James Quinn is angry. He does not have much tolerance for being lied to so usually reacts directly to government data that he believes to be false.
Mr. Quinn has deconstructed the latest employment data. Here is his take:
The number of employed Americans dropped by 173,000 in one month. There were no new jobs added.
- The number of unemployed Americans went up by 276,000 in one month. So much for green shoots. More like green shits.
- The number of unemployed Americans has risen by 520,000 since July. I thought this was a recovery. Obama told me so.
- Another 82,000 Americans left the workforce. I guess they hit the jackpot last month.
- The number of Americans that have left the workforce in the last year totals 1,686,000. Wow. The country is certainly on the rebound.
- The employment to population ratio fell to 58.2%, the lowest since women began entering the labor force en mass in the early 1980s.
- The government unemployment rate surged back to 9.8%.
- The real unemployment rate as found at Shadowstats surged above 23%, approaching the peak levels of the 1930′s Great Depression. Even the U6 government number sits at 17%.
Mr. Quinn claims we are in a Great Depression. The vague definition of this term prevents “scientific” comment. However, by any reasonable standards, there is no question that we are in something much deeper than a traditional recession. Furthermore, despite government propaganda, things are not getting better.
I did predict over a year ago that the term “Depression” would become more commonplace to describe the economy in 2010. Unfortunately, I don’t believe we have reached the bottom yet.
Here’s an additional bullet point for Mr. Quinn:
- In three years, the number of people utilizing food stamps has increased from 26 million Americans to 42 million, as unemployment soared from 4.3% to over 9% nationally.
The 21st century version of the soup kitchen/ bread line.
For most of American history, depression did not have a greater negative connotation than recession. In 1930 the Hoover Administration,, worried about the perception of the economic environment in 1930 (which was called recession), began referring to it as a mere economic depression. And here we are.
James,
I believe that it might be more correct to say that all downturns up until the 1930s were called depressions. The 1930s was so bad that they tacked on “Great.” I don’t think “recession” was applied to business downturns until after the Great Depression.
Again, if my memory doesn’t fail me, Alfred Kahn during the Carter Administration began to use the term “banana” rather than the word “recession” to describe economic conditions. Apparently, the Administration did not want anyone using the term recession.