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The misery index was initiated by economist Arthur Okun, an adviser to President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960's. It is simply the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation both create economic and social costs for a country. A combination of rising inflation and more people out of work implies a deterioration in economic performance and a rise in the misery index.

Under Obama, Youth Misery Index Hits All-Time High A Youth Misery Index that measures young Americans’ woes has skyrocketed under President Barack Obama and hit an all-time high. The index, released Wednesday, was calculated by adding youth unemployment and average college loan debt figures with each person’s share of the national debt. While it has steadily grown over the decades, under Obama the figure has shot up dramatically, from 83.5 in 2009 to 98.6 in 2013. The index has increased by 18.1 percent since Obama took office, the highest increase under any president, making Obama the worst president for youth...

In the past 30 years if you were in the top 1% economic class your inflation-adjusted incomes grew by 224%. The top 0.1% grew by 390%. In contrast, the bottom 90% struggled with only a 5% growth in incomes. Whoop-tee-do! A 5% increase over 30 years is pathetic! According to the Credit Suisse's annual Global Wealth Data Book, America's middle class ranks 27th in the world. Are they serious? I thought the United States was the wealthiest country in the world. The U.S. misery index has reached its highest level since May, 1983. I remember the Carter years. The only...

Institutions Worthy of Our Parties: Should the U.S. Switch to a Parliamentary System? Efforts to curb legislative partisanship have weak track records, so maybe we should consider changing the other side of the equation in order to establish a government that can actually get things done. Rick Hasen has a really interesting paper up discussing partisan polarization and the possibility of changing the Constitution to deal with it. (And you should really read Jonathan Bernstein’s response, too.) Hasen starts off by asking whether we should be considering moving toward a more parliamentary style of government. It’s a fair question. We...

20 Most Miserable U.S. Cities to Live In Forbes magazine released its dubious 2013 list of the most miserable cities in the United States of America. With the new list for the new year came a new city listed at the top of the list as Detroit, Michigan replaces last year’s most miserable city of Miami, Florida. The magazine cites Detroit’s high unemployment, violent crimes, shrinking population, and its financial crisis as reasons for giving the city the title. The list created by Forbes involves the scrutiny of the country’s largest urban areas which are then ranked via factors such...

Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround. “Right now, it’s all about survival,” Bing told Forbes. Two years later, Detroit’s problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued. The latest blow was Tuesday’s...

Last week was a bleak one at Thomson Reuters, the financial news and wire service giant. According to sources, as many as 3,000 people were let go, out of approximately 50,000 employees around the globe. Most of the layoffs came from the financial sector—the sales, training and analysts’ divisions—but some were on the editorial side. “Yes, I can confirm there have been layoffs across Thomson Reuters today, including editorial,” Barb Burg, vice president and global head of communications at Reuters, told Talking Biz News last week. “Similar to efforts across the company, the Reuters organization is focusing attention on our...

To give you an idea how bad the jobs report released on Friday is, consider this fact: The employment situation in the country is so bad that economists can’t accurately measure it with the existing tools they use to measure jobs. In other words, we have entered a period in our country not contemplated by economists. They simply don’t have the tools to measure what’s actually occurring in the jobs market. Modern economists never imagined a scenario in which a country with as much wealth, power and innovation as United States could stretch out a jobs recession as long as...

MISERY REPEATS ITSELF This is a true but strange story which proves that misery can indeed repeat itself, that those unwilling to learn their lessons from history are doomed to repeat it. Jimmy Carter was born in 1937, the year of the Ox. Barack Obama was born in 1961, the year of the Ox. 24 years apart. Jimmy Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital. Barack Obama was the first president to be born in two hospitals. In 2002, Jimmy Carter received a Nobel Peace Prize. In 2009, Barack Obama received a Nobel Peace Prize. 7...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I want to remind you of some history. In June of 1980, basically the same period in the campaign where we are now, minus a month or so, in June of 1980 Jimmy Carter led Ronaldus Magnus 39 to 32. John Anderson, third-party candidate, independent candidate at 21%. Even into August and early September, Jimmy Carter was leading Ronaldus Magnus in the polls. Now, what I'm leading up to is that Reagan won that election in a landslide. Jimmy Carter conceded on election night before the polls in California had closed, 1980. The preelection polls into September...

I received this in an email from another FReeper...thought it should be passed along. PRESIDENCY SOME WILL APPRECIATE THIS AND SOME WILL NOT. HOWEVER, ALL OF IT IS TRUE. After three years of Obama ... Here's your change! January 2009 TODAY % chg Source Avg. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S. $1.83 $3.44 84% 1 Crude oil, European Brent (barrel) $43..48 $99..02 127.7% 2 Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel) $38..74 $91..38 135.9% 2 Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL $3.56 $6.33 78.1% 2 Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL $9.66 $13..75 42.3% 2 Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob $13..37 $35..39 164.7%...

U.S. "misery index" rises to highest since 1983 Wed, Oct 19 2011 By Ann Saphir CHICAGO (Reuters) - An unofficial gauge of human misery in the United States rose last month to a 28-year high as Americans struggled with rising inflation and high unemployment. The misery index -- which is simply the sum of the country's inflation and unemployment rates -- rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday. The data underscores the extent that Americans continue to suffer even two years after a deep recession ended, with a weak economic recovery imperiling President...

Combine high unemployment, a stagnant economy and basement-level housing prices, and what have you got? The most miserable cities in America, according to Brookings, of course! The think tank combined every major U.S. city's unemployment rate, level of employment, gross metropolitan product and housing prices to create an index of utter wretchedness. Nationwide economic progress in the second quarter was "uneven and unsure" and some by measures we're back in recession. The worst cities are clustered in former housing bubble areas like Florida and California

<p>The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits was mostly unchanged last week, evidence that the struggling economy isn't generating many jobs.</p> <p>Unemployment line The Labor Department says unemployment benefit applications ticked down 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 428,000.</p> <p>Applications have topped 400,000 for 12 straight weeks.</p>

The “misery index” is calculated by adding together the unemployment rate and the annual inflation rate. During Jimmy Carter’s presidency (1977-1981), the “misery index” hit a high of 21.98 in late 1980. See http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2008/1217_misery_index_nessen.aspx. The misery index was often mentioned at that time and helped Ronald Reagan defeat Carter in 1980. When today’s inflation is measured using the same method as was was used in 1980, the rate is about 11%. See http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts. When today’s unemployment is measured using the same method as was used in 1980, the rate is about 22%. See http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts. Therefore, when measured using the same...

When it comes to measuring the combination of unemployment and inflation, it doesn’t get much more miserable than this. The index, first compiled during the soaring inflation days of the 1970s by economist Arthur Okun, is registering a nausea-inducing 12.7—9.1 percent for unemployment and 3.6 percent for annualized inflation—a number not seen since 1983. The index has been above 10 since November 2009 and had been under double-digits from June 1993 through May 2008. The good news, of course, is that the Fed-led Paul Volcker embarked on a highly successful inflation-slaying campaign that brought the level of misery down sharply...

You're pretty close to being toast. Nerves are frazzled, homes are being evacuated, jobs lost and families are torn apart. Oh, the rookie Hussein has performed magic, all right. Kinda nuts. But it's what Barry King planned all along. This is his vision. Wealth distribution. And it's only getting started. How do you make it? Old money, new money, food stamps, living with the folks, moving in with the neighbor? How are you doing it? Are there any really good tips to make it through the Hussein years? And don't give me any guff on that '$40k on the credit...

Gas prices are on the rise nationwide, but one filling station in Florida has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest prices in the country. Suncoast Energys, located near the Orlando International Airport, was charging $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline on Friday. That's the highest of any gas retailer in the nation, according to price tracker gasbuddy.com. By contrast, the average price in the city of Orlando is $3.78 a gallon, a few pennies below the state and national averages. Patrick DeHann, senior analyst at gasbuddy.com, said many tourists use the station before returning rental cars on the...

While this barometer of unemployment + inflation posted its near-term peak in December 2009 and had been falling for the past year, 2011 has seen a sharp reversal. In fact, with April CPI (Consumer Price Index) data forecast to rise to 3.0% from 2.7% in March, the misery index is set to post its 4th consecutive monthly increase. What's troubling with this is that misery is creeping back despite the slow but steady slide in unemployment, meaning that, this time, it's all about inflation

PRINCETON, NJ - The latest Gallup Daily tracking three-day average shows 41% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. That ties his low as president, which he registered three times previously -- twice in August 2010 and once in October 2010. July 2009-April 2011 Trend: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president? % Approve The current 41% approval rating from April 12-14 polling includes interviews conducted before and after Obama announced his plan for deficit reduction on Wednesday. It also comes in the same week Congress...