Left: U-6 unemployment, Right: Comparison of predicted to actual unemployment
[Click on image to enlarge]
10.2%… That’s the highest level in 26 years ! Lately, the number has been hanging around the high 9’s, due mostly to people dropping out of the job market altogether. There’s a more asccurate measure of unemployemet, one that the legacy media doesn’t like to talk about, U-6 unemployment-the metric that includes those discouraged folks, which comes in at a whopping 17.5%, up from 17% in September. But, you know, GDP is up!, Happy Days are Here Again!, Obama has stopped the sea levels from rising and the economy from falling, all because of his awesomeness. From geoff at Innocent bystanders:
The President and his economic team have claimed that the plan is working as intended, that they’re on track to save the original goal of 3.6 million jobs, but somehow, despite practically drowning in success, we’re going to have to live with high unemployment for years to come. Oh, and that everything is still Bush’s fault.
Remember that last part. It’s Boooooosh!’s fault…Even though the residual unemployment from the dot com bubble bursting was never Clinton’s fault. So if happy days are here again, and the streets lined with silver and sidewalks paved with gold, and the stock market is going to carry us all to a new level of bull market prosperity we could never dream of, is it at least safe to say that this is a jobless recovery ? You know, the chant we heard throughout 2003 and 2004, when unemployment maxxed out an 7.2 % and was actually falling instead of, um, rising..?
I guess that Funemployment! is part of that Change! we heard so much about during the last campaign, courtesy of Obamanomics.
(Graphs courtesy of Innocent bystanders and Zero Hedge)
Duuuuuuuuh! Duuuuuuuuuh! Duuuuuuuuuh!
What’s that? Oh that’s our half-crazy half-racist Rocket Man! For Rocket Bob, all the world is black now that the President is.
The funniest thing about Bob is his parody of IT’S BOOOOOSHES FAULT!
That’s his ignorant way of insisting it isn’t. Booooooosh is a genius, like Rocket Bob, you see.
WTF are you doing linking shit from Zero Hedge? It’s not like you could understand anything you read over there, same as your linking Dylan Radigan.
Aren’t you supposed to stick with the Fux Nutworks memes?
The serious shit is not for you, rocket man, so don’t go there.
Bush chose to sac up and took ownership of the economy; he acted Presidential instead of blaming everything, everything, on his predecessor. Obama might consider doing the same.
I thought the stimulus was supposed to keep unemployment in the 8 range? What happened? I thought 650,000 jobs had been saved. I thought that Transparency! was a watchword of this crew…
I always here Obama, Pelosi, and Reid repeating the mantra, “jobs, jobs, jobs…” Do they think it’s like in “The Wizard of Oz”, if they repeat it 3 times and click their heels it will happen?
Why doesn’t Obama care about the working man?
Hey, Rocket Stick, he proceeded to fuck-up what he took ownership of, as in fucked-up in historic proportion.
Genius, that man, BOOOOOOOOOOSH!
I don’t speak for them, Bob, but I do know it’s tiring to watch you click your glass heels and pretend you’re in The Wizard of Oz wanting to go back to Kansas, that fairy land where all finger snaps by whoever the sitting President can control the private sector.
Ohnoes, I’m talking rational. Sorry. I know your preference is for teh Wush-Wimbuagh-Stupid.
So what caused our financial system to collapse again, oh yeah, corporate taxes were too high and there were too many regulations. Thank you, Rocket Bob. Immeasurable is your genius.
I knew thor would be all over this thread. I can smell the desperation.
Last Tuesday was the first tiny leak in the dike.
The 2010 midterms are going to be a friggin’ slaughter.
Deja-vu, it’s SPB making predictions of triumph right before his little waterhead gang gets wailed on.
Oh, so McDonnell and Christie didn’t win? What else is different over there on the alternate timeline you live on, serial-failure-boi?
Obama’s endorsement is starting to have the same effect as an endorsement from NAMBLA. The Blue Dogs are running for the exits, thor, or hadn’t you noticed?
“We are two days away from re-electing Jon Corzine to another four years.†— Barky Pussein Blowbama, November 1, 2009
Desperation? Sure smelled like monkey shit to me.
Come on, thor. Link us some proof of your theories. Like this: that fairy land where all finger snaps by whoever the sitting President can control the private sector – that is EXACTLY what our sitting president said that the stimulus bill would do – control (improve) the private sector.
Now only are you racist and dumb, but your messiah is falling apart too.
Here’s what you do, pug plugger, go back to PW and tell ‘em you got cock-slapped by thor, and not only cock-slapped, tell ‘em thor held your eyes open and wiped hot salty pre-cum all over your retinas. Tell ‘em you tried to fend thor off with crafty hot slurs like crap-weasel and twatwaffle but that it seemed to have no effect.
Go tell ‘em.
HAHaha.
And then report back.
And here I thought cock-slapping involved a solid argument refutation delivered in an amusing snarky way…
I’ll have to ask the cock-slapping expert Jeff Goldstein about that, and see if your offerings pass that test, or NOT!
thor’s wearing his desperation like cologne—ode de ass!
That whore is an ode de ass is undoubted; what he wears is eau de ass.
Can anyone tell me how unemployment is measured?
I get Bob’s point above that the rate should include those who have dropped out of the job market altogether, but by what instrument is the initial unemployment rate figured?
Is it by people who are actively receiving unemployment benefits?
Yes Cowboy, by that as well as payroll service reporting by companies like ADP. The figures are used as an estimate, which is why you often hear the numbers being revised.
As far as how they work up the U-6 number? I’ll look into that and post on it when next months numbers come out…
Be Cool!
Thanks, Bob.
OT, maybe, but this is one of the reasons I like POWIP–I can actually learn things.
Economics is an area I just don’t get!
You and me both, Cowboy, thanks for asking so I can listen in!
Thanks for the kind words Cowboy. You can look forward to more posts on that same subject in the future. I’ll do my best not to submerge into jargon. Honestly, that’s half the battle; as with military matters a lot of economic information is shrouded in the myriad acronyms and symbols that economists and traders use when discussing it…
And truly this is an area where I’m a dilettante at best; and one where I wish I could get thor to be more tolerant of others ignorance when discussing instead of simply proclaiming everyone to be stupid and fuming about not having time, nor desire, to explain things. He’s very knowledgable in these matters, and instead of trying to use developments to score points against rhetorical opponents, I wish he would use them as an opportunity for truly teachable moments…
All the best