Employment, jackals and the coming revolt
Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 01:26PM 
93% of Americans are working (I always like to look at the positive side). That's not good enough, but it's not terrible. New unemployment claims fell for the second straight week, but that's being written off as delayed claims because of the holidays.
It's difficult to determine the true state of the economy, including the shadow economy with people working outside the system, because all reports are so political and then there's the sensationalism factor with the media.
I wonder how the media will spin this same news in a couple of months? There will, no doubt, be an attempt by the media to timely report improvement so that Obama receives the credit, if things slightly improve, but I have a feeling the economy will be sluggish for some time to come.
We really aren't in THAT big of a crisis, if we had a free market. Some old industries need to go through a natural change and adjustment, but with 93% of the nation working, it's not the end of the world.
I think what's in trouble is government -- local, state and federal -- and the corporations that have fed off them. The rest of the economy, the huge part that wants to freely grow and produce, is going along in spite of obstacles. Cut government in half and let the fat corporations die or survive on their own and we ought to be okay by the end of 2009. Of course, this won't happen -- no, Obama's getting his FDR groove on and he's going to spend until he makes us sick. The Democrats are salivating like jackals over a limping wildebeest and it's up to us to stop them from prematurely attacking.
This is not a time to be begging for handouts -- it's time to buckle down and move forward. We aren't a nation of helpless dolts who need nickels and dimes from politicians. We've got two years of this stimulus nonsense, it appears, then a loud and clear message can be sent -- get out of the way and quit spending -- we've got it. It's too bad the Republicans have capitulated to statism, but I think in the next two years we'll see a move toward a more limited government. I might be full of it, but we'll see.
Reader Comments (2)
Unemployment Jumps to 7.2%!
Posted by Lew Rockwell at 08:15 AM
That's the headline. In fact, if the government still figured that statistic as it did before the manipulations of Reagan and Clinton, it would be more than 16%, as economist John Williams shows. All government economic statistics have serious theoretical problems, but as Murray Rothbard pointed out, the trend can tell us something, but only if the method remains the same. Government finagles with the method to try to hide its crimes of monetary depreciation and the resulting unemplyment-producing business cycle.
Yep, like I said it's difficult to determine the true state of the economy. I know longer trust the reports or the methods for gathering the information to report.