The bipartisan status quo's jobless spin is dark and deep, while those of us on Main Street have miles to go before we sleep.
The propaganda from the MSM will be deep this (Friday) morning when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announces what should be a "very good" (if not "outstanding") February Employment Situation Report.
Hell, to at least some extent, even Paul Krugman slightly jumps the shark this morning, as he now writes of our economic woes with a little usage of the past tense...
How to Kill a Recovery
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
March 4, 2011
The economic news has been better lately. New claims for unemployment insurance are down; business and consumer surveys suggest solid growth. We’re still near the bottom of a very deep hole, but at least we’re climbing.
It’s too bad that so many people, mainly on the political right, want to send us sliding right back down again.
Before we get to that, let’s talk about why economic recovery has been so long in coming...
Yes, Professor Krugman, things are getting "better," as long as one ignores:
-- the inconvenient truth that most of these "new" jobs we're going to hear about later today, to use a technical term, "suck." (Last Wednesday, NY Times Economics Editor Catherine Rampell described this truth in great quantitative detail in her NY Times Economix blog post: "Higher-Paying Jobs Lost, but Lower-Paying Jobs Gained.")
-- record-breaking income inequality;
-- a housing crisis which is now eclipsing Depression-era levels;
-- unemployment rates among our nation's youth and minorities that are still hovering (some call this "stabilizing") at percentages last recorded in the 1930's, too;
-- record numbers of long-term unemployed, in general, falling off the government's radar, altogether;
-- rapidly escalating gas and food prices, while record numbers of us fall back upon food stamps just to survive;
-- ...and, oh yes...numbers from Gallup's most recent survey(s) of our country's unemployed and underemployed, published on Thursday, which completely contradict everything we're going to hear from the BLS on Friday morning.
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment Hitting 10.3% in February
Underemployment surged to 19.9% in February from 18.9% at the end of January
by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist
Gallup Organization
March 3, 2011
PRINCETON, NJ -- Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, hit 10.3% in February -- up from 9.8% at the end of January. The U.S. unemployment rate is now essentially the same as the 10.4% at the end of February 2010.
The percentage of part-time workers who want full-time work worsened considerably in February, increasing to 9.6% of the workforce from 9.1% at the end of January. A larger percentage of the U.S. workforce is working part time and wanting full-time work now than was the case a year ago (9.3%).
Underemployment Surges in February
Underemployment, a measure that combines part-time workers wanting full-time work with those who are unemployed, surged in February to 19.9%. This resulted from the combination of a sharp 0.5-point increase since the end of January in the percentage unemployed and a 0.5-point increase in the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work. Underemployment is now higher than it was at this point a year ago (19.7%).
The folks over at Gallup also note that the jobs situation deteriorated last month, stating: "There is essentially no difference between the unemployment rate now and the one at this time a year ago; January's rate, in contrast, showed a 1.1-percentage-point year-over-year improvement. This suggests that the real U.S. jobs situation worsened in February. That is, jobs are relatively less available now than in January."
They also take note of "...surging gas prices, budget battles at the federal and state level, and declines on Wall Street tend to explain the recent plunge Gallup recorded in consumer confidence. They also align with the continued "new normal" spending patterns of early 2011."
From my diary on February 17th...
...Austan Goolsbee, the chief economist for the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board and the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, knows that the nation's U.3 unemployment rate is actually a full percent or two higher than what he's spinning to the MSM every month. Then again, the Gallup Organization provides us with similar inconvenient truths on an ongoing basis, as well.
We hear talk of a "positive" economic outlook for our economy, but the truth is it's not our economy they're talking about. It's their economy; once you do a deeper dive and realize the government's numbers--and even our nation's G.D.P., itself--are myopically focused upon record corporate profits, and the "positive economic outlook" for the upper 10%-20% of our society during an ongoing, jobless recovery for the remaining 80%-90% of us.
Meanwhile, 10% of our population owns virtually all but a sliver of the marketable securities in this country while the housing market, which accounts for the single largest investment--by far and away--of the U.S. middle class, is still in a full-blown downward trajectory which has already surpassed the metrics of the Great Depression...
Yes, I'm sure the markets will rock 'n roll on Friday's economic news. As fellow Kossack gjohnsit recently pointed it out to us, if things keep going this well, pretty soon we'll be at a 0% unemployment rate!
As Bill Moyers recently noted it, "America Can't Deal With Reality -- We Must Be Exposed to the Truth, Even If It Hurts."
So, it is the truth which brings me back to the headline of this diary, where I ask the following question about the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Situation Report for February: Whose Employment Report Is That?
Then again, in reference to the headline of today's Krugman column, I was originally going to title this diary: "Whose Recovery Is That?"