Friday, June 7, 2013
'Yes, Of Course.. and Absolutely Not!'
Because we cover this current recession-depression honestly which is interpreted by some as negatively, we are sometimes asked, on occasion quite bluntly, "Don't you (meaning 'we') want the economy to recover?
And we respond like this: "Yes, Of Course.. and Absolutely Not!"
We do want the US economy to Genuinely recover then Thrive... Unemployment back down below 4% and people working and saving and enjoying life... Oh you betcha!!
We just want This specific 'recovery' based on market manipulation and the super rich solely benefiting to fail spectacularly and very dramatically!
And if it means a total market crash and collapse followed by Dow 5,000 to destroy all notions among the oblivious that 'all is well' and rouse the populace into a state of vocal agitation so they demand and force their elected leaders to sincerely fix the problems, then so be it..
Social issues are nice but immigration reform or gay marriage does not for most put food on the table or allow bills to be paid, and these are the only type of issues politicians care about.
Used to be they'd run far away from these powder-kegs but compared to actually writing and enacting legislation to increase jobs, toughen up the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) and but bankers in jail, a politician will happily jibber jabber on irrelevance.
So.. onward we go..
Today May's jobs report came out..
And its really comical by now.. everyone in the market and government took it as a positive. Not a sincere improvement, but one of those, 'No matter what the report says, I'm going to squeeze a positive from it'
For instance, unemployment rose to 7.6%
That's bad..
But it means supposedly more people are looking for jobs..
So that's good..
And if the report had said 7.4% unemployment??
Well, that's lower than 7.5% so that's 'good' too...
Here's another example of how these vermin think...
Employers only added 175k jobs last month where 225k minimum is needed to keep up with population growth..
That's bad..
But May was better than April where 149k jobs created and March with 142k new jobs..
So that's good..
And the number is weak enough that supposedly the Fed will be 'afraid' to stop indefinite QE
That's really um.. 'good'.
And that means more wealth for banks, corporations, Professional investors and the wealthy..
That's uh..super good?
From AP: "Today's report is perhaps the perfect number for nervous investors," said James Marple, Senior Economist at TD Economics. "It is strong enough to point to continued economic recovery but not so strong as to bring forward expectations of Fed tapering."
So you see, no one really wants to see you hired.
Now, lets break down the jobs numbers:
Leisure and Hospitality added 43,000 jobs... This was the highest job gain.
These are the people who check you into your hotel and clean your rooms and bring up your room service and valet your car and serve you at your local restaurant,etc..
Next was Retail Trade which added 28,000 jobs... These are the people who work in department stores and Wal Mart and K-Mart and Dollar Tree...
Education and Health added 26,000 jobs and an equal number came from business' most Favorite form of hiring.. Temps.
26,000 more formerly unemployed individuals with education and skill sets now get to work shit jobs with low wages, no benefits, protections or guarantees of any advancement Ever...
In summary - of the 175K jobs, 122K was to low wage occupations.
And oh yes, manufacturing fired 8,000 people and government shed 4,000 jobs in May..
And as we like to do often, its time to do state breakdown:
175,000 new jobs divided by 50 US states equals..
3,500 jobs created per US State.
As an example, there are 21 counties in New Jersey... So that means based on 3,500 jobs created on average per US state, each county in NJ would have seen an increase in hiring by 166 people.
By the way, can you guess which age group was hired the most in May?
Certainly not teens or 20-somethings... Nope-- not Generation X'ers and Y'ers either..
Older workers i.e. 55 and older...
There are currently over 31.4 Million people over 55 still working with the Vast majority doing so out of necessity to survive, not by choice.
During the Clinton years, it averaged around 15 million then steadily increased during the Bush years so that by 2008, 27 million elderly were working.
Since Obama took office, 4.3 million jobs have been created for workers 55 and older. Everyone else? A loss of 2.5 million jobs.
Why? They make excellent temps-- they usually have their own health insurance or are on Medicare and still allowed to work so they don't need a company's benefits.
Also the income is usually supplemental so $400/week may not be much for a younger person to survive on, but to someone over 55, when you add one's Soc Sec. check and pension, that $400 is just enough to cover deductibles, property taxes or re-build a savings nest egg.
And not to play one age group vs another, but every job held by someone over 55 is usually a job not available to those under 55...
So what you have currently is no recovery.. But remember, no one in Wall Street or the Government wants there to be one.. Not Republican... Not Democrat... No one..
Too much profit to be made off this current con.. And if the economy is truly improved, political parties may be forced to 'Gasp!'.. Share the credit...and there's midterms to consider then 2016
So if you ask us, 'Do we want the US economy to recover?", we can only answer with "Yes, Of course... and Absolutely Not!"