most of the expansion of the 1980s was due to Paul Volcker wiping out the spiking high inflation.*
yrs,
rubato
*This is according to Allen Greenspan who admitted that he would not have had the courage to do what Volcker did.
yrs,
rubato
*This is according to Allen Greenspan who admitted that he would not have had the courage to do what Volcker did.
Re: US unemployment falls
Shares in New York hit levels not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis on Thursday after good news regarding unemployment figures.
The weekly report of new claims for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level since March 2008.
The Dow Jones index of leading companies closed up 122.76 points, or 0.96%, to 12,903.71, its highest level since May 2008.
The tech-based Nasdaq index soared to its highest level since December 2000.
Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 index touched its highest point since May 2011.
It came as weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the Labor Department said.
As well as being the lowest number in almost four years, unemployment applications have dropped by 11% in four months.
There had also been positive earnings news during the day from carmaker GM.
It unveiled record profits for 2011 and saw its shares soar by 9%.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17069462
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: US unemployment falls
Call me a cynic, but I don’t believe it; I just don’t trust politicians or their media allies. Numbers can be manipulated. I won’t believe it until I see US businesses start to offer hiring bonuses to recruit workers.
I turn my envious eyes on Australia; is that they are just smarter than we are or are they environmental criminals raping mother earth. You guys are liberals in Oz are you not? How can you all commit these atrocity on the environment. Stop the sheep and cattle ranching and the mining. How can you live with yourselves.
I turn my envious eyes on Australia; is that they are just smarter than we are or are they environmental criminals raping mother earth. You guys are liberals in Oz are you not? How can you all commit these atrocity on the environment. Stop the sheep and cattle ranching and the mining. How can you live with yourselves.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
Re: US unemployment falls
We sleep easy at night after a hearty steak on our sheepskin rugs in front of a coal fire lib... 
Why is it that when Miley Cyrus gets naked and licks a hammer it's 'art' and 'edgy' but when I do it I'm 'drunk' and 'banned from the hardware store'?
Re: US unemployment falls
The US economy grew by more than first thought in the fourth quarter of 2011, government figures have shown.
The economy grew at an annualised rate of 3% in the October to December quarter, the Commerce Department said, up from its previous estimate of 2.8%.
The growth estimate was revised up because consumers spent more than first thought, and businesses cut spending by much less.
Economists hope it could pave the way for stronger growth this year.
The first estimate of economic growth in the fourth quarter was released in January. This is the first revision to the figures, and they will be subject to a second revision in another month's time.
On a non-annualised basis, the economy grew by 0.7% compared with the previous quarter, according to calculations from the data.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17208037
The US stock market has reached a major landmark in its journey back from lows hit during the financial crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 13,000 for the first time since 19 May 2008, just four months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Analysts say it reflects a growing confidence in the US economy and solid profit reports from US companies.
The Dow added 23 points, or 0.2%, on Tuesday to close at 13,005. It briefly topped 13,000 earlier this month.
"I think it's a momentous day for investor confidence," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.
"What this number implies is that the financial crisis, that we were all losing sleep over, it never happened because now we're back."
While the Dow has added 6.5% this year, other measures of market performance have performed even better.
The S&P 500 is up 9% and the Nasdaq composite, which is dominated by technology stocks is up 14%.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/17198839
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: US unemployment falls
It will probably be another 5 years (if ever) before unemployment is at or near 2005 levels.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: US unemployment falls
I read recently that the total number of people listed as employed in this country is now about the same as it was in the summer of 2000....
That means that assuming the work force hasn't grown at all in the past 12 years, everything is just fine...
That means that assuming the work force hasn't grown at all in the past 12 years, everything is just fine...
Re: US unemployment falls
Hopefully the rate of job growth in the country increases because it will take until about 2016 to get back to the number of jobs in 2008 (at the start of the recession). This will be the slowest job recovery since WWII, taking 101 months to get all the jobs back (let alone the new jobs needed to keep up with population growth). In contrast, it took 47 months to get all the jobs back in the "jobless" recovery of the early 2000s, which at the time was considered an exceedingly bad recovery from a jobs standpoint.
However, as anemic as 3% growth is coming out of such a lousy economy, any improvement in the rate of growth qualifies as good news.
However, as anemic as 3% growth is coming out of such a lousy economy, any improvement in the rate of growth qualifies as good news.
Re: US unemployment falls
Americans are spending more on their pets than ever before, according to estimates in a new report.
The American Pet Products Association (APPA) says spending on pets in the US passed $50bn (£31.5bn) in 2011.
Food and veterinary costs accounted for about 65% of the figure, but the category of "pet services" grew faster than any other, totalling $3.79bn (£2.39bn) in 2011.
Pet services includes grooming, boarding, pet hotels, and pet-sitting.
Spending on pet services should continue to grow and reach $4.11bn (£2.59bn) by the end of 2012, said APPA President Bob Vetere.
"We are seeing a boom in this category as people continue to work and require services such as pet-sitting, boarding and walking to care for their pets at home," Mr Vetere said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17243094
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: US unemployment falls
Misleading indicator.
"Pets" aren't the only ones consuming cat and dog food.
"Pets" aren't the only ones consuming cat and dog food.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: US unemployment falls
Presumably humans are not going to veternarians for their medical care, or being housed in kennels.
Oh, wait...
Oh, wait...
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Re: US unemployment falls
I wouldn’t be too damn sure.Scooter wrote:Presumably humans are not going to veternarians for their medical care, or being housed in kennels.
Oh, wait...
Sorry if this offends anyone’s liberal sensibilities, but Obama has demonstrated he lacks the courage and imagination to turn the economy around.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.