Thread: Job Losses and Oil Surge Spread Economic Gloom

Originally Posted by Migi e!

Maybe the liberals (mccain included) will start using common sense & realize that we need to drill & build refineries.

Hopefully, instead we will start a "space race" effort to overhaul our industry to be more fuel efficient and develop alternative energy sources.

If Obama announced such a plan for energy as Kennedy did for space, he'd be a very wise candidate.

Originally Posted by Davocrat

According to Mikeyyyyyyy's link:
1939

• GNP rises 7.9 percent; unemployment falls to 17.2 percent.

To be precise.

In any democracy (for that matter in any form of government) 25% unemployment is just as unsustainable as 3.4% unemployment. If you need an explanation of that, I can tell you why. I just assumed that you all were smart enough to know that and I didn't feel like typing all that much right now.

I just paid 4.50 a gallon for gas.
$4.00 pkg Hot Dogs
$6.00 pint plain white yogurt

I don't know anyone who's salary has doubled or quadrupled in the last year. If you think our economy doesn't totaly suck, just save your propagandized economic indicators because down here where the metal meets the meat in the less than $100,000 year crowd it's getting tougher every day.

The government's statistics do not take into account those with marginal employment. They also manipulate the data to fit how they want us to interpret things. It should also be noted that when people stop looking for work, they are not included in these reports, hence the numbers appear lower than they actually are. The real numbers are somewhere around 14%.

People are feeling the effects of the economy. Meanwhile, our government will continue to grow, and they will continue to use our tax dollars to accomplish nothing. Federal spending has grown drastically under Bush, and there is no reason to expect that things will change anytime soon. And not all of the spending can be blamed on national security...which only accounts for 35% of the increase. Since 2001, education spending has doubled, poverty program spending has increased...it has jumped roughly 30% since 2001, while inflation has only went up 10%. The non-defense budgets under Bush are out of control. He put the Democrats to shame, but still advocates tax cuts. The tax cuts are meaningless, unless we cut spending!

And what about all the earmarks? Spending has went up 900% since the 90s. Have our salaries increased even remotely close to that? Whether we are technically in a recession or not should not matter. People's standard of living, and the fact that prices are rising on fuel and food is a concern of everyone...except for our government. We need to work together in demanding they get rid of the pork. There is no justification to raise taxes, when there is already way too much government waste.

Things are not good.

Originally Posted by mikeyy

Things are not good.

No...they are not. And they have the potential to get worse.

Originally Posted by uncommonman

I just assumed that you all were smart enough to know that...

How long have you been posting here? That's a dangerous assumption.

Actually according to FDR the effective unemployment rate during his administration prior to WWII was 1/5-1/3 he said so in his inaugural addresses and state of the union addresses. Thinly disguised begging (selling apples and such), wages in kind for agricultural workers and similar dodges really distorted unemployment figures. 25% actual unemployment from 1932-41 is quite possible but unverifiable. Oral histories do support such figures even when analyzed for distortions, statistics do not.

Point is, People believe there was far more unemployment. I can go with a 20% figure as accurate.

Originally Posted by mikeyy

Point is, People believe there was far more unemployment. I can go with a 20% figure as accurate.

The difficulty with stats is that the bureaucrats that compile them know that the wrong numbers can bring their employment to a screeching out therefore beyond certain narrow limits they get cooked. Witness the official inflation numbers we are currently getting, is there anyone on this board not living in mom's basement or in some cases the kid's attic who really believes that crap?