The real unemployment rate? Try 14.9%

I have one thing to say about all this below; welcome to my world.

1. If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office—65.7% then vs. 63.9% today—the U-3 unemployment rate would be 10.8%.

2. But what if you take into the account the aging of the Baby Boomers, which means the labor force participation (LFP) rate should be trending lower. Indeed, it has been doing just that since 2000. Before the Great Recession, the Congressional Budget Office predicted what the LFP would be in 2012, assuming such demographic changes. Using that number, the real unemployment rate would be 10.4%.

3. Of course, the LFP rate usually falls during recessions. Yet even if you discount for that and the aging issue, the real unemployment rate would be 9.5%.

4. Then there’s the broader, U-6 measure of unemployment which includes the discouraged plus part-timers who wish they had full time work. That unemployment rate, perhaps the truest measure of the labor market’s health, is still a sky-high 14.9%.

5. Recall that back in 2009, White House economists Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer used their old-fashioned Keynesian model to predict how the $800 billion stimulus would affect employment. According to their model—as displayed in the above chart, updated—unemployment should be around 6% today.

6. As Ed Carson of Investor’s Business Daily points out, it’s been a whopping 49 months since the U.S. hit peak employment in January 2008. The average job recovery time since 1980 is 29 months, not including the current slump.

7. And how long might it take to get back to the 4.4% unemployment rate that existed under President George. W. Bush? Well, let’s say the goal was to get back to that rate in 5 years. And let’s assume the LFP rate returns to the CBO trend. According to a jobs calculator created by the Atlanta Fed, the U.S. economy would have to generate about 225,000 jobs a month, every month, for the next 60 months to hit that target. But few economist think we’ll see sustained job growth like that, especially since it assumes the economy would avoid recession during that span.

Indeed, JPMorgan just cut its GDP forecast for this quarter to 1.5% from 2.0% and says there is “some downside risk” to its second-quarter forecast of 2.5%.

via The real unemployment rate? It sure isn’t 8.3% « The Enterprise Blog.

What gets me is that I keep getting these people coming here and telling me to get a job.  My answer to them: Find me one.  Truth is there are not any jobs around here.  Especially if you have been out of work for a long while, as I have; so, basically, I am screwed.  I will most likely be forced onto the Government dole, because of the Democrats screwing of our system into the ground.  I have paid into it; so, I guess I am entitled to it.  What sucks is, I really want to work; at least doing some sort of delivery product; at least in a straight truck; but because I have been out of work so long, most employers will not hire someone out as long as I have been.

It does truly suck; but it is my reality of my life.  You would think that I would be able to find work for a political publication; but anymore, if you do not have some sort of an inside connection somewhere, you will not be hired.  Again, more of that suck business; but it is the reality of life.  One can either suck it up or whine about it.  I choose not to whine, but rather keep writing.  I figure whining about it will not change anything anyhow, so why bother?

Anyhow, that is the facts life.  One can either deal with it and move on or complain.

 

Israel will not strike Iran in coming weeks, will give diplomacy a chance.

Whew…:

“I am not standing with a stopwatch in hand. It is not a matter days or weeks, but also not a matter of years. Everybody understands this,” Mr Netanyahu told an Israeli news programme.

Mr Netanyahu has hinted Israel could resort to force should Tehran – which denies suspicions it is covertly trying to develop atomic bombs – continue to defy major powers’ diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear programme.

“We would be happy if this thing is resolved peacefully, if Iran decides to stop its nuclear programme,” he said. “To stop it, to dismantle its facility in Qom, and to stop enriching uranium. I will be most happy, I think all Israel’s citizens will also be happy.”

via Israel won’t strike Iran in coming weeks, Binyamin Netanyahu says – Telegraph.

I think everyone who supports Israel and happens to read this, ought to say a small prayer; that this works. For America’s and Israel’s sake.

 

Japan saw the metdown coming, documents show

Interesting….:

(Reuters) – Japan’s government foresaw the possibility of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant hours after a huge tsunami smashed into it, according to cabinet minutes released on Friday, although it took officials more than a month to acknowledge it.

The earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out cooling systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggering the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986.

“Cooling functions still in service are those run by batteries. They will last eight hours,” a summary of the first emergency cabinet meeting, four hours after the quake, quoted an unidentified participant as saying.

“If core temperatures in the reactors remain on the rise for more than eight hours, there is a possibility that meltdown may occur.”

A Trade Ministry official who acted as a government spokesman after the disaster struck was replaced after he mentioned the possibility of meltdown on March 12.

via Japan foresaw possible Fukushima meltdown from day 1: documents | Reuters.

Wow…..just Wow. 😯

Video: The real Newt Gingrich

(via The Liberty News Network)

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Video: Is Santorum a fake Conservative?

(via The Liberty News Network)

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Compared to Ron Paul, the answer would be resounding yes.

Government Records $229 billion deficit for a month

Elections matter folks, this is why. Greece, here we come!

The U.S. government just notched its highest ever monthly deficit, with the red rink running to an estimated $229 billion in February.

The Congressional Budget Office, in a preliminary analysis, reported that the February 2012 deficit broke last year’s monthly record of $223 billion.

The office attributed the shortfall in part to a decline in revenue — mainly because of a $25 billion increase in income tax refunds thanks to disbursement timing issues.

According to the CBO, processing delays pushed refund payments that would have been distributed in January off into February. And the additional day in February this year allowed for extra refunds to be distributed during the month that otherwise would have been paid out in March.

The CBO projected that for the first five months of the fiscal year, the federal government is running a $578 billion deficit.

The projected deficit this year is once again projected to top $1 trillion

via Government Records Highest-ever Monthly Deficit | Fox News.

The only thing I can truly say about this one is this; elections matter. This is what happens when you put progressives and moderate Republicans in Government, they spend on your dime and you get stuck with the tab and most usually, you do not get a thing for it in return.  This is why we have to get people elected to political office, in City, State and Federal levels; who at the very least, have the American people’s interests in mind and not their own political fortunes in mind. Because when the political veterans are running the show; both Republican and Democratic Parties; this is what you get —- Debt.

China cannot buy our debt forever, or eventually they will own this Country. Not to mention, China is not exactly a free Country. All China would have to do, is tell the United States that they will not be buy anymore of our debt and we, as a Nation, would be history. We, as Conservatives have no one to blame, but ourselves for this fine mess.  The Republican Party elected a moderate Republican by the name of Richard Nixon, who wanted so badly to make a name for himself and that idiot liberal Republican just had to go to China and normalize relations with those Communist bastards. Which is pretty darned ironic, considering what the Communists in China did to John Birch.  This is one Conservative who felt Watergate was nothing more than sweet justice. (…and No, I am NOT being snarky!)

This why we the American people, the silent majority; need to vote differently this coming November. Our Nation’s future might just depend on it.

 

 

Greece gets bailed out.

This is what happens, when you spend money that you really do not have; also too, this is why progressivism is an abysmal failure.

ATHENS – Greece announced Friday that 85.8 percent of its private-sector creditors had agreed to swap their bonds for new ones at a huge loss.

Greece’s Ministry of Finance announced the result on its website Friday after bondholders had to lodge their acceptance of the deal by a Thursday evening deadline.

The wide participation of the offer indicates that Greece will go ahead with the restructuring that hopefully marks a seminal moment in Europe’s long-frustrated efforts to rescue its most financially vulnerable nation, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is the largest-ever sovereign-debt default and the first for a Western European country in half a century.

The restructuring now set to be executed will see Greece chop 53.5 percent from the face value of around 200 billion euros ($265 billion) in bonds held by private creditors.

via Greek Debt Restructuring Deal To Go Ahead, Government Announces | Fox News.

Because sooner or later; someone ends up; as the old saying goes, “Taking a Bath.” Looks like investors are taking a big one. All so this idiotic nation here can bail itself out and get another nice helping of our money. These idiots should have learned long ago that you cannot continue to run a Country like this; but as they say, you cannot teach an old liberal dog new tricks.

But then again, we are dealing with liberals.