Posted on 06/17/2011 2:59:30 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA
When it comes to measuring the combination of unemployment and inflation, it doesnt 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 12.79.1 percent for unemployment and 3.6 percent for annualized inflationa 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 through the rest of the 80s recovery decade.
The bad news, of course, is all the bad news.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
There are always guys on CNBC pushing that we are about to go on a massive upswing in the economy. Here is the last paragraph that sums this stupidity up nicely.
Conversely, misery is not universal, with Elliott F. Gues Personal Finance Newsletter making the case for the optimists that one should not fall prey to the panic fanned by the usual fear-mongering doomsayers, a group that presumably includes those unemployed or bewildered by inflation and, thus, in misery.
Why would this be anything new?
How well I can remember the mess Jimmy Carter made. And Obama is Carter times ten.
It’s like the past 2.5 years were a combined 28 years of misery.
“There are always guys on CNBC pushing that we are about to go on a massive upswing in the economy.”
There have been different people saying that at different times for years now; the problem with peddling that nonsense is that a rapidly-growing number of people are aware that “the emperor has no clothes”. People will no longer vote based on “hope & change”; they realize they’ve been had. They’ll vote based on hard dollars and the jobs that earn them, and Obama has failed them on this score.
We haven’t hit bottom yet; I deal with a number of banks, and we just moved over from the platform of a large one to another large one that bought them. The American southerners I used to deal with have been replaced by thick-accented Asians on the phone; I seriously doubt they are in the US (it would be difficult for them to get customer-service type jobs here). One of them actually sent me an email with both her “American name” as well as her real name (which seemed to be Vietnamese). As these banks are huge, I’d imagine thousands of jobs were just lost...again.
GREEN SHOOTS ALL OVER AMERICA
I am surprised that Obama hasn’t dusted off the Jimmah Carter “malaise” speech!
I believe a different formula was used for calculating unemployment as well as inflation in 1983, so the misery index would be higher today using that old formula.
First, PROTECT THE IMPOSTOR.
Second, IGNORE THE ECONOMY and BLAME BUSH and the JEWS.
Third,
More like locusts.
“If anyone is still around pushing that this economy is on the mend, they are flat out lying to your face.”
I honestly haven’t had anyone say that to me for over a year now; here in NJ it was the public sector that kept pushing that line, and now they’re feeling some of the pain their employers (us) have been feeling.
Well at least we are in a recovery! /MS
Yes but all the inroads we made with Carters efforts like 55mph, catalytic converters, uni-body cars, ect., saved us from having to go through the hell of saving the planet in the new millennium.
...Oh, wait a minute...
“How well I can remember the mess Jimmy Carter made. And Obama is Carter times ten.”
Me too. 28 years ago. My first time to vote, and it was for Reagan. Pity about the VP, but had to take the runt to get the giant.
LOL!
Deja vu crisis alert!
it’s actually a lie. The U6 (pre 1990s) rate should be used, upping the rate to much higher...
The U6 is 16.5, the one they used is 9.3?
ROTFLMAO!
Yippers, me thinks the ol' hopey changey thing has been put to rest forever.
Obama is going to be voted out of office more than Palin is going to be voted in!
The Republicans should make an ad showing images from 1979 morphing into images from today. The background music could be “Get down, boogie oogie oogie....” or some other crappy disco music.
What an excellent introduction to a lifetime of voting!!
I voted for Ford against Carter....
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