So, the trend even through the Great Depression was still an increase in labor force.
What in the name of the end of the world are we going through now? Is it actually worse than the great depression, but is being artificially hidden?
I am more concerned now than I was before I saw your numbers.
What we are going through...
It’s called ask an actuarial about a math formula and you will always get the response...what answer do you want it to be?
I hope you are right, and you probably are, that Obama and his minions are playing games with the numbers. While I have never seen (anecdotal) an environment like this since perhaps 1982, it IS different in that people get benefits MUCH longer than then, and there are more benefits. Also, I can’t tell you how many people I know who’ve been on disability for decades, with seemingly nothing physical wrong with them. I believe some of the unemployed are getting disability, when they might not have in the past.
I think one major difference between now and the GD, is then, we had a future. The family was intact, people believed in more than themselves, the govt was smaller AND we had WWII to look forward to /half wry comment
We were also a creditor nation then. Now, we are stealing from the future so pols can get re-elected. In many ways, while we may not be worse off NOW, I think our future could be pretty bleak.