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Guest Post: Our "Let's Pretend" Economy: Let's Pretend "Job Growth Is Best Since 2006"
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
Our "Let's Pretend" Economy: Let's Pretend "Job Growth Is Best Since 2006"
Instead of just swallowing Ministry of Propaganda swill, let's examine actual data. If we do that, we find job growth is mostly smoke and mirrors.
The Ministry of Propaganda and its media minions are announcing that "job growth is on a tear" and the "best growth since 2006." How about we look under the hood of the employment euphoria? Here is an example of the Ministry's work: Best U.S. employment growth in 12 years Almost all the data agree — labor market’s on a tear.
Over the past six months, the number of people who are employed has risen by 2.3 million — an average of 385,000 per month. That’s the best growth since early 2000, when the dot-com bubble was in full flower.
Since August, the unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8 of a percentage points, to 8.3%. For adults over 25, the jobless rate has fallen to 7%.
In other words, people who generally work full time so they don't have to share a bunk in a flop house or live in their parents' basement are almost fully employed, as 'full employment" typically generates an unemployment rate of 5% just due to churn.
Best since 2000. Oh really? Let's look at the data as presented by the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED). Let's start with a measure of the workforce, what the Feds politely call the non-institutional population. Note that it rose by 33 million since 2000:
Meanwhile, back in reality, the number of jobs (full-time, part-time, temp, etc.) rose by 4 million since 2000:
Even more telling is the number of full-time jobs--the kind you can actually live on-- which "skyrocketed" back to the number of jobs in 2000, around 115 million. As Zero Hedge reported, the number of part-time jobs (and recall that can mean 2 hours a week or 20 hours a week) has skyrocketed to 28 million. If you haven't tried living on a part-time gig in America, I recommend it for an "on the ground" taste of the "best job growth since 2000." The Part-Time Economy (Redux).
How do you add 33 million people to the workforce while the number of full-time jobs hasn't budged in 12 years and claim "job growth is on a tear"? First you arbitrarily subtract 20 million people from the workforce. Call them "discouraged" or "marginally attached," whatever, just don't call them what they really are which is jobless.
Another way to view reality rather than spin is to look at the civilian-population employment ratio, a measure of what percentage of the populace has a job of some sort: Here we see that it is back to the recessionary levels of the early 1980s. For 64.5% of the populace to have some sort of job as in 2000, we would need an additional 14.5 million jobs. That's about 6 years of 200,000 jobs added a month, but then the workforce will rise by between 12 and 17 million in those years so you better add 400,000 jobs a month if you want the participation rate back to 2000 levels.
If "job growth is on a tear" you'd expect real incomes (adjusted for inflation) to be on a tear, too--but then you'd be wrong, as real income is declining:
According to Conference Board data, those actually seeking work are reporting jobs are hard to get--numbers that are at recessionary levels.
Scroll back through the charts; honestly, is this a "job market on a tear"? Real earnings are falling and the number of jobs you can actually live on remains stuck at 115 million--all the "added jobs" are marginal: marginal hours worked, marginal security (temp), marginal pay (part-time=low pay and no benefits).
Would we as a nation be better off dealing with the truth rather than believing fantasies that prop up the Status Quo and the Fed's dearly beloved measure of the economy, the stock market? How often does accepting illusion help us navigate real life? Short answer: never.
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Let's pretend this party's started.
Bitchez!
Literally, brain damaged lunatics run my country.
This is simply about power, election cycles and those who will do anything to protect their dominance of both.
Yes, yes and yes....
I think black unemployment needs to go from 16% to 25% for the deity Obama to be dethroned.
now if they renamed the originating organization as the
Bureau of
Idealized
Labor
gratuitously
Enhanced
Statistics
we might find the acronmym more fitting!
Bullshit,Lies and shams.
..brought to you by Uncle Scam and the Bloodsucking Lobbies.
If the GOP is "bought and paid for" by corporate America, why haven't they established written and broadcast news outlets to do some "brainwashing" of their own?
All we ever get is the liberal SPIN.
The MSM is and has been the propaganda wing of the Democrat party for decades. Just that now it's becoming blatantly obvious.
the realization is crystallized by the obviousness that the democrats are decidedly illiberal. obama is bush except around the sex parts (abortion and homosexuality).
brain damaged cocksuckers like you get the leaders you deserve
related humor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vL9uVFQAO0
bitchez
The ultimate plan for a smart highschool graduate. Plan for a minimum 5 year under graduate degree fully financed by student aid and food stamps. Delay default for few years then go back to school for a 3 year worthless masters. Now you are about 30 years old. Go on food stamps, section 8 housing, and medicaid. Live w 3 or 4 other entitlement masters. Threaten to move back home so your parents will start paying your 4g cell phone bill and cosign for another 3 year degree. Protest and blog endlessly about the abusive society and bitch about your materialist christian parents. Be green and a progressive. Volunteer for only the super liberals. Buy every new AAPL product on the release date, facebook and twitter endlessly. Bad mouth the man.
Or....
Accept the reality of your down sized life due to the resources sucking, scorched earth left behind by your narcissistic baby boomer parents and...
Get to work...
Plowing Fields--Stocking Shelves
In physical labor in the productive economy...
Or sell whatever services you can provide now for cash. Turn cash into PMs. When you have enough, leave the USSA.
brain drain, bitchez.
You first....
well if they have to volunteer for only the super liberals they ought to have some serious time on their hands.
Actually, with that first Masters in your pocket, you should apply for a federal government job ... Pretend to work and ride the gravy-train for the rest of your life.
iPad eXtreme is sold out in the US and Canada.
AAPL rises to new levels.
Seems like the BoI knew what it was doing.
Now they must time when to sell all that AAPL stock.
Yep, because who out there even has the money to buy a $550 stock when they decide to sell it? There are no real buyers out there to dump to.
details, details ...
Well come get me then, bitchez...they want to kill US citizens lets see them try it.
We're supposed to believe part time min wage jobs match up to the early 2,000's where any jackass could easily get a $20/hour job in construction, or finance gigs were a dime a dozen to anyone who could write?
Remove JUST the 0% interest and put it back to historical very low 2% and see what happens to your precious little data!.
It's so much better now than 30 years ago. Back when the father worked a job, the mother worked the kids.
Or 50 years ago, when the father could work at a gas station and support the whole family.
Can't wait until this whole house-of-cards-built-on-quicksand collapses and gets sucked down.
Rebuilding will be fun.
No way Forester! Our Marxist utopia requires the State to raise the kids! And those pesky fathers are best kicked out of the home altogether.
/sarc off.
No Fault divorce, Cash for Bastards, Dep't of (mis)Education, Head Start & all those other lovely welfare programs are NOT an accident. Nor the result of benevolent intentions. The Frankfurt School's Critical Theory first sought to identify the pillars of Western Civilization. Judicial & Bureacratic Activism has since sought to destroy it. The American Family has been marked for destruction.
Yes.
Believe, oh disgruntled one...
Drink Up, Bitch!
Green Shoots Lime Kool-Aid for the SheepDog...
Meaningless gobbledygook.
The parameter that matters was released yesterday. All time high budget deficit for the month.
Now let's be sure we understand that. We have a spending CUT this year of $4B in FY 2012 from the debt ceiling deal. Spending is not UP. It's down a tiny bit.
The payroll tax cut extension was an extension so that's neutral on tax revenue.
So how did we get a all time budget deficit record if spending is down this year and more people are working and paying taxes?
Answer: they are not
Ahh, but I was hired today by the infernal repo service for 60 days min. Come to me you .gov teat.
.gov Welfare Teat
Is that you, senile Uncle Warren Buffett???
Oh do I love this "let's pretend" series. Thank you.
Bullish for the markets, ofc.
This is one of the things that keeps me trying with this 'market'. When it blows, and it will, it's going to be something to behold. The powers-that-be can hedonically adjust, seasonally adjust, manipulate or lie as much as they want to but they CANNOT change the truth and the actuality. And that will dominate at some point.
DavidC
BLS says "Hey, look at my thumb... *WHACK* Gee your dumb!" But if the majority of the sheeple keep faling for it, why not?
If you are referring to the non-investing public - as in damn near just about everyone in America - they have no idea what NFP is or what it means or what it printed at today or ever and they have never heard of the BLS either. They know what their preferred cable news channel tells them about the "jobs picture" - how Obamessiah continues his valiant struggle to "create jobs".
The majority of the investing public know only what the paid-to-lie assclowns on CNBC tell them. Green arrow good, red arrow bad.
The BLS can report any number it damn well pleases and on a good day perhaps 5% of Americans would notice, and of them 75% would believe it.
This applies to virtually all macroeconomic indicators and market indices with the exception of the DJIA, S&P, and NASDAQ. The level of willful economic ignorance is practiclaly inconceivable.
If you are referring to the non-investing public - as in damn near just about everyone in America - they have no idea what NFP is or what it means or what it printed at today or ever and they have never heard of the BLS either. They know what their preferred cable news channel tells them about the "jobs picture" - how Obamessiah continues his valiant struggle to "create jobs".
The majority of the public knows full-well it's "all bullshit all the time" from the government. They may know very little about what's going on in the world, and pay little attention to the content of speeches and such, but they are mostly quite aware that they're being lied to constantly.
The people who tend to be fooled by the bullshit are the educated and affluent. It doesn't matter whether they consider themselves Dem/'pub, or lib/con, or moderate or independent.
The thing is--news media outlets tailor most of their messaging for that rather small population of "well-educated and affluent." That's how media companies make their money.
It's very easy to be misled about what "the public" thinks about ANYTHING.
The most commonly repeated complaint here, about stupid people believing whatever they're told, is way wrong. Most people don't believe ANYTHING. They aren't angry because they're busy focusing on the things in their lives that they care about.
That's not stupid. That's often a wise decision--ignorance makes more sense for anyone who'd rather be happy than informed.
both you and tot above are right.
although the mass of people know the fix is in and the good guys lost (even if the war isn't over http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq0KxzLMNx4), it still amazes me how much the average person knows about spectator sports and reality television and how little about economic history and portfolio management, especially considering the upside and downside of knowledge/ignorance in each.
Based on todays jobs report numbers, we'll manage to reach those employment goals by 2084.
v..vv..v good
only chart missing is FOOD STAMPS CHART..
its been on tear too for last 4 years..
alx
if the markets did not rally today on the Greek Deal & the fake Job growth, then when will it rally?
Expect it to dive next week... 100%
Uh? The markets DID rally. What are you on about?
DavidC
The annual percent change of nonfarm payrolls has peaked at a lower level than the previous "expansion":
http://chart.ly/fgqsbjy
Thank Gawd. My job wasn't really sent to India. I'm just a discouraged individual. Feel much better now.
Will XXX for Food. (you fill in the blank because I don't really care anymore.)
<BLANK>
Will vote for the Useful Idiot Barry Soetoro for food...
No wait... Diebold already took that job from you...
Look, I agree with this post, I see it all around me. But, until it is noticed, acted upon and found out by the people it just does not matter. This damn spoos is 5 pts. off its high. What a bunch of crap. And am sure glad I do not trade this farce.
Just more reasons why physical is the place to be.
Let's pretend getting basic healthcare isn't bankrupting people.
Let's pretend people aren't living in homes they are not making mortgage payments on their underwater Fannie/Freddie ATM.
Let's pretend our leaders on both sides of the aisle have a clue and give a shit.
Let's pretend 46 million people aren't on food stamps.
Let's pretend we aren't telling the biggest lie ever told by telling our younger generations that if they go into debt to "get a degree" it is more than a piece of paper at a diploma mill to perpetuate selected ideologies and maintain the academic aristocracy.
Let's pretend that the value of citizenship and the rule of law haven't been executed and their heads put on pikes at the NYSE and the FED.
Let's pretend that bailouts are o.k. for irresponsible banks and corporations yet verboten for responsible individuals and households.
Let's pretend that $5 gas doesn't matter this time because of the $20 a month "tax break" and the "recovering economy" (heard on CNBC this afternoon).
Let's pretend that milk is $1.75 a gallon, eggs are .69 cents a dozen, and that ice cream actually comes in 1/2 gallon containers.
Let's pretend that the Kleptoligarchy of Frankenstein business and his white wavy-streaked hair Bride of Frankenstein Government and Judiciary care about our right to property, speech, self-defense, and liberty.
Personally I'm out of pretend, but the MSM, the sheeple, and our Idiocracy isn't and the droogs are busy washing down Soma tablets with chugs of milk-plus.
They are all Mad Hatters and March Hares.
"A Clockwork Orange" meets "Brave New World" meets "Alice in Wonderland".
Brave New World for the complacent and obedient, 1984 for the trouble makers.
Well written...
Tyler: We have guest post material here...
Let's pretend we're not borrowing a trillion dollars a year through Federal deficeit spending alone. How many jobs will a trillion dollars buy you? 5 million if each job costs you $200,000. Subtract that from the numbers and then we have a starting point.
There can't be a real economic recovery because of the worldwide labor glut where billions are willing to work for $25/day w/o benefits, 12 hours/day, 6 days per week, living 20 per dorm room w/o twitter, MTV, student aid, smartphones, etc. No Company will ever expand in the highest cost most regulated countries. If there was a real recovery, Treasury would not have reported the record highest monthly deficit in history with over 50% of all Govt spending now coming from new debt. Yes, there are new temp, part time min wage jobs but those will quickly be outsourced to the lowest wage least regulated countries. So stay in school, runup your student debt, get a 3 yr worthless masters degree, get our parents to co sign so they also will be screwed. Via la Central Planners who control the world.
I am willing to admit that the unemployment rate may be improving, at least temporarily (until the next oil shock hits or another bubble bursts). But that tells you nothing about the quality of the employment, or the quality of the society at large.
If you heard that unemployment was 0% in the Congo, would you decide their economy is booming, it's paradise, and you will move there?
Moreover, it tells you nothing about full vs. part time, quality of jobs, matching people with their skills, etc. Like if you previously had a solid paying middle class job and now you're wiping butts in nursing homes. Or if you have hundreds of thousands in student debt and are flipping burgers.
Anybody who actually pays attention has to come to the conclusion that American Empire is on a steady, downward trajectory. America is a country filled with all sorts of wrong headed, stupid ideas, like permanent war in the M.E., permanent devaluation of its currency, permanent dilution of its culture through immigration from around the world, permanent political gridlock, permanent income disparity, permanent deluded "optimistic" thinking without looking at facts.
Nothing changes for the better in this country anymore, I can sense it. Everything has been done to death. The people look tired and fat or anxious and drugged up, the TV and magazines are full of shit, the same old things happen year after year. There's nothing new, nor is there any cathartic release that allows us to build something different from new foundations.
Zombieland.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?*
*Someone else posted that line yesterday. Forgot who, but I lov it.
Robo, the man with the most negs, is also the man who is right most of the time!
Let's see more Keynesian is 'stupid' posts --even though its really Monetarism ZH bloggers are talking about. If one does not understand this ZH double speak, here is a simple explanation:
Keynesian is simply an idea that government can tax the rich and then spend on things that benefit the little people such as jobs. "We can't give people the idea the the government could actually spend money on them, could we?"
Monetarism on the other hand carries with it different connotation. Monetarism is money printing. But, the little people see very little money, yet they hear all these stories how much money Keynesians are printing and are led to believe that Keynesian can't do anything for them. "We tried it, it didn't work, look at all the debt!"
The truth is that Government is following Milton Friedman's monetarist theories to bail out the financial sector and debt holders. Keynesian has been dead in US since 1970s.
Keynesianism and Monetarism met at the FED, fornicated on Wall Street in broad daylight, and birthed their bastard child named "Fuckupsocietyism" at the Supine Court on 06/06/1966. Running rampant ever since.
There were, of course, many bastards before this, like the Homunculus born on Jekyll Island, but you get the idea.
I agree. They've been bailing out the rich (banksters) by borrowing from the working class (taxpayers). It sure sounds like Milton Friedman, Chicago skool Shock Doctrine to me.
lets pretend you're part of the pointonepercent
http://PointOnePercent.tumblr.com (live cam of St. Barts Gustavia Harbor) (live cam don't work with internet explorer)
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?level0=100 (live yacht positions in Gustavia)
compare and contrast
Ahhhh, a perfect webcam to site in that shoulder launched heat seeking missile Tim Osman got me from the FBI...
With "Guillotine I" scrawled on its side...
What's more disturbing is the lengths to which this deranged media complex gets their knickers in a twist trying to justify all the garbage coming out of the Ministry.
These are disturbing times---a corrupt oligarchy in power and a complicit media that is all but in their back pocket.
It's all the MSM can talk about today.... How great everything is. Now that Super Tuesday is behind us, let the re-elect Obama campaign swing into full speed ahead. 2012 will be the year of lies and deception. Nothing you read or hear from the MSM will be real or make any sense. Check out this headline from The Sac Bee today, State's jobless rate falls to 10.9%; Sacramento's rises to 11.3%... If you read the article here is what they say....
"California's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nearly three years in January, even though job growth stalled out, state officials said today."
Now read the next paragraph...
"Statewide unemployment dropped to 10.9 percent, down three-tenths of a point from December, the Employment Development Department said. It was the first time since April 2009 that the rate was below 11 percent, said senior economist Dennis Meyers of the state Department of Finance."
And then the follow up...
"On the other hand, payrolls actually shrank by 5,200 in January. The payroll figures are based on a different survey than the unemployment numbers"???? A different survey??? Who's flippin survey???
WTF... How does the rate miracously drop when the payrolls drop by 5200??? Riddle me that Batman...
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/09/4324692/states-jobless-rate-falls-to-109.html#storylink=cpy
I am going to have to report this thread as racist to the "See Something, Say Something" program. J-Nap will be quite interested.
/sarc/
Ah the good old days, when you were guaranteed a job in the fields, shoulder-to-shoulder, with your fellow serfs slaves comrades global citizens.
Reading things like this give me a temporary case of Tourette's Syndrome.
Let's pretend the employment picture in Amerikkka is back to what the Fed likes to call "full" employment - 5% unemployment.
Let's pretend that we're back to July 2006 levels, when the U-3 rate was @ the magical 5%-mark.
Let's pretend the civilian labor force participation rate is at July '06 level, 66.9%.
Let's pretend the employment-population rate also matches that of July '06, 63.6%.
For these three data points to be matched by our current levels of civilian population and civilian labor force, our labor force participation number would have to be 162,189,000, a full 8 million above the current 154,114,000. And, the number of employed would have to be 154,188,160, which as you see is higher than our entire current civilian labor force, and over 14 million higher than our current number of employed, which stands at 140,684,000.
And the number of those not in the labor force would need to be 80,246,000, or over 8 million less than the current figure of 88,332,000.
Pretending is such fun, isn't it?
July 2006
Wow! I just got a liars loan on a $1.8 million Pasadena CA 2 bedroom 960 sq foot house with no money down...
Good Times!
And I don't even have a job! Just a pulse...
Thanks Tangelo Mozilo!
Though finding the relevant stats would not be easy (the Fed does not appear to track them, at least in any easily retrievable form) --
more info would be relevant to the "employment" picture
such as:
(1) the prison population and its growth (world's highest)
(2) the increasing population of retirement age (>65) actually not in labor force
Wow that headline is funny, over 2 million new jobs since the middle of last year. Pretty swet that using the real unadjusted data from the BLS it shows that there are 1.7 million fewer jobs at the end of February as there was in December. So in two months the economy actually lost 850k averaged for each month so far in 2012.
KEEP ON beLIEving!!!!
at the very least, I've heard that with a record $53 billion deficit last month that the 227,000 odd, disputed, negligible and possibly nonexistent jobs were purchased at $1,800,000 apiece. maybe all those newly employed phantoms could be fitted with Chevy Volts which were manufactured at +$100,000 each, sold for $40 some odd thousand dollars mostly to owner/dealers who, pocketing the $7,000 incentive rebates, ran them back out to the lot with pre-owned stickers. such is the stuff of an economic recovery.
Everyone should apply for jobs building yachts, making Rolex watches, building 100k cars, building Lear Jets, farming Sturgeon and producing beluga caviar, selling gyros on the beach in the Hamptons, shining shoes on Wall Street, etc. There are plenty of jobs. The job market is booming.
Peak oil has everything to do with this I believe. It's going to get shit loads worse.
Why does tne BLS mess with unemployment numbers? They should just say that there is no unemployment as the govt now classifies the people without jobs as non-citizens. Unemployment rate is now 0. if you disagree we have a jail cell for you. At least you get benefits as a prisoner.
Whether you have work that pays or not you still should work at what you like to do. To maintain a balanced psyche at least eight hours per day with two 15 minute meditation breaks are recommended. Jogging afterwards for 30 minutes will help relieve any lingering stress. And remember AA is always there as an alternative to drug and alcohol abuse.
Wow, that was the most therapeutic laugh I have had in years! Think I will have a scotch and a cuban to wind down the day now.
You know what scares me is this. I walk into the other office across the street and the boss and I are talking about Greece. The two secretaries chim in and say and I am quoting this, "Whats going on in Greece?." I shook my head and left. My boss knew some of what was going on.
Most people do not even know what is going on. My purchasing clerk comes back from lunch and started talking about how great Obama was doing with unemployment. You just cannot make this stuff up! Thanks for opening my eyes ZH and alot of the commenters here. Salute!
you're part of the 5%. Welcome to being a nut to the other 95%
Its like when I was in Atlantic City at a bar having a pint 3 mths ago, and had my "They Took Our Jobs" shirt. The bartneder asks, "Hey, man, who took your job?" and I kvetched to him that the government and DOJ, backed by casino corporate lobbyists, had axed online poker since 4/15/2011 and I couldn't play online poker anymore and hence, took my job.
He goes, "Really? Oh man, that sucks! You young poker guys come in all the time, great tippers!"
The fucked part? There was a USA Today sitting AT THE BAR with Howard Lederer/Chris Ferguson face on it as the lead story after the DOJ came out and charged them iwth a ponzi scheme. It was also all over ESPN.
It's not even enough that the MSM is hiding/buring stories.....people aren't even BOTHERING to read them. But hey, that bartender probably has a wife, kids, and a life...I don't blame him NOT taking 25-30 minutes out of his hectic day to read a paper. People just don't have the time to PROPERLY consume media. It's all headlines, quick clips, and hit shot opinion pieces.
My father, and his father, always took out 30-45 minutes a day to read the paper. I've obviously picked up this as well. I do so at work to read zerohedge, naked capitalism, and even MSM (always good to know what the bullshit the Ministry of Truth is peddling.
The death of journalism started when advertising took over the sector. Basically dominates the landscape and allows for more government interference with how and what the general public sees. With watered down media, you get mostly watered down media consumers (this was WAY more prevalent during the Bush era and their wars, but Obama and the economic fudging is also lame). Unless you studied PR (like me), it REALLY is a nintellectual challenge to question the bullshit.
Like in the METRO today in Boston (free paper with mostly AP/Reuters stories handed out on the MBTA), there was a headline, "Household debt goes up, signals potential economic recovery".
Read that again. Households going into more debt=recovery. WTF?
That's why the government sees Twitter as a threat. You might stumble upon a story that an actual JOURNALIST around the world posted, that will open up your eyes.
Dude, they thought you were talking about Grease, the musical ... They probably thought they might want to see it again if the role of Danny, Sandy or Rizzo was filled with someone interesting.
Grease is the word,
Is the word that you heard,
It's got groove,
It's got meaning .....
I wonder what Oboner is going to promise us this election cycle? He will make sure that flowers will be painted on your ceiling and a govt worker will actually come to your house and blow real smoke up your ass.
Howie Carr (Boston talk show host: www.howiecarr.us ) just mentioned this article.
There goes the neighborhood ;-)
- Ned
Speaking of "Let's Pretend": I'm so god-damned mad I could puke:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mf-global-still-set-to-pay-bonuses.html
Don't read this on a full stomach. The thieves are about to get a fucking bonus.
Only in Amerika..
I saw that too and thought it worth posting. Bonuses all around at MFG! Whooohooo!
Amazing how far they can stretch the 28 "un-recovered" cents of the customer's stolen dollar.
Look at it this way: you can feed a starving kid in Africa for two dollars a day, or for 28 cents you can keep a banker in the Hamptons. Which is better value for the money?
i needed a good anti-bullshit elixir today - thank you charles
How come MDB hasn't troll loled on this post???
The number of unemployed shouldnt be so important, in determining if a country is in crisis or not. Germany had full employment in 1920/21, while inflation went through the roof
If you look at the country in the context of "unemployment", then today might look OK. If you look at it from the standpoint of "gainful employment", we just threw another shovelful of dirt on top of the people employed in our Restaurant and Hotel Service Economy.
"Here's your part-time and/or shitty paying job. Enjoy it, because this isn't a short detour, it's going to be your job for the rest of your life."
I have come to the conclusion that the solution is right in front of us.. that the Invisible Hand is still hard at work. we just don't get it yet.
Each month you work your max available 20 hrs/wk at your shitty job. With the other hours you buy some downloaded iShit, and also buy a share of AAPL.
Once every Qtr you sell a shr of AAPL. Since you can be sure it went up, you then use the profits to eat and pay for gas and electricity.
This has been Ben's plan from the beginning. Work less and invest for monthly income in an equity market which goes up without end. Expect the Central Banks to do a Musical Chairs version of money printing. Whoever is left standing when the music stops each year, prints during the next round of music.
The math on it seems a little fucked and at some point you may starve to death..
.. but the important thing is that you'll be buying the AAPL that I own.
Hopefully before this complete charade ends, so i won't spend my remaining days wiping the asses of people in a retirement home or on a yacht.
Thank you for any consideration.