Posted on 08/22/2006 9:22:02 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot
Readers want to know why I have not reported on the payroll jobs statistics for the past two months. Does this mean, they ask, that the situation has turned around and that the U.S. economy is again creating jobs in export and import-competitive sectors?
Alas, no. I did not write about the past two payroll jobs data reports because it is the same distressing story that other readers say they are bored with hearing.
The July report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists 113,000 new jobs, all of which are in services.
"Leisure and hospitality" accounted for 42,000 jobs, most of which are waitresses and bartenders.
"Education and health services" accounted for 24,000 jobs.
"Professional and business services" accounted for 43,000.
Manufacturing lost another 15,000 jobs.
In the United States today, government employs 7.7 million more people than does manufacturing. Little wonder we have an $800 billion annual trade deficit, when the government sector is larger than the manufacturing sector.
American economists are yet to face up to the fact that offshoring high-productivity, high-value-added jobs that pay well and replacing them with waitresses and bartenders is a knife in the heart of the U.S. economy. Charles W. McMillion of MBG Information Services reports that compensation is falling behind price rises and that the U.S. economy has been kept afloat by consumers overspending their disposable incomes by drawing down their accumulated assets and going deeper into debt.
McMillion reports that according to the Bureau of Economic Affairs, households outspent their disposable incomes by 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year, a rate of dissaving equaled only by the depression year of 1933.
McMillion also reports that recent BLS data indicates that 25 states have lost manufacturing jobs year over year and that 25 states have lost jobs in the information sector.
Little wonder that permits for new private housing are down 20.5 percent year over year and that new housing starts are down 13.3 percent year over year. What will we do with the millions of illegal Mexicans when construction jobs dry up?
Wage data covering 82 percent of all private sector jobs show that the purchasing power of weekly wages today is less than it was when the economic recovery began in November 2001. What kind of economic recovery is it when the purchasing power of wages falls instead of rises?
In my opinion, the recovery was artificial. It was based on extremely low interest rates orchestrated by the Federal Reserve. The low interest rates discouraged saving, reduced the mortgage cost of real estate, inflated home prices, and encouraged consumers to refinance their homes and spend the equity.
The federal government also has been overspending its income and has wasted a minimum of $300 billion on an illegal, pointless and lost war that has turned Iraq into a terror zone.
It is unclear how much longer the world will trade Americans real goods for pieces of paper that the U.S. economy cannot redeem with tradable goods and services.
Considering the loss of good jobs, the high debt burden and the dependence on imports, it is unclear what will enable America to pull herself out of the next recession.
Perhaps growing ranks of the unemployed will become cannon fodder for Bush's wars in the Middle East.
COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
Perhaps Paul will finally pull his head out of his butt.
Why do liberals rebuke men and women who VOLUNTARILY go into the military? Simple answer: Liberals HATE the military. Screw the liberals. Er, I mean, the proressives.
Someone should inform the author that such posts are currently reserved for anally retentive journalists and pundits.
proressives s/b progressives
Or pat buchanan's butt.
Yeah, I woke up at 2am this morning wondering when PCR was going to address this. Now I can sleep again.
What an arrogant buffoon!
No doubt, if this guy were forced to find a real job, he'd be in trouble.
Build the castle walls. Shut out the outside...make it go away, wah, wah, wah!
He'll never admit that we manufacture and export more than ever.
"I never quite understood why they think assembly line work is so superior..."
U-N-I-O-N
And yet I keep missing seeing all the people living in cardboard boxes.
I mean the number has to huge by now (/sarc)
As far as paleos are concerned, the 19th Century was the golden age of civilization.
Those poor waitresses and bartenders. Gee, they make next to nothing. A waitress or bartender at a good watering hole will make more per hour than most blue collar workers ever will.
And since there is so much liesure expanding (hence the added wiatresses and bartenders) is it possible that some blue collar guys, like carpenters, framers, plumbers and electricians have been busy building the restaurants and bars and casinos? What about the beer distrubtor. He has to expand his fleet of truck drivers to deliver his goods. That means he has to buy another couple of Ford or Volvo trucks. Somebody has to make those trucks. And the bakery down the street has to add a new oven to keep pace with demand. Somebody has to make that industrial oven. And by golly, the start up microbrewery and local vintner have another place sell their product. And all these new places of liesure require utilities. The Gas company, electric utility and the water utility have to send their guys out to connect the services.
And there would be no demand for new restaurants and bars if there was not also a growth in disposable income. Must just be only bartenders and waitresses frequenting the new bars and restaurants.
This guy is a world class idiot.
Somebody over there has a terrific sense of humor.
Your logic is going over his head. Now you see why the Bush administration didn't offer him a job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.