Economy - On A Personal Level

Bush sucks. The economy sucks. And I just got laid off from a job I've had for ten years, one of the best jobs I've ever had.


So Bush tells us the economy is doing great, but AP tells us that the unemployment rate has gone up to 4.7 per cent. Of course, they're all thrilled about how "low" it is, forgetting (conveniently, no?) that this "great" economy is generating between 80,000 - 115,000 jobs per month, which is much too low to keep the required 61% of Americans painfully employed. Professor Stephen Ceccheti of Brandeis University's International Business School states that 150,000 new jobs must be generated each month just to keep the growing number of job-seekers employed.

That's a far cry from the 110,000 jobs generated this month.

*Graph from the fine site Impeach The President, which includes the following information:

During the Clinton administration the US unemployment rate steadily dropped and was at an all time low of 3.9% since 1970 (which also hit 3.9%). The unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.9% for four months until January 2001 when Bush was inaugurated.

The current White House administration is boasting that the unemployment rate is lower then the average unemployment rate of the 90's. The only reason this is true is because the unemployment rate was at 7.1% when Bush Sr. left office (compared to 5.4% when Reagan left).

The fact is that the unemployment rate in the US increased sharply when Bush took office and has been declining slowly since October 2003. The US economy was obviously stimulated in 2003, where did these jobs come from?

2003 is the year that the US invaded Iraq. Although the motives that George Bush presented to the world for the invasion of Iraq are questionable the fact is that it created many jobs for US citizens both in the US and abroad which diverted another depression.

Like father, like son. At least the father appears not to have the reverse Midas touch that turns everything Stupie McPoopyhead into shit.

Today's WaPoo has a fine article on the economy of the EU. Talk about the difference between wringing the last drop of blood out of your working people as opposed to investing in them.

To learn how the government estimates unemployment rates, click here. I'll note once again, in my usual nagging way, that this method does not include the underemployed, or those who have turned to self-employment out of necessity. Nor does it count the numbers who might have turned to other things (like the military, not drugs), or those rendered homeless as a result of the imploding economy and the subprime mortgage crisis, or those who are fortunate enough to have a parental basement and the rudiments of support.

In fact, I can't help but wonder how much of the "return to the nest" syndrome is fueled by underemployment or inability to earn enough to afford the current cost of living.

Stumble It!