Post by unlawflcombatnt on Oct 3, 2015 13:32:28 GMT -6
Below is an excellent article by the Finance Examiner from the the examiner.com
Though he does an excellent job of describing the manipulation of the Unemployment numbers vs. the "Not-in-Labor-Force" numbers, his best point is regarding Federal Reserve action.
This is the 1st time I've seen anyone else point out that the Federal Reserve's zero-interest rate policies caused money to flow into the stock market and other paper assets, instead of into the production end of the economy. The easy money available to the super-rich promoted stock market investment, with ongoing hypervaluation of non-productive stock prices--which don't require any increase in real goods production to increase in value. Had it not been so easy to make ongoing paper gains with cheap investment capital, money might otherwise have flowed into real production--where increased valuation would not have occurred without increased productivity & production of goods.
www.examiner.com/article/fed-blames-94-million-americans-out-of-work-for-simply-not-wanting-a-job?CID=examiner_alerts_article
Fed blames 94 million Americans out of work for simply not wanting a job
Oct 2, 2015
Kenneth Schortgen Jr
Finance Examiner
"It has been a long time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published the real unemployment numbers for all Americans who fit the criteria of being able to work in the economy, but have not been able to find a job for one reason or another. Instead, the BLS has simply changed their data models numerous times since 1980, and now we have reached the point where there are actually more people between the ages of 16-54 who don't have a job versus those in that same age range who do.
And with the Federal Reserve using these BLS numbers as the catalyst for whether to raise interest rates after nine years of them being pushed down to near zero, one regional central bank on Oct. 2 laid the blame for there being over 94 million Americans out of work and not counted in the unemployment models as simply 'not wanting to get a job'.
The employment rate data that is compiled and published monthly is a vitally important parameter for many political and economic policies. When Barack Obama took over the Presidency in 2009, the country was in a severe recession and the unemployment rate was well over 10%. However, because the BLS only records Americans who have a full or part time job, or receive government benefits for being out of work, anyone who does not fit under these two categories are no longer even counted, despite the fact that most would like to find jobs where there are very few to fit their skill sets.
The real data shows that millions of skilled jobs have been cut and removed from the economy since 2008, with nearly all of these former positions having been replaced with minimum wage to lower income jobs. Thus because the higher paid jobs have been eliminated over the past seven years, many workers between the ages of 22-55 who have much greater living costs or debt loads to pay towards cannot survive on the jobs currently available in the 'new economy' created out of the 2008 credit crisis.
The Federal Reserve has to take much of the blame for 94 million Americans being unable to find decent jobs due to their quantitative easing programs, and near zero interest rate policies that made it easier for banks and corporations to put their money on Wall Street than to actually increase productivity and hire new workers. And as the dichotomy of a falling unemployment rate contradicts the fact that more people actually no not have jobs continues, a breaking point will eventually occur, and is a major reason why the central bank chose not to raise rates at their FOMC meeting last month."
Though he does an excellent job of describing the manipulation of the Unemployment numbers vs. the "Not-in-Labor-Force" numbers, his best point is regarding Federal Reserve action.
This is the 1st time I've seen anyone else point out that the Federal Reserve's zero-interest rate policies caused money to flow into the stock market and other paper assets, instead of into the production end of the economy. The easy money available to the super-rich promoted stock market investment, with ongoing hypervaluation of non-productive stock prices--which don't require any increase in real goods production to increase in value. Had it not been so easy to make ongoing paper gains with cheap investment capital, money might otherwise have flowed into real production--where increased valuation would not have occurred without increased productivity & production of goods.
www.examiner.com/article/fed-blames-94-million-americans-out-of-work-for-simply-not-wanting-a-job?CID=examiner_alerts_article
Fed blames 94 million Americans out of work for simply not wanting a job
Oct 2, 2015
Kenneth Schortgen Jr
Finance Examiner
"It has been a long time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published the real unemployment numbers for all Americans who fit the criteria of being able to work in the economy, but have not been able to find a job for one reason or another. Instead, the BLS has simply changed their data models numerous times since 1980, and now we have reached the point where there are actually more people between the ages of 16-54 who don't have a job versus those in that same age range who do.
And with the Federal Reserve using these BLS numbers as the catalyst for whether to raise interest rates after nine years of them being pushed down to near zero, one regional central bank on Oct. 2 laid the blame for there being over 94 million Americans out of work and not counted in the unemployment models as simply 'not wanting to get a job'.
The employment rate data that is compiled and published monthly is a vitally important parameter for many political and economic policies. When Barack Obama took over the Presidency in 2009, the country was in a severe recession and the unemployment rate was well over 10%. However, because the BLS only records Americans who have a full or part time job, or receive government benefits for being out of work, anyone who does not fit under these two categories are no longer even counted, despite the fact that most would like to find jobs where there are very few to fit their skill sets.
The real data shows that millions of skilled jobs have been cut and removed from the economy since 2008, with nearly all of these former positions having been replaced with minimum wage to lower income jobs. Thus because the higher paid jobs have been eliminated over the past seven years, many workers between the ages of 22-55 who have much greater living costs or debt loads to pay towards cannot survive on the jobs currently available in the 'new economy' created out of the 2008 credit crisis.
The Federal Reserve has to take much of the blame for 94 million Americans being unable to find decent jobs due to their quantitative easing programs, and near zero interest rate policies that made it easier for banks and corporations to put their money on Wall Street than to actually increase productivity and hire new workers. And as the dichotomy of a falling unemployment rate contradicts the fact that more people actually no not have jobs continues, a breaking point will eventually occur, and is a major reason why the central bank chose not to raise rates at their FOMC meeting last month."