CBO: America Will Never See Full Employment Under Obama

Cybercast News Service ^ | March 26, 2013 | Terence P. Jeffrey

[Olog-hai]

The Congressional Budget Office is now projecting that the U.S. economy will never achieve full employment during the eight years Barack Obama serves as president.

That would make Obama the only American president during the post-World War II era who never presided over a year in which the U.S. economy offered full employment to the American people.

The CBO defines “full employment” to be when the national unemployment rate is at or below what it calls the “natural unemployment rate.” …

[Jack Hammer]

Hurray for the CBO; only, you know, some of us saw this coming four years ago.

[familyop]

“Full employment?” LOL! That’s been funny for several decades under socialist politicians. We go around putting our fingers in dykes while wondering why we’re seeing a flood.

[Studebaker Hawk]

Define ‘close’.....

somewhere between horseshoes and the pineapple-shaped thingies that go boume when tossed.

[Bon mots]

Short of a world war, is there any way out of the new normal?

This has actually been going on for a lot longer than just under Obozo.
Think about the big cities around you... when was the last time you saw them put up a new factory, major manufacturing operation, etc.?
For most cities, those were buildings that got turned into lofts or gutted.

That began in the 60's-70's - it takes a long time for it all to go away.

We would need to radically re-wire our society, especially the rules for the economy, regulation and unionization, not to mention our education system.

I am not sure if it can be done.
We are probably heading for hyperinflation and war - history has given us plenty of precedents - 900 or so years worth. Obama has only put us on the fast track to the endgame.

Great book on the subject:

[unixfox]

They is some smart cookies up there in Washington.

It is WAY over my head. /sarc

[Rich21IE]

That can’t be right. that’s huge!

[Rich21IE]

meh.......the more things change, the more they remain the same.

[listenhillary]

“shaped thingies that go boume’ when tossed. “

You have French hand grenades?

[RipSawyer]

“And there are some people who still say it’s not on purpose.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Ain’t it amazin’! Such a short time ago the attitude was that only a raving nutcase would ever suggest that an American president might take office with full intention of destroying the country. Now you have to be a blind fool NOT to believe that is exactly what has happened. I said four years ago that that was the case, I guess I was ahead of my time.

I do think leftists are basically not smart at all but I do not believe they are stupid enough to think that what they are doing is going to make this a better and stronger country, nobody that stupid could even walk and chew gum.

[Bon mots]

That can’t be right. that’s huge!

That's from the very site of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

See for yourself the disaster that is unfolding and being hidden from you.
Set the date at the top of the page to go from 1980 to today and you'll see the exact chart I posted above.

[Rich21IE]

Oh..........I believe; your singing to the choir with me!
Its just I’ve never seen it so starkly presented before.

For what its worth, (not much probably), I’ll give you my genuine thoughts on the subject, i.e., that it wouldn’t matter of Albert Einstein was in office, this very same scenario would have played out. Here’s the reasons:

1) Combination of wretched Corporate Management, Union Greed and Globalization gutted U.S. manufacturing. And probably the worst was the horrible “Free Trade” agreements and globalization; then
2) Relentless Open Borders policy provided an oversupply of cheap labor and that policy was gleefully enabled by both parties; the Corporatist GOP types like the cheap labor and the Dems saw the immigrants as shoring up their voting base, then
3) The advent of the Information Age and the Internet has killed one entire segment of the economy........retail. Just think of all the chains that have bit the dust and/or are about to; millions of retail jobs lost to Amazon. And the result has been the hollowing out of the Malls, the strip shopping centers, etc.; that, followed by
4) Clinton’s search for an Engine of Economic Recovery; he found it in the financial sector and started the process of undoing the bandaids like Glass-Steagal that had been put on the Depression era Banking system and.....voila! The great crash of 2008; which was propelled by
5) The “Ownership” society, housing bubble prompted by Bush and the horrible Mortgage management crisis, in concert with the free-wheeling Banks and you got the entire Housing sector collapsing.

But wait, there’s more! What with new inovation in technologies/computing and robotics, the Plants are coming back......Whirlpool recently announced they’ll start building appliances in the U.S. again; the catch is, they’ll be built by highly automated, robotic assembly lines.

Add to this a gov’t that got into the Education loan business and promotes the idea that every kid in the U.S. MUST get a college degree and we’re now faced with the new normal of, (drum roll please);

PEAK EMPLOYMENT! We’re PAST it; there will never again be a need for as many workers as a percentage of the population as there was in the 1970’s. And the number of workers as a percentage of population will head, inexorably.......down ...........forever!

Of course......no one wants to believe the future could ever be this bleak, and it may not be for one very strange reason......about the same time we past Peak Employment, we past Peak Population Growth, much like Japan in the 1990’s. Problem, short term is that there will be ever fewer workers to support an ever aging population in retirement, BUT once the Boomer generation shuffles off its mortal coil.........you’ve got reproduction at a level below the population replacement rate and the future starts to look more like, Italy, sans the beatiful women and great food.

[cherokee1]

There is one possible circumstance, I have always believed, where that down-spiral might be defeated. As a very modern manufacturer I see what it takes to keep a job from going to China. At the moment there are only about 12 million people in the US who actually make something. Most of the people out of work were paper pushers, assistants, HR experts, assemblers-—mostly “one-skill” people with pretty much zero flexibility in terms of being useful in another job. And typically unwilling to re-train themselves at a higher level in their old company. I know far too many people who think they are safe for a lifetime when they have learned one skill that makes them a living. Continuing education at one level or another is a must. How many houses have you been where there isn’t a single book in sight? Learning how to text on a piece of krap cellphone or cruise for porn on a PC are not life skills. That whole 100+ million people must commit to continuing more advanced learning-—take a job away from a Chinaman. That requires being the best at whatever it is they choose to do. What’s over is the days of half-assed commitment to a minimal-skilled job.

[Bon mots]

Education for the new economy could also be a factor.

Here are the country rankings for "Top Coder". A global competition for IT talent.

TOPCODER

Rank	Name	Member Count	Rating
1	Russian Federation	553	3069.66
2	China	1493	2843.42
3	Poland	223	2836.81
4	Japan	635	2763.59
5	Ukraine	273	2711.01
6	United States	661	2584.74
7	Belarus	115	2527.16
8	South Korea	127	2318.13
9	Canada	95	2244.92
10	Croatia	70	2213.21
11	Taiwan	51	2192.27
12	India	1892	2139.33
13	Bulgaria	95	2106.83
14	Brazil	147	2068.49
15	Iran	97	2061.27
16	Viet Nam	114	2042.5
17	Netherlands	15	2023.32
18	Indonesia	88	2001.12
19	Germany	60	1970.69
20	Slovakia	56	1965.68
21	United Kingdom	45	1965.65
22	Hong Kong	31	1935.77
23	Georgia	60	1909.86
24	Argentina	51	1893.87
25	Kazakhstan	90	1878.45

[Rich21IE]

Very true indeed! Unfortunately, this concept won’t defeat the down-spiral because its easier to sit in the Section 8 Apt. eating SNAP food, selling dope in the parking lot and watching Oprah, NBA, Jerry Springer and BET television all day. Easier to sit in your moms basement in Portland playing internet computer games all day. The dumbing down of both intellectual abilities, skill sets and expectations is irreversible.

[RobbyS]

A President who departs from this path as radically as Thatcher did in the UK, yes. Of course, weak kneed Tories and aggressive socialists can ruin it all, but it can be done.

[RobbyS]

Welfare reform did happen once. But it will take leaders with guts to go-for-broke as Pelosi did for the liberals in 09-11. Give her this: Pelosi is a fanatic, but she knows how to lead.