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10 Uncomfortable Truths About The Growing Unemployment Crisis In America
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
Did you know that there are more than 102 million working age Americans that do not have a job? Yes, I know that number sounds absolutely crazy, but it is true. Right now, there are more than 11 million Americans that are considered to be "officially unemployed", and there are more than 91 million Americans that are not employed and that are considered to be "not in the labor force". When you add those two numbers together, the total is more than 102 million. Overall, the number of working age Americans that do not have a job has increased by about 27 million since the year 2000.
But aren't things getting better? After all, the mainstream media is full of headlines about how "good" the jobs numbers for October were. Sadly, the truth is that the mainstream media is not being straight with the American people. As you will see below, we are in the midst of a long-term unemployment crisis in America, and things got even worse last month.
In this day and age, it is absolutely imperative that people start thinking for themselves. Just because the media tells you that something is true does not mean that it actually is. If unemployment was actually going down, the percentage of the working age population that has a job should actually be going up. As you are about to see, that is simply not the case. The following are 10 facts about the growing unemployment crisis in America that will blow your mind...
#1 The percentage of working age Americans with a job fell to 58.3 percent in October. The lowest that number has been at any point since the year 2000 is 58.2 percent. In other words, there has been absolutely no "jobs recovery". During the last recession, the civilian employment-population ratio dropped from about 63 percent to below 59 percent and it has stayed there for 50 months in a row. Will the percentage of working age Americans with a job soon drop below the 58 percent mark?...
#2 The U.S. economy lost 623,000 full-time jobs last month. But we are being told to believe that the economy is actually getting "better".
#3 The number of American women with a job fell by 357,000 during the month of October.
#4 The average duration of unemployment in October 2013 was nearly three times as long as it was in October 2000.
#5 The number of Americans "not in the labor force" increased by an astounding 932,000 during October. In other words, the Obama administration would have us believe that nearly a million people "disappeared" from the U.S. labor force in a single month.
#6 The number of Americans "not in the labor force" has grown by more than 11 million since Barack Obama first entered the White House.
#7 In October, the U.S. labor force participation rate fell from 63.2 percent to 62.8 percent. It is now the lowest that it has been since 1978. Below is a chart which shows how the labor force participation rate has been steadily declining since the year 2000. How can the economy be "healthy" if the percentage of Americans that are participating in the labor force is continually declining?...
#8 If the labor force participation rate was still at the same level it was at when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, the official unemployment rate would be about 11 percent right now.
#9 Even if you are working, that does not mean that you are able to take care of yourself and your family without any help. In fact, approximately one out of every four part-time workers in America is living below the poverty line.
#10 In January 2000, there were 75 million working age Americans that did not have a job. Today, there are 102 million working age Americans that do not have a job.
So what are our politicians doing to fix this?
Shouldn't they be working night and day to solve this crisis?
After all, Barack Obama once made the following promise to the American people...
"But I want you all to know, I will not rest until anybody who's looking for a job can find one -- and I'm not talking about just any job, but good jobs that give every American decent wages and decent benefits and a fair shot at the American Dream."
Unfortunately, things have not improved since Obama made that promise, but he has found the time to play 150 rounds of golf since he has been president.
Meanwhile, because there aren't enough jobs, the number of Americans living in poverty continues to grow.
As I wrote about the other day, according to new numbers that were just released an all-time high 49.7 million Americans are living in poverty.
And right now 1.2 million public school students in the United States are homeless. For many more statistics like this, please see my previous article entitled "29 Incredible Facts Which Prove That Poverty In America Is Absolutely Exploding".
The only thing that most Americans have to offer in the marketplace is their labor. If they can't find a job, they don't have any other way to take care of themselves and their families.
The future of the middle class in America depends upon the creation of good jobs. It really doesn't matter how far the quantitative easing that the Federal Reserve has been doing pumps up the current stock market bubble. The American people were told that "economic stimulus" was the reason for doing all of this reckless money printing, but the percentage of working age Americans with a job is now actually lower than it was four years ago. Quantitative easing has been a complete and total failure in the job creation department, and it is doing a tremendous amount of long-term damage to our financial system.
The really frightening thing is that the Federal Reserve and the federal government have supposedly been doing all they can to try to "create jobs" and they have utterly failed. In fact, this is the first time in the post-World War II era that we have not seen an employment recovery following a recession.
And now the next wave of the economic collapse is rapidly approaching. What that hits us, millions more Americans will lose their jobs.
So the truth is that this is just the beginning of the unemployment crisis in America.
Yes, things are bad now, but soon they will get much worse.
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Laser-like focus on jobs, bitchez.
what will we do when all the jobs are displaced by autonomous service industry robots? the future looks bleak for middle america... luckily the silver and gold in those robots isn't free
I am 57, and I don't know if I could get a decent job if I looked... So, I am not looking. I'll just help my in-laws buy bearings.
I doubt that anyone over 40 would have much luck, unless one had a very particular skill set that was in peak demand. As you go through life, and we all age, the older you get the more business considers you worthless as can be. Every year makes you more worthless. From reading some ZH posts as of late, there are elements now who openly want people to die before they can collect their first SS check, so more money will be available for wars and spies. Age is a bitch! And nobody can escape it, but to check out early.
unless one had a very particular skill set
You're talking about Liam Neeson, aren't you?
USA In The Throes Of A Paralyzing Economic Recession
.
"The government has failed woefully in advancing those initiatives which would give a fishing pole to the jobless and unemployed. Instead, they give away fish without formulating any coherent job formation policy or genuine economic recovery programs."
http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=2477
But we only have a problem with 5% of the population and health care. The other 95% is doing just fine and likes their policys, yea right, read my lips, NO MORE LIES.
we think like servants. we act like sheep. we have run out of masters to tell us what to do. it is not the lack of jobs which makes slaves of us, but the lack of imagination and will. i'm long cow bells and grain buckets.
ribbit
The statistics regularly regurgitated on this site indicate the jobs are being taken by the 50-65 age range NOT 18-24. The only growth has been in the employment stats for the 50-65 year olds.
I wish the doom and gloom articles would be more consistent.
It's funny to see these corporations put their faith in the Millenials, an arrogant generation of know nothings. It's just another reason why the economy will be absolutely fucked within five years.
The Millennial arrogance is a strong one, founded in the ease and abundance of information obtainable, especially after the Web was popularized.
Their fundamentals are weak and they only have a superficial understanding of everything. As an old signals/systems professor I had would say, "they don't make engineers these days like they used to..."
Millenials.... good luck to them. They live in their partents' basements, believing someday they will inherit the upstairs when mom and dad kick off. Joke will be on them when they find mom and dad spent all their meager savings and took out a reverse mortgage on the house to fund their last 7 years on the planet.
If you're a sociopathic politician or banker this must be like being a kid in a candy store. So many stupid people to fleece, so little time.
My grandmother was a little girl during the great depression. She has fond memories of those times.
When I asked her how that was possible, she said, 'we had a farm, a milk cow, chickens, and a garden. We never got fancy presents for our birthdays but we never went hungry either.'
Plan accordingly.
Of course she didn't mention anything about jack-booted DHS thugs or drones... Or throngs of the encroaching Free-Shit-Army...
Shit, we really are screwed.
America's two fastest growing industries, per federal policy:
1. Moral hazard
2. Leisure time for working age adults
the "gimme gimme" generation is too busy playing video games, sending dick picks, and living off of their parents to have any inkling of what is coming. alas, before i heard ron paul for the first time in 2008 i was very much one of those useful-less idiots.
Uh every generation since the greatest generation has been "gimme gimme".
Some of those fuckers were probably "gimme gimme" too.
If we see further, it's on the shoulders of some "gimme gimme" mothafuckas?
Human nature is pretty much gimme gimme with a few exceptions.
As fellow ZHer Ranger#### posted about the 'good people' discovering new shit and doing shit for everyone... that's the only reason this species progresses. As long as there are there those people, there will always be progress for the better.
Most people just want to chill and hang out and shit. Gathering knowledge takes a shitload of time, and developing wisdom takes even longer!
Ever since some asshole realized he could leverage the shit out of someone else's talent and motivation, so began the vicious cycle of predator/prey within the species.
DING DING DING we have a winner.
Predator/prey is the natural order - if you don't evolve you lose.
yes, but each subsequent generation exceeds the shittiness of its predecessor, making millennials the worst so far.
It is the same corporations who gave us Obama and the same Millenials who (largely) voted for him. They got what they deserved.
i am 57 and have been looking for 3+ years and i can say there isn't shit in minnesnota. jobs go to 20 something peoples.
got close on one though! luckily i had a 20 year career selling new homes. i'm good but not farting in silk. things could be a lot worse. contemplating texas as a way to minimize the cost of living and more chance of a half way challenging job with pay over 10/hr. both properties have been sold into the echo bubble. free to roam. i hear the bread lines are shorter in tx:)
that is reallity folks...
i'd show minnesota tail lights before the glaciers get you. that place has tundra written all over it...
"I doubt that anyone over 40 would have much luck, unless one had a very particular skill set that was in peak demand. As you go through life, and we all age, the older you get the more business considers you worthless as can be. Every year makes you more worthless. From reading some ZH posts as of late, there are elements now who openly want people to die before they can collect their first SS check, so more money will be available for wars and spies. Age is a bitch! And nobody can escape it, but to check out early."
According to the figures employment demand is strongest for the 50 and over age group and lowest for those under 24.
Seriously. If you were looking for an employee, and had a choice between a 60 year old who hadn't missed a day's work since the Reagan administration and a 20 year old with purple hair, a snot ring and an Iphone which would you chose.
There's hope for us "pending geriatrics" yet then! Maybe it'll be time for a whole new career too!
(Once I've had the major rebuild - which will hopefully be before major antibiotic resistance makes joint surgery too high a risk!)
Diogenes - Thanks - someone who actually reads the articles on the site.
Obviously if you are over 50 and have no skills you are fucked. I've spent my entire life working on my skills. I believe that an individual never stops learning and improving your situation. Evolve with the times.
To those over 50 that can't find a job, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN THE PAST 30 years? Mostly likely getting fat and lazy I presume.
I personnally don't have time for that.
I'm not buying what you're selling. I can't even get a call with 15 years of experience as a technical project manager. Further, I limit my resume to only show the last 12 or so years of work. As some of the others have noted, I'm not willing to bust my ass they way I did when I was 30-40 only because I know these fucks in corporate just ont give a shit about their people. The theory has been, since the late 80s, that it's a whole bunch cheaper to deal with a bunch of young know nothings out of school, eat the costs, if any, of the mistakes they made rather than to keep paying a more experienced worker, benefits, pensions, and especially vacation time.
I am a great employee for the right people, people who care. And unfortunately, the place I found and was happy at for 5 years went under when this ass reaming happened in 08.
The only demand for older folks is in legacy systems in corporations. People that know cobol and older languages or are familiar with the set up of large scale systems. IMO
Edit: and apparently as cashiers at grocery stores and greeters at walmart. Fuck, I saw a mentally challenged guy in Home Depot working as a greeter. They didn't even call me.
I'm not willing to bust my ass they way I did when I was 30-40 only because I know these fucks in corporate just ont give a shit about their people....
Yeah - I would hire you NOT. With that attitude you are not qualified as a greeter at Walmart.
P.S. You state that "rather than to keep paying a more experienced worker, benefits, pensions, and especially vacation time." Wow - so you've priced yourself out of the market too.... WINNER!
PLEASE NO ONE HERE BELIEVE DCRB!!!! hahaha.... that's right just keep helping the in-laws there DCRB.... and living in their basement too.
LOL
Are you in your 50s? If so, have you looked for a job?
Don't be so quick to judge, fool. BigCorp does not want to take the old'uns in their respective fields. sploogle massively age discriminates, seeking to milk the shit out of 20-30 year olds.
No, I'm in my 60's and can't find one, not that I'm bothering to look. They age-discriminate because older people are a little less sheepy and actually expect to get paid proportional to the value they create. No one hires someone older than they are anyway, as age seems to confer some authority, rightly or wrongly (well, at least you didn't darwin out by now), and the guy hiring wants to keep all that for himself.
And anyway, I'm overqualified for anything other than running another startup, but too old to have the energy it takes to do that well. That's why I retired 15 years ago after the last one (at age 45).
An old professor friend of mine told me in '10ish about how his 50-sumthin-year-old math PhD friend of his applied for big bro googs and the first time they denied his application, and the second time they accepted his application, processed it for a while, and then denied it, and the third time they outright rejected it.
i mean, if I were that fool I would be looking for way chiller jobs than trying to compete for that kind of horse manure, but since age discrimnation is quite real and is the subject of my story, I lament for those who get harassed in older age in whatever manner.
Seems to me there is one job category where they will hire older guys. Consultants. Management is not threatened by having the older advisor mainly because they know you are going to go away.
DCRB, I was kind of hoping I could get a job working for you in Peru...I could use some ceviche.
Up until the '30s horses and mules were ubiquitous, They were the power that pulled the plows and threshers until the tractor came into wide use and put them out of business. There was a precipitous drop in their population right about that time. Useless eaters, you know.
Horses cant cook a meal cut your grass or watch your kids. There is plenty of demand for servants. The bottom 20 percent can be house servants to the top 50 percent like in south america, right Dochen?
Now come over here and wipe my ass. I am too fat to reach.
What are we going to do with the other 30%? Skilled craftsmen?
Soylent green.
Laser-like focus on the pin on the third green more likely.
shovel ready...
Kurt Vonnegut predicted this almost perfectly in his 1953 novel "Player Piano". Basically, there will be an elite of managers & engineers who run the automated factories and, of course, a political class. There is also a very small class of people whose jobs can't be automated (barbers, plumbers, etc). Just about everyone else (the other 90%) is either in the Police, Military or the Reeks & Wrecks (construction and road work). Great book!
I remember reading that 20+ years ago when I was still getting my political mindset shaped. Changed me. I've been ready for this mess for a while
I wish I had read it. We had to read Heather's Two Mommies. One of Heather's mommies liked bearded clams.
HA!!! THat made me spit out my coffee!! Too early for hairy oyster jokes!!
Well, it wasn't my teachers that gave it to me. I stumbled across it somewhere on my 'journey'. Had I relied on my teachers, I probably would have been stuck with the previous generation's version of 'mommies' (that wasn't quite in the schools yet). Although, to their credit, they did get us to read Animal Farm, but back then the government wanted us to be sure we knew that the 'commies' were the bad guys (I notice they didn't have us read 1984)
By the time I happened upon Vonnegut, I had already figured out there was something not quite right about the narrative that everyone around me wanted to swallow (this was before the internet when we had 12 channels on TV - all spouting the same corporate message - and one tiny conservative radio station out of dozens on the mass media controlled airwaves) so I was hungry for some truth telling. My mind sucked up what Vonnegut was writing like a sponge. I'm not sure that was good for me, ;) but at least it got me thinking. It also gave me perspective
The ending was particularly poignant: a small band of revolutionaries stage a revolt that was successful up to a point. The lack of coordination between the national factions prevented success except for a small group who turn themselves in after realizing the FSA really didn't want to achieve anything more meaningful than to vent their dissatisfaction.
After the coup, everything returned back to how it was.
Vonnegut points out the problem but ends on a hopeless note.
Wouldn't it be great if things had turned out that good?
As in digging a grave for the 'old America'?
What else would u expect from suc a narcissistic, pathological lying kenyan monkeyboy.
Okay, it's just a couple of simple choices. free trade, or jobs. open borders, or jobs. welfare state, or jobs. globalism, or jobs. doesn't take a rocket scientist.
There definitely aren't any rocket scientists in congress
"There definitely aren't any rocket scientists in congress"
Not true, I heard that one of them landed a spaceship on Mars and planted an American flag there. She just can't remember if it's still there.
Hope & Change and I bet a few f**ks posting here voted for it....twice.
Keep watching TV and Hollywood's shit - your viewership and cable/sat TV bills help keep you a serf.
And the corollary, if you didn't vote, you voted for it.
Now, I know that'll ruffle some feathers here but, I'm sure more than 4mil stayed home in disgust with Romney, but he would be better than this POS. At the very least he is a decent human being in his private endeavors.
USA is closed for business. Until regulation and taxation drop to reasonable levels with respect to our competitors in the world, and the NSA/FBI/ATF/ are caged behind the 4rth Amendment.
Basically will requires the current oligarchy be deposed. They're obviously out of minds and out of ideas antway.
I don' need no job. O'bomb-a gonna pay my rent, buy my gas, gimme free food, and pay my doctor bills.
and a free obamaphone to boot!
Don't forget your free phone!! Imma get me Obamaphone!
*Edit: Guess I should have hit "Refresh" before posting...
From what I hear Obama is approving more people for welfare and disability. Carry on FSA.
The bottom 50% of America is in a full blown depression.
The next higher 30% are in a full blown recession.
the next 15% are in a good healthy growing economy.
The top 5% are in an age of unprecidented power, glory, wealth and leisure, a golden age, a guilded age.
I ask you, which sector of these four groups has access to Bernankes unlimited ZIRP trillions? Bet you can guess...........!
Actually if I had to draw a line, an "us" vs. "them", I would say it is probably more like the top 0.1% - 0.3% (or so) who really lord it over us all. I know people in the lower 1% (the not really really wealthy), those people are not the problem. IMO.
Great minds, DoChen. I was posting the same thing (below) simultaneously.
Off-shoring (jobs/industry) is not free trade.
Great swindle.
The system is being run for the benefit of those that run the system.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Free and fair trade are a long way off, because no one will stand up to the corporatocracy. Enrich the 1%, fuck everyone else.
Just wait til the TPP gets passed. That's when the real ass raping will commence.
Lots of info at the link.
http://stoptpp.org/
"The system is being run for the benefit of those that run the system."
When hasn't that been true?
More like top 0.2%. Every 1%er I know is dealing with the same slow income leaks the middle class are experiencing.
Someone who is in the 1%-0.5% doesn't have access to ZIRP trillions. They're doctors, lawyers and small business owners. It is a very select few that are benefiting from the Bernank's printing.
Indirectly their investments prosper from the ZIRP asset inflation. That was my point. Their incomes are rising nicely. ZIRP and Assest inflation benefit those who own equities, that is the top 10%. I never said they were a problem, I just noted they are doing well financially.
Well, that feels like mincing words, Seek and Jack. Whichever of you are "correct", most of us are still "fucked".
Social fascism coming to a neighborhood near you...
it will all be fixed when we make 30 million mexicans permanent US residents and provide them with a path to..............nowhere?
Yeah, it's all the fault of the brown people.... right.
Don't play the sucker.
thats nowhere near what i meant
i meant that adding a whole shitload more people with minimum skills isnt going to help our unemployment problem
2 unemployed people, plus two more unemployed people, will equal four unemployed people
get it now CH1?
We don't need more mexicans here as unemployed, because that just happens to be one of the jobs americans ARE willing to do.
You can't honestly believe that it will HELP anything, though.
And if you do honestly believe it, you don't live anywhere in central California.
It will help the democratic/liberal vote .....
Open borders with illegals flooding in is good for the trillion dollar drug trade. They get cheap labor. Much of it is run through....Chicago and is run by the tribe.
When the trillion dollar drug trade starts to dry up you will know that the economy is fucked.
Hey ronaldawg! Love the avatar! Saw that movie when I was a kid, god I still love that movie. Great, great film.
I'd like to blame it on Obama but he wasn't the one who outsourced 10,000,000 jobs to China.
So he promised a bunch of stuff he hasn't delivered, that doesn't make him any worse than 99.44% of all the other politicians who've ever lived. In fact he seems too dumb to have any idea when he's talking bs anyway, but that still only makes him about average for politicians.
The actual situation of half or more of the country having no job has been a science fiction prediction for fifty years or more, maybe a lot more. And that doesn't even count half of those who are "working" are only flipping burgers or serving in Congress or doing other pointless tasks.
A lot of the "jobs" are now done by robots, it's true, and more will be done by robots as the robots get cheaper and the cost of living rises in China.
Obama tries to create jobs, like Solyndra. He probably wants to give 10,000,000 people jobs carrying boxes instead of importing oil from Canada via the Keystone pipeline, like those 10,000,000 people wouldn't be exhaling a boatload of CO2. And he keeps all those greenskeepers employed, hoorah.
I'd like to blame it on Obama but...
So long as there are systems that can rob everyone at once, the pain will continue. The public boss is merely a sideshow.
Don't the Edward Snowden revelations about the NSA make it plain that the true government of this country since WWII has been the CIA & the NSA? The republic died under the cover of WWII. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches have become nothing but an elaborate and expensive Dog & Pony Show, with the CIA & NSA working tirelessly, at home and abroad, in secret, for US based transnational corporations. The USA became the NSSA(National Security States of America). For a quick look at the new form of global financial colonialism which emerged after WWII, watch the John Perkins animation Economic Hitmen (1:56)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqdiyY5waMM. While the gullible part of the population get the Peace Corp and Foreign Aid on the surface, the real government of the US has been destabilizing the world, to the benefit of the corporations. Would anyone please tell me what part of this is "American Exceptionalism"?
I agree with most of your post. The points I disagree with are:
"..In fact he seems too dumb to have any idea when he's talking bs anyway, but that still only makes him about average for politicians."
Obama knows exactly what he is doing. He is a Con man.
"Obama tries to create jobs, like Solyndra. He probably wants to give 10,000,000 people jobs carrying boxes instead of importing oil from Canada via the Keystone pipeline, like those 10,000,000 people wouldn't be exhaling a boatload of CO2. And he keeps all those greenskeepers employed, hoorah."
Stop giving this bullshit artist so much credit. He is not trying to "create jobs," he is giving free money to the people who helped him get elected. A fraction of that money is our tax dollars (the rest is printed and owed at a later date).
I don't think it is all Obama's fault either. The 10,000,000 jobs were outsourced to Asia mostly before he became President (thereby destroying the middle class). He did hand us the Affordable Care Act though, which seems to be screwing the middle class at every turn.
"President Rand Paul. Independent." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Anderson A lot of people forget about this guy. I remember that candidacy like it was yesterday. Politics was a lot of fun back then actually. Don't here those two words used in the same sentence anymore..."politics"..."fun."
For the record, most of what you're disagreeing with was meant as saracasm.
Out of curiosity. Is there some sort of social contract that t hose corporations signed that said that they are somehow forced to hire Americans by some justification of what, patrtiotism? nationalism?
bunnyboy, i dinged both of your posts, but i will also answer you. take 3 companies, call them ford, apple and goldman. ford builds factories here, hires zillions here, pays labor fairly, pays shareholders fairly, pays tons of taxes, spends tons of money with american suppliers. net result? families thrive, towns thrive, our country thrives. kids go to good schools, people who make money working, spend money. it's called an economy. apple builds factories in commie china, uses slave labor, pays no wages, pays no dividends, pays no taxes, spends nothing in america. apple amasses more cash (140b) than any company ever, and can now buy ford. goldman just has their pal ben print 140 billion and lend it to them at 0%, and buys ford and apple, without breaking a sweat. get it now?
With all due respect, starfcker, it seems the response you gave me doesn't in any way answer my question. I'm not debating the net result. We can achieve the same net result (thriving families, towns, people) by just making it that much more difficult for companies to hire workers overseas, severely if needed be. But isn't that some serious government interventionism here? Isn't that some serious regulatory practice going on here? I can speak from personal experience that it would utterly annihilate small-time developers like myself.
If Apple has the capability and access to hiring cheap labor over-seas to provide you a product, what social contract did they sign that requires them to hire Americans instead? Just so Families can thrive? So towns can thrive? So is that the goal that Apple should have?
Or is the suggestion, that because we have to protect the "good" Companies like Ford because Apple has access to capital that Ford does not? Because from a philosophical standpoint this results in what is essentially socialism.
Indeed "I write code". Obama is the biggest fucking corporate tool in history. Worse than Bush. What you get negative arrows for is not playing the Republican talking points game. People want to hear those talking points from republican headquarters here on ZH. Why? Gets me!
I didn't see the number #1 "Uncomfortable Truth About The Growing Unemployment Crisis In America."
1. That BHO and the rest of the communist democrats who thrive & survive on the government induced welfare, EBT, sectiion 8 enslavement progams enacted to addict the "BarackOClaus" citizens for their lifelong votes for more communism.
Work is no longer required to obtain food clothing and shelter for most people who choose not to work. They are supported by government or family or friends.
To have this huge surplus of production such that work is unnecessary to survival shows how rich our economy is.
Back in the old days when people werent such whiners the government gave immigrants tips on foraging, as well as making bark soup. Algonquin is an Indian word for tree eater.
People would create their own jobs such as going door to door offering to sweep the streets or push a food cart.
People nowdays are such pussies and whiners. They dont realize how easy life is, even for those who choose not to work.
You cannot get help for anything if you own your own home (mtg). Discounts on utilities possibly. Free mammogram and Pap smear but nothing else that I am aware of. So, if you get assistance from this govt, you are at the bottom of the barrel, rock bottom, have nothing.
You must be new to the system.
Honky.
Exactly, if you are a white male there is no social safety net until you are 65.
The fact that such surpplus is available for people who dont work is my point.
Go split some wood for a farmer so you will have enough bread to eat tomorrow, and make some bark soup while you are at it.
I recommend oak and hickory though white pine is also good.
The bottom of the barrel has a better life than the average working class 100 years ago. All of you whiners are pussies, bunnyswanson excluded.
So sorry living standards rose after the industrial revolution. Maybe we could go back to life in the 1800's. /sarcasm.
Enjoy your bark soup.
Get a job whiner. Or make one.
The inner cambium of many trees is tasty.
Why are you entitled to take from others and have anything above a subsistance level of survival if you choose not to produce?
Exactly - make your own job.
If you have 15 years as a technical project manager, make your own project.
A king ruling 100 years ago had vastly less choice than a ebt cardholder at the grocer. Far fewer entertainment choices than 200 cable channels, internet, video games etc,. Less indoor temperature comfort. Uglier women. Medical care. King say "Whip that dentist!" Far fewer choices in beverages. No comparison in transportation/travel. The most worthless members of our society live far better. For now.
A neanderthal living in a cave had even fewer choices, and really ugly women, which is probably why they died out.
You mistakenly equate having more gadgets and choices to a better life. Often times, simpler is better.
Some idiots enjoy watching flickering electrons to go along with the brainwashing from TV and Hollywood. If you watch either then you support being a serf.
and not just any old serf, but....
wait for it.....
a Channel Serf!
You are telling families who don't have work to go split some wood?? What century are you living in? Splitting wood won't buy shoes for your kids or pay for books for school. Get a life.
Damn, people are really getting their shirts stitched with their initials for free???.... and i'm not sure what a Pap Smear is but the last time I went to a deli a smear of chicken liver was 2.95
Yes. If you choose to be a landowner, you don't get to be part of the FSA. The FSA chooses not to be landowners, so they can continue to get their free shit.
Lately I've been watching a lot of David Icke
Is this a good thing..?
LOL.... Spot any lizards?
It's a shame the guy includes such craziness in his work - he's a sharp guy with some good things to say.
There is a lot of good stuff
And although I'm aware of the reptile thing, I haven't heard those words from his mouth in the stuff I watched.. Is he still spouting that?
I don't know what all this unemployment nonsense is about. I had no problem finding the 3 minimum wage jobs I need to survive... </sarc>
Winning!
I don't understand -
Why hasn't increasing taxes, increasing regulation, support for unions, increasing unemployment and welfare programs, free money for green energy, Obamacare and a general anti business position from the Obama administration produced any jobs?
What the hell do they expect?
Nothing left to loot.
Tide is a hot item to steal with the 99%ers.
Those red detergent bottles are used to 'launder' money for the drug trade.
Sorry just was too easy, couldn't resist.
There are very few things in the world more volatile and dangerous than a man with nothing left to lose. The number of people in America reaching that point should be cause for considerable alarm.
The bankster criminals are not concerned. They have bodyguards and bullet-proof autos.
They figure they'll steal the 99%'s wealth and they will fight among themselves.
Perhaps, but as Mike Tyson once wisely said: "Everybody's got a plan til you punch them in the face"
They figure they can hire half the working class to kill the other half. If you think it's funny have you had any interaction with the police lately?
Yeah, but like the Praetorian Guard before them, they'll eventually figure it out.
Actually, I think it has been cause for fed.guv to requisition over 2 billion rounds of ammo in various calibers.
If this article has focused on the number of full time jobs, instead of the fictitious number for total employment, the picture would have been much more dire.
And then if you adjust for salary levels it's even worse.
And then if you look at jobs stolen by illegal immigrants and H-1B (who are just legal illegals), you start to get the real picture.
I get these automated job listing things, says there's like twenty openings for welders/assembles at Boeing or their suppliers. They wouldn't hire me anyway so i don't really give a fuck if it's real or not, just sort of weird. Usually it's like one or two.
Excellent article.
Thanks for the past 3+ years, ZH! Best financial site on the 'net.
Two points:
1. Meanwhile, you have the crooks in congress working overtime trying to open the borders in order to give jobs to illegal immigrants (because the great businesses of the land can't find anybody to work?).
2. How many of those unemployed Americans will pick up and buy something labeled 'Made in China' and turn up their noses at something labeled 'Made in America' because it is two dollars more in price?
Funny how nobody blames the corporations responsible for pushing production to China. They could've shown some collective backbone, but no, the mighty profit margin rules over all, so nobody says "Why didn't they just make it here, we would've bought it"
Instead its China's fault.
Sure, here's the deal pal, the ones that sold you down the river aren't just in Washington, D.C., they are in the boardrooms all across america. They don't give a flying shit about you or the country they reside in.
"Funny how nobody blames the corporations responsible for pushing production to China. They could've shown some collective backbone, but no, the mighty profit margin rules over all, so nobody says "Why didn't they just make it here, we would've bought it"
Instead its China's fault.
Sure, here's the deal pal, the ones that sold you down the river aren't just in Washington, D.C., they are in the boardrooms all across america. They don't give a flying shit about you or the country they reside in."
Those corporations spent 50 years trying to keep things going in spite of unions and government. Not all of them went overseas - only the ones that haven't gone broke.
Look at unions and government at all levels along with corporate greed and the "not in my back yard" attitude towards new factories.
It takes teamwork to destroy an economy, management can't do everything by itself.
Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ECi6WJpbzE
It's a recipe. Free shit isn't going to last forever. Who does not know this? You are watching these people being led to slaughter, an early death, when the day comes the checks don't arrive. But by the time it is over, the view out everyone's window will be the same - Detroit.
One word - Hostess.
About a year ago I needed a new non-stick pan. I went out of my way looking for one that was made in America. Found one at Walmart (Made in Wisconsin).
I've already had to throw it out so that I don't completely poison myself with flaked off black non-stick coating.
So much for that effort.
Get back to cast iron friend.
Yes, absolutely. Once you condition it right it works great. Plus it is a great workout. :)
The nice part too is that you can wash it while it is still hot. I do that and it is like steam cleaning the thing. It cleans up real easy that way
"How many of those unemployed Americans will pick up and buy something labeled 'Made in China' and turn up their noses at something labeled 'Made in America' because it is two dollars more in price?"
Maybe they don't have an extra $2
'cept that we were talking about all those BMWs in the ghetto the other day
I think it's more to do with global communications exploding the way it has in the last 20 years. The internet changed everything. I know a lot of people throw out the word "greed" here and there when they choose fit, but what about small time developers like myself that needs to outsource that work to foreign countries if I am to even make a dime? I'm not a massive multi-million dollar corporation (I'd like to be one day), I'm one shmuck working from home on apps and games and hope to make enough money to pay down the bills. What social contract did I sign that requires me to dutifuly hire an American out of some patriotic duty?
I am in constant awe at the sheer confusion my generation is currently going through. In the last 5 years we've been given tools that would allow us to create, manufacture, develop tons of materials and goods without needing a massive amount of investment. Social Networking allows for an incredibly cheap and effective marketing, global communications means you have access to the world labor force rather than the local. Hell! 3D Printers would soon allow to manufacture our own products in our own friggin basement! Where the HELL is the drive to take advantage of this?
I think that drive has been for the most part crashed headlong into a world full of bitter dissapointment our parents, our educators, our media, and our naivite simply failed to prepare us for.
Just like everything else, including committees and projects, funding is required. Where there is funding, the possibilities are endless.
Wage Crisis - The USA's new Underclass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_3zmBUCVcI
You're absolutely right, bunny. What I implied was that it is easier to accomplish a lot of the specified goals I mentioned above far cheaper than it used to be. I do not doubt that capital is needed, but in far less amount than before, and I think a good chunk of my generation has the capability of taking some time and saving up that capital. But capital doesn't necessarily have to be monetary.
I'm going to use my own experience as an example, and no way do I say that it is the norm, but just as an example.
I was able to develop an android game for roughly $300 invested directly (I bought the code, and the game engine), and spent a good 150+ hours doing the 3D modeling and texturing, plus level design and building. At my general rate that's over $3000+ dollars in terms of hours spent, however that was my time, at my own leisure. I did however find a distribution company, that had a fairly good payout in terms of distribution. (60%-40%). At this point my game generates about $200 a month in ad-revenue. It's not much, not at all, but I've already been able to get back what I invested in it directly in terms of monetary worth. At this point I have over 70,000 downloads, and I've spent very little out of my own pocket.
Just an example of what someone can do if they put their minds to it. BTW, I don't know how to program, but I picked up a bit of programming on the way, and I didn't have to drop a 10k for a degree to do so. Learned most of it on the net.
Which comes back to my original post; my generation has access to tools that would make enterpreneuralism so much easier than it was 20-30 years ago. I wish they would take advantage of this.
Super Bullish!!
I wonder what the POMO ramp will look like once Yellen increases QE 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, 32x?
Forward!
To infinity....
...and beyond!
A new economy is growing inside the old one; not obvious yet but hopeful.
I think to include the total on NILF as work age is disingenuous. The true number is closer to 40 million workage once one removes those that are retired, full time students not working, disabled and those that choose not to work ( ex stay at home parents).
Still with 40 million that should be working and only 3.9 million job openings ( not all living wage), there is a large problem.
No wonder my ebay sales are sucking. No one is safe. Not even the top crust because they will be down to their last billion and be forced to commit suicide there's no way they could survive on that amount.
I love hearing boomers whine about how selfish baby boomers are.
Boomers spent their 20s getting high and having sex, then got good jobs like it was nothing.
Millenials spent their 20s investing in their education and live in their parents basement.
Yeah, we're the privileged ones.
(PS: I'm one of the lucky few with a good job, no thanks to boomer pigs.)
There is a big disccont somewhere because what I read on ZH and what I see in my town and neighboring towns, it's complete opposite. Retuaruants are full, retail/office space is full, and rents are rising. If a space does become availalbe it is not emply for long. Homes are selling, foreclosed homes are few and far betwwen and do not sit emply for long. I don't get it?
Where do you live?
Truly a great article!! Thank you!