This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
November Payrolls Rise By 203K, Higher Than Expected; Unemployment Rate Drops To 7.0%
Last month, the expected NFP print was 120K, instead we got 204K. Today, the expectations was 185K, while the print, was almost an identical 203K, even as last month's was revised modestly lower to 200K. The unemployment rate dropped from 7.3%, which was also below the 7.2% expected, to only 7.0%. The unemployment rate was derived from a drop in the number of unemployed from 11.3K to 10.9K, while the labor force rose from 153.8K to 155.3K, which also led to a modest bounce in the labor force participation rate which rose from a 35 year low of 62.8% to 63.0%.
The number of people not in the labor force declined modestly to 91.3MM from 91.5MM
The Fed is looking at these numbers and thinking: "taper."
From the Establishment survey:
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 203,000 in November. Job growth averaged 195,000 per month over the prior 12 months. In November, job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, health care, and manufacturing. (See table B-1.)
From the Household Survey:
Both the number of unemployed persons, at 10.9 million, and the unemployment rate, at 7.0 percent, declined in November. Among the unemployed, the number who reported being on temporary layoff decreased by 377,000. This largely reflects the return to work of federal employees who were furloughed in October due to the partial government shutdown. (See tables A-1 and A-11.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (6.7 percent), adult women (6.2 percent), teenagers (20.8 percent), whites (6.2 percent), blacks (12.5 percent), and Hispanics (8.7 percent) changed little in November. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.3 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of persons unemployed less than 5 weeks declined by 300,000 in November, partially reflecting the return to work of federal employees on furlough in October. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 4.1 million in November. These individuals accounted for 37.3 percent of the unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed has declined by 718,000 over the past 12 months. (See table A-12.)
The civilian labor force rose by 455,000 in November, after declining by 720,000 in October. The labor force participation rate changed little (63.0 percent) in November. Total employment as measured by the household survey increased by 818,000 over the month, following a decline of 735,000 in the prior month. This over-the-month increase in employment partly reflected the return to work of furloughed federal government employees. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.3 percentage point to 58.6 percent in November, reversing a decline of the same size in the prior month. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell by 331,000 to 7.7 million in November. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
In November, 2.1 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, down by 409,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 762,000 discouraged workers in November, down by 217,000 from a year ago. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.3 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in November had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)
.
- 20469 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -




Call it a Recovery, Recession, Slow Down, no matter the name.
Stay Updated
Layoff / Business Closing List
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
Thank god there was an entire overnight session of futures padding to keep the precious stock market in the green for the open. Almsot as if someone knew what the print would be and goosed the futures to arrive at a desired print.
No such luck for gold, of course.
Au contraire, gold is green and silver is wildly swinging. Fasten your seat-belts!
It looks like Paul "When Mars Attacks!" Krugman's advice to Bernanke-Yellen to "keep the pedal to the metal" is working! It's working!*
*Totally obvious sarc
"If you want to keep your bounce, you can keep your bounce."
"Raising the employment rate, although we have done it a hundred times before, does not necessarily increase the participation rate"
Well, we need to hire someone to flip green eggs, sell electronic gadgets and wipe off the holiday party puke from the urinals during the festive season...
1.3 mill. cut from unemployment end of december....they will not be considered in the work force...and hocus pocus...6.5% unemply. rate...ben is a genius, genuis, genuis...
If you like your fake numbers you can keep your fake numbers.
7%...what a joke...what mirror are you looking at Alice?
The target is 6.5% so I would think no taper.
That said, the 6.5 is a complete joke. Benny gets there by creating $10/hour jobs and massively dropping the denominator in the calculation. These "academics" are attempting to save our econ world by attempting to change the unchangeable... math!
6.5 to raise short term rates (or so they have said) and taper preceeds that. who gives a fuck......mext month we'll have the same circus and im not in the inner circle to trade this. gotta go to work...why do i follow this shit?
"Of course we can afford to raise the minimum wage! We're in a recovery! Job growth is good!"
Long live the narrative.
Of course we can afford better retirement benefits for public union employees because everyone knows that economices expand forever and an 8% annual investment rate is realistic when guided by politics rather than markets,
There are so many bizarre doings nowadays that it's even possible that the Fed feels it has to taper so the employment and economic data are being subjected to a paint-by-numbers scheme in order to justify tapering.
Expect the number of people on food stamps to rise. Merry Christmas.
They are already trying to walk this down to 5.5%. Taper cancelled for the greater good after holiday disappointment.
from the article: The Fed is looking at these numbers and thinking: "taper."
Nope. The Fed is looking at those numbers and thinking two things:
1. "Giant November seasonal adjustment makes 30k jobs a rounding error."
2. "Send Lacker and Fisher out for another round of December taper is definitely on the table. Probably, maybe, for sure. And tell Lockhart to mumble about a graceful exit some more."
I thought they were trying to change REALITY. who knows?
It's a Christmas miracle!!!
Be careful with that new Red Ryder BB gun with the compass in the stock......you'll shoot your eye out kid!
There's lies, damned lies, and then there's the B(L)S.
I call it another batch of bullshit, fudged numbers from a government who seems incapable of telling the difference between truth and deception.
I'm telling you, it's a Christmas miracle!
If they told the truth then their masters' dicks would fall out of their mouths. We couldn't have that.
I didn't make those numbers up all by myself.
And it's all due to uh, the ummm, uh, Nelson Mandela, who would of course have been great had he even not been my father, Frank Whatshisnames best friend and wife swapper. Hmmmm uh .
If Trayvon had ever worked he'd have been in this number
Taper, really just short for toilet paper. As in TP the world with dollars...
Like that TeMp, T'aper seems appropriate
BTFD - all you need to know! (or in case of the Dax: BZFD)
THE
MAGIC
OF
NUMBERS
Taper onnnn!! Yellen has the green light now.
But what bullshit to boost Holiday spending.
so cute how stocks try to rally on "taper on" while bonds and commodities tumble.
I like not having a waiting line at the post office though
LMAO! I know! There was NOBODY in the checkout lines at the supermarket yesterday at about 11:00 am and bewildered looks by the cashiers. And hardly any traffic on the roads now either during the day.
Here's the "cute" 10 year Treasury for ya:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/10_year
> But what bullshit to boost Holiday spending.
Hey, it works. I'm gonna spend that ten-spot I keep behind the fridge magnet. I've been waiting for an excuse to spend it - and by god, 7% unemployment is good enough for me.
Maybe I'll buy a nice used tie from the local charity, for job interviews.
Or use the tie as a noose. Whichever works best.
@Race Car Driver
A better use of that tie would involve banksters and a lamp post!
Unfortunately, math make any "taper" impossible (baring a debt jubilee or "wealth" tax of course).
The Fed is looking at these numbers and thinking: "taper."
And as a thought only it will remain.
The Fed is now thinking of other excuses they will give for not tapering.
Never fear.
If the PBOC stops rollimg over its US debt there will be plenty
for the FedRes to monetize.
Taper. Pull the other one, it has bells on.
They will start using stadow stats for Unemployment numbers. Problem solved...no taper
Taper has its uses, like distancing the Fed from dollar devaluation caused by government default or a chinese currency dump. Don't want to be around at the scene of the crime when that happens. They can always come back after the carnage and offer to "save us" with their printing press again. In fact, people will probably beg them to...
ahahahahahahaha!! Lied again!
If just a few more people quit looking for work we'll be at full employment! Welch to Joe McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" This ends when Congress stops being polite at hearings.
Why can't you people believe it's a Christmas miracle?
USA Today says "a solid string of payroll gains that's pushing the economic recovery to stronger footing."
That's good enough for me. Just in time to spend, spend, spend for Christmas!
raise short term rates by 500bp NOW!
Long overdue.
and the paper PM's go wild...yawn...
BTFD...continue cost averaging...do whatever you do to keep stacking.
Silver, bitchez...
Great advice... you've probably been stacking since silver was trading $36/oz and you were dreaming of $50/oz.
Actually I've been stacking since Silver was $4 and seriously stacking since it was $12. My cost basis is still below spot.
Actually, you couldn't be more incorrect. What's the matter...did you wake up on the wrong side of the douchebag this morning?
douchebag...lol
sounds like handwilly bought high and is ILL....but just hold onto the physical. these are all bargain basement prices. Silver Bitchezzz!
Somebody needs to tell it to price.
TAPER ON.
No hiding now. Prepare for lots of pain.
watch the UN-taper happen when 10-yr yield hits 3%
7% -lol
Who in their right mind would actually believe this bullshit?
if they stop counting enough they will get it to zero
Zero employees, zero unemployment...FORWARD!
> Who in their right mind would actually believe this bullshit?
Zombies. They'll buy anything. Especially if it's on the TeeVee. That makes it official. I mean, there's bullshit ... and then there's official bullshit. That's the stuff to hang a zombie hat on.
I bet you hate Christmas.
I was hoping for 250k, but maybe this will do as cover for the Fed to taper (since UST bond issuance is falling).
the fed will not taper, they will come up with some bullshit excuse why they cant like, '' o we were looking for 210,000 jobs, so we cant taper, some bullshit like that.
also, the 10 year barely moved, i thought we would easily see 3.
and sure enough futures are pretty much the same as they were before, so of course ''this was the biggest jobs report'' according to msm.
The 10yr did move and move pretty agressively!!! but it was bought up quickly over the course of an hour by the PPT!!!
Same with the equity futures.....the first move on the good number was DOWN hard....the PPT was buying like crazy to get a large green open!
The real-time counter-indicative moves in credit and equity PROVE A FED BUBBLE!!! We CANNOT have that!!!!!!!!!!!
It makes for good news on the 6:30 National News to run both stories concurrently....the 95% of Americans bite this hook and line and make the correlation that "Everything is ALRIGHT"!!!
The tell will be smart money fading the open--KNOWING THAT THIS PRINT GUARANTEES A TAPER(flow)!!
It's good news! No, it's bad news! No, wait, it's good news....!
DavidC
Fuck the news. Its a bigass short. covering. rally. Writ large. The too big to jails need a good entry for the taper tantrum ya know.
All gone after christmas.
and gold is dropping as we speak
Is it just me or is it getting a bit crowded here at the exit? Oh, and would you be so kind and hold that bag for me?!
With Zero's numbers in the toilet bowl he needed the bureau of BS to give him a good number. Just as they did in 2012.
203k low-paying, temporary seasonal jobs?
Pretty much. Spent a couple of weeks last month, daily checking out the local craigslist job postings. Mostly I saw temporary 'security' for black Friday weekend, x-rated 'model' casting, and automotive sales jobs, out there by the dozens.
On the flip side, I noticed many people posting 'services for hire' (cash only, under the table), i.e. math tutoring, piano lessons, home home aides, and the like.
Don't forget part-time, that's the newest fashion trend
THEY WILL NEVER, EVER TAPER.
Never, ever mess with the tapir...
http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/51bf17596bb3f7e40a000005-1226-920/tapir-3.jpg
I call bullshit!
The labor force participation rate changed little (63.0 percent) in November. Total employment as measured by the household survey increased by 818,000 over the month, following a decline of 735,000 in the prior month. This over-the-month increase in employment partly reflected the return to work of furloughed federal government employees.
HERE IS THE REPORT IN A NUTSHELL! MORE DECEPTION AND FRAUD IN THE NATIONAL HEADLINES AS EXPECTED! LOOKS LIKE WIEMAR II IS GONNA TRY A LITTLE TAPER TO HELP THE COLLAPSE ALONG!
Maybe it's dyslexia, but I keep wanting to read it as 'forced labor participation rate'..
The number could have came in 100K higher or lower I still wouldn't believe it.
Good news is better news ! ramp the market and slam the VXX. Same ole song. FUCK YOU BEN!
Any news is good news when the market wants to blow up the shorts (again) (and again)
The Fed will taper shortly after the Vatican announces that the Pope is pregnant.
sunny
Can I get seasonal adjustments to my income? It seems that these employment numbers are adjusted positively more than negatively
The biggest potential gain for Wall Street now is to the downside, not the upside. My guess is that we get a December taper of 10 billion, stocks sell off 20% in next month or so, then Fed comes back to the rescue. That gives Wall St 20% to the downside, then 25% to the upside to get back to where we are now. Easy money.
818,000 new jobs last month. labor force up 600K ........ this economy is humming. but i havent got a raise in 5 years.....and i still do the work of those laid off in 2008.
You would think with the good numbers that inflation is on the way and should be good for gold....all those jobs create spending....and spending creates inflation....I used to think that...I think gold is down because there is not any in the Comex for delivery.....they are scrambling to find metal to deliver I think...so they take it down with paper...
Gold smacked, so taper on?
unemployment goes down (through whatever means) and an end to POMO gets nearer
here comes the market tanking - economy should tank a few months thereafter
getting my ORVILLE REDENBACHER
Over 91.5 million out of the 300+ million we have in this country aren't even considered to be in the labor force.
Participation rate still at 62.9%, hovering at 35-year lows.
15% fewer jobs than November 2012.
Shhhh, we don't talk about facts anymore.
The unemployment rate is going down.....that's all that matters here....just in time for Chris Matthew's softball interview with el Presidente.
ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
that's all i can find within me that speaks the truth.
labor participation still at 1970's levels...still stuck in first gear. the talk is nGDP targeting...not taper. the clowns shorting treasuries while pounding the table of "phantom taper" in the financial media are only going to make the correction (lower yields/higher price) that much worse. i love it how "it's all the London Whale's fault" that hedging is going the way of the doe-doe bird for the Banks. These clowns are congenital liars who only see truth in the bankruptcy of their institutions and the State that for some insane reason continues to throw good money after bad at them. We'll see if Chicago "survives the fire" so to speak. That would easily be the biggest debt failure since the Russian default crisis of 1998...and quite honestly I see nothing stopping it now.
Drop it like it's hot like its hot like its hot. FUCK YOU BEN BERNANKE
I love it when you go down on me TLT.
Yet another f-ing 0bama lie. 7%? Tell that to the MILLIONS of unemployed/underemployed people!
Government shutdown rebound with part time holiday employment added. Notice civ participation rate stayed the same but employment to pop ratio rose ( a number that is influenced by gov workers). Not bad numbers but still stagnant considering the time of year. December and especially January could be ugly.
If the economy is doing so great how come the Fed is still printing money and the target for the Fed Funds rate is still stuck at zero? Ben has created a monster! I dread to think what the Fed would need to do if the economy came to a screeching halt (on a official basis of course).
People that never actually lost their job get added when they go back to work. Awesome.
Hey, when I go on vacation for a week does that count as me losing my job?
So is this number positive or negative? Or are we at full Goldilocks where nothing matters because everything is just right? You can just ignore the fact you went to sleep in a house owned by vicious bears.
At least the bears will never go hungry when they finally do come home. Goldilocks came and brought lots of friends. They've fattened themselves up so much that they won't even be able to move.
The economy is addicted to the Feds drugs. Taper? No way, unless capital fleeing out of EU and Japan allows them to briefly cut back. Our system has been so abused by the Fed that QE will be in the cards until we are reduced to barter.
Wow - the Bureau of Propaganda and Lies has really pulled one out of their ass this time
Well this sets up the scenario for 2014 year of the BULL...
Markets should strut into the new year, unless negative correlation already shows it ugly head, saying this P/E is already too high and resultant COMPLACENCY is now the raging bull out of the pen.
Take your pick : raging complacent bull or fearsome negative correlation obsessed bear?
Note this follows up official statistics of 3.6 % GDP third quarter growth; and 4th Q will be crucial to see if the channel stuffing theory is valid on that spike. Also, as for TAPERING Yellen has come out with her theory of Optimal COntrol model for FED (what that means will be explained by Houdini). Hey Presto!
Wildcat Blues by Sidney Bechet in my ears.
? SIDNEY BECHET MEMORY - Wild Cat Blues - YouTube
This is all a grand orchestration by the Fed and Treasury. The economy is not doing well, but numbers are pumped to make it appear so. Why? The Fed has to give the impression that is will end QE; even though it knows it can't. So a very mild taper (10B) may be in the cards. Meanwhile, gold is slammed down hard as this is the greatest threat (asset) to fiat. And the stock market will NOT tank. It is controlled also so don't expect any great crash.
All in all, they will succeed in continuing to make people question gold by keeping the price suppressed. They will modestly taper QE. Stocks will stay up. But in the long run, the economy is doomed. Structurally it cannot survive in current form and nothing is being done to change that.
IGNORE THE [FED] MAN BEHIND THE CURTIAN! - OZ
So if the numbers are so great, why are holiday sales down so far this year?
If your unemployment benefits run out and you are still looking for work, are you counted as unemployed?
no
One year ago, after the first month of QE3, there were 247k in jobs.
This year, afer 13 months of QE3, there were 203k jobs added.
How's that for efficiency?
QEInfinity start date: September 12, 2013:
Gold Price: $1731.00, Dow Jones: 13,539.86.
Today:
Gold Price: $1240.90, Dow Jones 15821.51
Taper priced-in? Well, in gold we are still waiting for QEinfinity to be priced. For gold holders, taper started the day they started printing... lol.
Bury your face in a pile of Fairy Dust and Buy The All Time High.
I really don't understand why ZH keeps reporting govt stats and charts they have said numerous times are completely bogus. Ditto for opinions and predictions from TBTF banks well known to be criminal enterprises.
Bingo. They should just look at the market action and pull some numbers out of the air. They would probably be closer to the truth than the reports anyways!
Know your enemy.
No fucking taper retards the fed said even if goes to 6.5 they still might not do it
Fuck that. It's -9F here right now and -20F windchill. Good thing it is warming up a bit. Count me out of the labor force for today. I am getting too old for this shit weather because it happened too fast and too hard. It takes a couple of days to acclimate. 20F would be OK with me but not this shitshow of rain followed by snow and then subzero temps. Why do I live here again?
I am sick of those Alaska "we have it harder than anyone else" TV shows by the way. Half of Alaska is tropical compared to this god forsaken wind tunnel of a state.
On the other hand, Minnesota has a 1.08 billion dollar tax rip-off surplus. Hmm, perhaps tax rates are too high here? How can we piss that away I wonder? I have already heard that over 250 million will go to the public fool system. More stadiums? A gigantic phallic monument to the DFL? That ought to create some MOAR jobs.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_24660207/minnesota-forecasts-1-1-billion-budget-surplus
It is record breaking warm and breezy here in Caroline. But my fucking head is thumping. And I gotta get to work. If you are gonna be stupid, you gotta be tough.
It won't be warm for long.
Gallup has it at 8.6%.
I ask you, who do you believe, the Government or the paid pollster?
while the labor force rose from 153.8K to 155.3K
There are only 155,300 ("K" means "thousands" to any one with a smattering of science knowledge) workers in the US? No wonder you all look so tired...
Yeah, I wondered about that too for a minute. Then I realized the numbers are all bullshit anyway so who cares.
"Some hedge fund managers and bank analysts have come forward to share their privileged information from contacts deep within the USFed system, whether regional bank presidents or economists within the USFed marbled offices on Weimar Street. THE REALITY IS THE USFED IS MONETIZING AT LEAST $200 BILLION PER MONTH, MORE THAN DOUBLE THE OFFICIAL VOLUME STATED AND ADMITTED. The USFed is monetizing much more than basic USTreasurys and USAgency bonds to cover the USGovt deficits, their rollover refunding, and the raft of mortgage bonds. The USFed is monetizing a small mountain of Fannie Mae bonds and collateralized debt obligations with a mortgage core, which went bad, turned worthless. The USFed is monetizing a large mountain of interest rate derivatives that went deeply in the red in the last year, especially this past summer during the self-inflicted Taper Talk disaster. The mortgage debt and its leverage toxic vat amounts to a few $trillion yet to be fully monetized. Furthermore, the interest rate derivatives amount to hundreds of $trillion yet to be fully monetized."
Somewhere in 2009 - 2010 I heard Fed committed to bailing out derivative losses of TBTF banks, which could be hundreds of trillions possibly.
Seems Fed looks for any possible way to print money and give it to TBTF banks. They just need some type of "security" to buy and put on the asset side to keep the books in balance. It can be nearly worthless, totally worthless, doesn't matter, Fed pays full price for it plus broker fees and commissions.
Wall Street banks have $700 trillion of derivatives? And Fed has committed to bailing out all of it?
Can we say "currency collapse"?
Can you share your source? The dbl quotes suggest this was posted somwhere. . .
Ha like i am going to believe any number that come out of the BLS that has been proven that they have been fudging the numbers since BO re-election and what its surposed to move the FAKE stock market and make the FED taper to try and "inspire" what few moron investors are left to throw moar fiat into the system please i think i will go long food, ammo, guns, and Galts Space Fortress where the krugman faires cant get me
$5B POMO today, NFP up, taper expectations up, market up...with huge POMO on 12/19 this is shaping up for TAPER this month. However, I'll believe it (and bet on its consequences) when I see it
Curious to see what the non adjusted figure is. The 7% number definately looks corrupt. If the total active population went up then 203,000 new jobs isn't enough to bring the unemployement rate down from 7.3% to 7%. It seems to me that they can not even make sens in their own lies.
Markets now drunk on Christmas cheer! Party on!
All numbers coming out of the govt and banksters are lies - propaganda - not reality.
Why do we even remotely pretend they are? Why do we not begin each headline/title with, eg, "THE LATEST PACK OF LIES: November Payrolls Rise By 203K..."
I seriously doubt they will ever come out and say Obamacare cost jobs, or that there is no real recovery. At this point they need to have a counter explaination to the Zim-Weimar stock market rising on money printing as much as anything else.
no matter what the number was, we all knew that the market was going to be up a shit load today.
1. its a friday. when was the last time the market was red on a friday? ( last friday was a short day, so i am not counting that, but go back and look, it will be hard to find)
2. markets are red for the week. there is zero chance they will ruin the streak of consecutive weeks of markets being up for the week. right now we r at 8, at the open, they should wipe out all losses to make it a positive week and then we get the pump at days end, we will end green for week of course.
3. there is no such thing as good news is bad news, and vice versa. the fucking ponzi scheme that this is, it makes up its own rules. if the number reported was 150,000 they would have said that no taper so that is the reason, and now good number is good, even though this fucking number sucks.
we used to get 300,000 plus jobs pre crisis , now 200,000 is considered fucking godly.
amazing.
also, not that he is really tolerable on other days, but cramer is unlistenable to today. the fucker thinks everything is great now, but all it takes is 1 down day and this asshole will be saying how a correction is good, things r not as good as once thought, etc
Today's annoucement that 50000 teaparty activists will be shot to lower the unemployment rate. Also more opening in the off book employment will lower unemployment by allowing people to not exists. We are going to get to negative unemployement with a particapation rate of 25%...all located in Washington.
All numbers coming out of the govt and banksters are lies - propaganda - not reality.
Why do we even remotely pretend they are? Why do we not begin each headline/title with, eg, "THE LATEST PACK OF LIES: November Payrolls Rise By 203K..."
I bet my left nut the next post will be titled , "About those job numbers"
Pssssst hey buddy, see that bridge over there, you wanna buy it?
At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if the Fed tapers on the 18th and the stock market rallies because it "shows the strength of this economy." Nothing makes sense anymore.
In Ireland, they count 16yo's in the employed figures but exclude them from the unemployed figures as part of the whitewash. They also forget to mention all the 'self employed' who haven't found any work in months and are part of the 20% who have defaulted on their mortgages (higher figure than that on the buy to let defaults), the huge numbers who have left the country, the huge numbers who have stayed in full time eduction/gone back to it, etc. etc. Then they crow because the official unemployment figure has come down to 13% - you couldn't make it up (er, actually, they do make it up).
Here's some Friday afternoon fun for you - Death tells us about his hobby - Nelson Mandela will undoubtedly be talking to Death today too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTD4zBKbX7Q
Interesting divergence by BLS from Gallups tracking poll.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/163358/unemployment-seasonally-adjusted.aspx
I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS ! (the lady next door to me is a nurse, her hours are being cut, she has 3 kids & isn't bringing in enough to cover her bills no matter how much belt-tightening she does. & she is scared, damn scared. she took out a loan to 'job retrain' thinking that if she became a nurse she could earn enough to support her family. (everyone remembers that scam, right ? lose your job & we'll all just job retrain! so popular under BUSH 1 & CLINTON.) I tried to tell her that Wall St. & the Gov't are now going to do to the medical field what they did to the auto industry, drive wages down & slave drive the few remaining workers to death. Just cause of this now i'm really not gonna shop at any big corporate store. i'm giving a small gift of food baskets to her 3 teenage kids.
Look I dont understand what everyone is so upset about. The economy is fixed. Jobs are back, the stock market is soaring, we won't have to worrry about healthcare anymore, our foreign relations have never been better...Obam's fixed everything, you can go back to watching tv and eating unhealthy foods. Now if we could just do something about all this global warming and get a carbon tax going...
Did they count the Santas front of all the department stores?