The Jobs Picture Is Far Worse Than It Looks: As in the Great Depression, millions are suffering...

US News and World Report ^ | February 28, 2013 | Mort Zuckerman

[2ndDivisionVet]

We think of the iconic images of the Great Depression as representative of a uniquely miserable period, long vanished from American history. The bread lines and soup kitchens of those abnormal times have gone. So, too, has the sight of thousands of men (there were very few women among them then) waiting all day outside a factory in a forlorn quest for work.

But they're there still, in the many millions across the country—little changed in their total since the 1930s: 12.3 million today are fully unemployed, compared to 12.8 million in 1933 at the depth of the depression. The difference is that now they're invisible, because we've organized relief differently. In our "recovery," the millions are being assisted, out of sight, by the government, through unemployment checks, Social Security disability checks, and food stamps. More than 47 million Americans are in the food stamp program, some 15 percent of the total population, compared with the 7.9 percent participation in food stamps from 1970 to 2000. Then there are the more than 11 million Americans who are collecting checks from Social Security to compensate for disability, a record. Half of them have signed on since President Obama came to office. Twenty years ago, one person was on disability for every 35 workers; today, the ratio is one for every 16. Such an increase is simply impossible to explain by disability experienced during employment, for it is inconceivable that work in America has become so much more dangerous. For many, this program is another unemployment program, only this time it is without end...

[VRW Conspirator]

Zuckerman! You are guilty of counter-revolutionary activities. You will be re-educated.

[SueRae]

In order to figure out what to fund and what to cut, you first need a BUDGET. It starts there. We haven’t had one since this creep took office. Make Reid get off his ass.

Budget first, then discussion. That is the line in the sand and I hope the Republicans hold to it.

[Go Gordon]

well... the election is over and Obama can’t run for a 3rd term, so there’s not a lot of reason to keep the blinders on at this point.

And...now that Hillary is no longer part of the administration, it is time to start blaming Obama and his policies to help Hillary win the dem nomination for the 2016 election.

[M Kehoe]

Hey Mort! You didn't run this by Gene Sperling did you? Expect a phone call on Monday.

5.56mm

[bert]

The difference between now and then is fraud.

Fraud is tolerated now. Then it was not.

Fraud is promoted for political power.

The fraudsters must be eliminated to right the wrong

[Go Gordon]

The Sequester is going to cost 2 million jobs, hundreds of thousands of layoffs, and will gut a loyal Defense Dept that is already reeling from a $487 Billion cut that began 2 years ago in 2011.

It will only result in job losses because Obama didn't take the advice of the debt reduction council; Harry Reid didn't put the House solution uo for a vote (twice); and finally, Obama demanded tax increases in return for spending cuts, then sat on his ass and did nothing to formulate "smart cuts" (which is actually only a reduction in the future growth of spending).

There doesn't need to be a single layoff (not that there shouldn't be a reduction in the size of the federal government). Here's my motto "Attrition and contrition". Freeze wages and when non-essential personnel retire, do not replace them. If we allowed energy development and got rid of all the over-regulations of that industry, the economy would be at full employment in two short years.

[bert]

What you have noted is the process begun by industry in the late 90’s.

Offer buyouts and early retirement, get rid of the alcoholics,
deadwood and superfluous. Induce people to work.

Rather than indoctrinate 4 year olds, pare the ranks of teaching and makework administrators. Pay for graduate degrees in Chemistry or Math, but not Educational Process Mutualization or Theoretical Classroom Blackboard Decoration .

[Hardastarboard]

it was the huge spike in gas prices in 2007 that brought about the collapse in 2008

IMHO you're 100% correct in that statement.

[glyptol]

This not an urban story. I was at the grocery store, yet again, and witnessed the woman in front of me buying food with her “food stamp card”. She had expensive taste. She then produced a 100$ bill and purchased 2 cartons of smokes.
I am not against her paying to smoke if she so chooses. But why should I pay for her food?

[ncpatriot]

i thought all of these federal workers were part of a union that kept them in their jobs

[trebb]

...every single person claiming disability should have their case reviewed and be subject to a follow up physical by an appointed doctor to determine if they are actual disabled or are fraudulently milking the system

Wouldn't matter much. They have expanded the list of disabilities that practically anyone qualifies for one or another. Even wearing eyeglasses has been classified as a disability. Without a substantial change in those who governrule, we are truly lost. I really doubt the polling places are a viable avenue anymore as case after case of voting fraud is brought to light with no impact on voting fraud.

[ops33]

Did you see that? Did you? I just saw the hammer drive in the nail with only one stroke!

[WilliamofCarmichael]

It typically takes 25 months [for full recession recovery and to] close the employment gap . . . this time [it's been] over 60 months [and we are still in a "recovery"]because the recovery is not built on real job creation but on record monetary easing by the Federal Reserve and record stimulus by the federal government. The result is slack in the U.S. economy . . . Clearly overdue is a plan to recover from the recovery . . . .

Not to worry, American MSM.. Just when PRESIDENT! Obama!! finished cleaning up the Bush disaster a new Republican evil appeared and has stopped the robust recovery just as GDP reached a blistering +0.00001% . . . .

Republican Sequestration is the New Bush. Got it?

[Go Gordon]

The Sequester is going to cost 2 million jobs, hundreds of thousands of layoffs, and will gut a loyal Defense Dept that is already reeling from a $487 Billion cut that began 2 years ago in 2011.

It will only result in job losses because Obama didn't take the advice of the debt reduction council; Harry Reid didn't put the House solution uo for a vote (twice); and finally, Obama demanded tax increases in return for spending cuts, then sat on his ass and did nothing to formulate "smart cuts" (which is actually only a reduction in the future growth of spending).

There doesn't need to be a single layoff (not that there shouldn't be a reduction in the size of the federal government). Here's my motto "Attrition and contrition". Freeze wages and when non-essential personnel retire, do not replace them. If we allowed energy development and got rid of all the over-regulations of that industry, the economy would be at full employment in two short years.

[Go Gordon]

The Sequester is going to cost 2 million jobs, hundreds of thousands of layoffs, and will gut a loyal Defense Dept that is already reeling from a $487 Billion cut that began 2 years ago in 2011.

It will only result in job losses because Obama didn't take the advice of the debt reduction council; Harry Reid didn't put the House solution uo for a vote (twice); and finally, Obama demanded tax increases in return for spending cuts, then sat on his ass and did nothing to formulate "smart cuts" (which is actually only a reduction in the future growth of spending).

There doesn't need to be a single layoff (not that there shouldn't be a reduction in the size of the federal government). Here's my motto "Attrition and contrition". Freeze wages and when non-essential personnel retire, do not replace them. If we allowed energy development and got rid of all the over-regulations of that industry, the economy would be at full employment in two short years.

[Alberta's Child]

I believe Zuckerman was one of the high-profile people who was "victimized" by Bernie Madoff.

The more I read about that case, the less I believe a lot of these people were victimized at all. Some people go through life practically begging others to con them. Zuckerman seems like one of them.

[Alberta's Child]

I disagee with you on that point. The spike in fuel prices in 2007 was a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself.

Fuel prices rose dramatically in the latter half of the 2000s because the U.S. dollar began to lose its purchasing power. This was the result of a deliberate U.S. government policy of printing massive amounts of cash to help finance the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan without actually reporting those expenditures in the Federal budget.

Back in 2007 I came across a short article in a business magazine that got almost no attention here in the U.S. It described a huge run-up in real estate prices across the Middle East -- driven by real estate purchases that were being made with U.S. cash that had been paid to Iraqi tribal leaders after 2003. A good friend of mine who is a very astute investor made note of this and recognized the U.S. economy as a house of cards that was about to collapse. He sold all of his real estate holdings before the U.S. economy hit the skids in 2008. Smart man.

[DH]

well... the election is over and Obama can’t run for a 3rd term

---

He won’t have to run for a 3rd term. He will be our unelected dictator by then.

[Bon mots]

This shows the real picture.

Under Bush's last four years, the labor force grew by some 8 million people, but the labor force participation rate held steady.
Under Obozo, it only grew by a million, yet still crashed and continues crashing.

---

The unemployment numbers are lies. The simple fact is that over 4 million jobs have been lost under Obama.

Not to mention, record numbers on Food Stamps and Disability.

To see the truth, look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics "Labor Force Participation Rate". Even counting useless, parasitic government jobs, there are 4,500,000 less jobs in America than when Obama took office.

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Series Id: LNS11300000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Labor Force Participation Rate
Labor force status: Civilian labor force participation rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over


Source: http://data.bls.gov/timeserie...
Labor Force (BLS): http://data.bls.gov/pdq/Surve...

During the last four years of the Bush Administration, the Labor Force Participation rate held steady at some 66% - despite the fact that the labor force increased by some 8 million.

Under Obama, it only increased in size by a million - but the participation rate crashed throwing millions out of work.

[Cyber Liberty]

They will be devastated in the coming storm.

Dragging genuinely disabled people down into the abyss with them.