Posted on 08/06/2015 11:47:59 AM PDT by wtd
Donald Trump Claims The 'Real' Unemployment Rate Is 18%. Here's What Wall Street Says.
After Donald Trump announced his latest bid for the presidency, I reached out to get details on Trump’s plan to replace Obamacare, and posted that interview on FORBES last week. But for many FORBES readers, the most eye-catching part of the interview wasn’t Trump’s plan for health care.
It was what the Trump campaign said about unemployment.
“Mr. Trump believes that the real unemployment rate is over 18%, not the reported 5.5%,” a spokesperson told me.
Trump’s distrust of the government’s job statistics isn’t new. In July, he even suggested that the U.S. unemployment rate could be as high as 40% — well above what the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I have no doubt there are some. But I saw the ugly side of disability from watching the unending decline of a close relative who was disabled.
With jobs going overseas, easy access to non-citizen labor, and lack of any need to work with people because their skills were needed, the recession became a nightmare for a lot of the disabled. They became unemployable at salaries and with benefits that would cover any real medical needs they had.
Add to that, to stay on disability, those collecting have to stay sick and even get worse, or they'd have no benefits at all. Once one is on disability, it's just about impossible to move somewhere else, because the benefit structure ties one to the providers. Add to that disability isn't geared toward rehabilitation, it's from what I could see more motivated by medical providers who kept piling on more stuff for their profit. How do you tell a loved one that they aren't that sick when the doctor gives even more prescriptions to someone who already has ten of them? How do you tell them they'd breathe better if they lost weight when the doctor says they need oxygen and a new pacemaker?
I'm not saying everyone on disability gets caught in that whirlpool. But I saw it happen to someone I cared about, and at some point there was no escape.
So please don't be so harsh on a whole category of people. It doesn't help solve the problem.
I hope he does too. He’s doing a great job of not letting them sweep issues under the rug. Maybe he can smoke this one out.
If 97 million are receiving some form of federal assistance, and of those 97 million 45 million aren’t working and 250 million are adults over the age of 18. The the unemployment rate should be around, 18%.
Trump nails it.
Well said.
My Wife was Unemployed for nearly two Years.
She could not find anything in her AR Field and she ended up taking a Part Time Job at a Retail Store. 25 Hours and no Benefits, but at least it keeps her busy and brings in a few Bucks.
When she went for Interviews during that time where it seemed dozens were applying for the same Job, it dawned on her that her Age (late 50’s) was a factor in the Hiring decisions.
Completely subjective on her part, but she isn’t stupid by a long shot. She could see the game being played.
The 5% is what’s left after everyone else gave up and realized they could get more from government freebies.
A lot of people are retiring and taking Social Security at 62, even though the benefit is 25% less than they would have at full retirement age. They simply can’t afford to wait. No job and their savings are depleted. Those people then “drop out” of the unemployment rolls and are no longer counted.
They’ll really feel the pain as they get older and try to pay medical bills, etc on their reduced income.
So here is a question?
Will the next president (assuming he or she) is not a RINO or democrat, announce that after having their new Labor Secretary review the past 8 years BLS records reveal the true UE rate?
I hope so...
When you have a third of the work force NOT in the work force, it doesn’t make any sense that the jobless rate is stated as 5.5%.
Makes you wonder what security is promised to the Fed for the loans.
Same here. My wife has a degree in Bus management with honors. Many of them said that they should be interviewed by her. Not one of them hired her. Late 50s.
The US is not a signatory to any articles of the Geneva Conventions, so no case. :-)
>>And in every case, these business leaders either trust the official federal statistics, or are confident that their own proprietary numbers show a major decline in unemployment since President Obama took office.<<
What would you expect them to say? Of course, they are going to toe the government line. There simply is no way to believe the regime and what it puts out there as fact.
BTW, if I remember correctly, at full employment, you still have 5.4% unemployed - sick, hospitalized, etc.
“How many fakers are collecting disability when they could work?How many couch-sitters out there sponging off friends and relatives?Gaming the system has been elevated to an art form.”
That crap, “gaming the system”, otherwise known as FRAUD perhaps gets me more angry than illegals undercutting wages and taking jobs from citizens. I absolutely loathe these scum who collect ‘disability’ and either sit on their asses all day or worse, go out and work for ‘extra’ cash. I understand that there are those out there who are genuinely disabled and require assistance of some sort. My heart (and wallet) especially goes out to those who became disabled in the service to our nation. But for those who “game the system, God’s justice, and a swift and severe punishment here on earth can’t come soon enough!!! A HUGE part of the problem lies in that it has become socially acceptable, and even encouraged, with a large portion of our society to “game the system”. I would rather see an illegal, who on his own volition traveled great lengths, and jumped our border, work hard and succeed in our nation, than a reasonably healthy American young man “gaming the system” at the expense of those of us who work and pay taxes. I loathe the illegals too, but these punks collecting disability, food stamps, food boxes, countless doctors visits seeking to find something wrong, etc, etc, are far worse as they are TRAITORS! Then many of them have the audacity to bad mouth our nation and even brag about how they get away with it. And it’s not just limited to men. There was that YouTube video of that negro woman who explained how to game the system by having more and more kids, having grandma collect the day care, and how anyone can collect all the other gibs-me-dats too.
Unless our next president puts an end to all the fraudulent ‘entitlements’, giving these people a swift kick in the ass, this nation will continue to circle the drain.
If I may, it seems many of these new Disability Cases are not Physical Disability, but Psychological Disability.
When I was in the middle of Chemotherapy for Leukemia early last year, my Doctor thought it would be a good idea if I applied for SS Disability.
I have been treated for the last nine years with numerous Chemo Treatments, but this was the first time I was having to have Blood and Platelet Transfusions.
It was rough and I could barely drag myself into work, I’m a 1099 Employee, so he told me I had better take care of myself. Being 61, it was taking its toll on me.
I applied and was turned down and told I should be able to do the Administrative Job I had been laid off from back in 2003 which didn’t exist anymore. The fact that I couldn’t perform in my current Job that required Physical Labor was glossed over by Social Security.
I reapplied as everyone does and I was turned down again. I gave up and just applied for my Regular SS at age 62. It should help pay our $1,900 Healthcare Premium. If I had gotten SS Disability, I would have received my full Age 66 Benefit ($500 a Month more than the Age 62 Benefit I just applied for) and would have been able to apply for Medicare about 18 Months early.
The problem was that my Doctor would not say that my condition was Terminal, which it wasn’t. After Chemotherapy ended, I did fine for about six months. My Oncologist isn’t one to give up and he has kept me going for nearly ten Years now.
Unfortunately, I am now dealing with a secondary form of Leukemia MDS brought about the same Chemotherapy Drugs that supposedly put me in Remission from the first Leukemia CLL.
I have been dealing with related Lung Infections for the past two Months that could be a big problem. That’s why I am at home typing on FR rather than working much right now.
I was warned that if it got any worse, I would be Hospitalized, and I don’t do Hospitals. You go in Vertical, you come out Horizontal. I am awaiting Lab results from a Bronchoscopy and hopefully will know more the end of the Month, but now my Hemoglobin is dropping like a rock.
That being said, and I apologize for going on and on, the SS Disability System is now gamed toward People who say they have Psychological Problems and the Lawyers and their Clients know how the game is played.
I should have said having Leukemia stressed me out and made me a nervous wreck. That might have worked. LOL
“That being said, and I apologize for going on and on, the SS Disability System is now gamed toward People who say they have Psychological Problems and the Lawyers and their Clients know how the game is played.”
No need to apologize! I KNOW how what you’re going thru absolutely wears you out physically. The system certainly does now seem to favor those with psychological problems over those who physically cannot work, or are severely limited in how much they can physically put out. What’s worse, is that being an addict is a ‘disability’, and can bring in the monthly check. Those people are essentially getting paid to be addicts. It is very tempting to quit paying into the system on a moral basis when one knows their contributions are supporting addicts habits and paying for murdering babies.
Add drop-outs, underemployed, part timers, and people (who used to have houses) now living in relative’s basements, and it’s about 45%.
Yup, I’d go with the Shadowstats number. About 23%
If you use the same method used for calculating unemployment during the depression, then we have been just over 26% since 2008.
This depression is deeper and longer than 1930s.
Mostly because we are being lied to when we are told that unemployment is around 5.5%. And then people aren’t clamoring to get this fixed.
Everybody with a functioning brain already knows this. Question is why have the so called conservative elected representatives been silent regarding this reality? Sad state of affairs when it requires a liberal democrat to speak the obvious.
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