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ECONOMY LARGER, JOBLESSNESS LOW, BUT CONSIDER THE INEQUALITY
Remember the good old days of just six years ago? The Chicago Tribune’s William Neikirk does:
It was Jan. 14, 2000, the start of another year, another century and another millennium. The economy was roaring along. The jobless rate was a low 4 percent. The “new economy” of young entrepreneurs energized markets with new tech companies that didn’t turn a profit. Nobody seemed to care, and excesses piled on top of excesses.
And then the bubble burst ...
Now, six years later, the Dow finally has surpassed its old closing high of 11,722.98, ending Tuesday at 11,727.34, thanks to an amazingly resilient economy driven by higher productivity and profits, lower tax rates and, crucially in recent weeks and days, a sharp decline from record oil prices. The Dow also set an intraday high of 11,754.55.
In current dollars, the economy is more than a third larger than six years ago, with gross domestic product, or annual output of goods and services, exceeding $13 trillion. Joblessness still is low at 4.7 percent.
Brace yourself for Neikirk’s devastating “but”:
But much has changed about the U.S. economy since the boom and the subsequent bust. Inequality within American society has grown. The budget deficit is looming as a major problem as the Baby Boomers begin to retire. Health-care costs have skyrocketed. The savings rate is negative as people go deeper in debt or use home equity loans to pay for purchases. Energy costs have surged until recent weeks.
And a Republican has been in office since 2001, which tends to have a curious magnifying effect on any news that may be spun as bad.
Step 1.
Import 30 million semi-literate, unskilled workers who are not economically viable even in their home country.Step 2.
Observe that close to 50% of their children drop out of school.Step 3.
Complain about economic inequality.Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2006 10 07 at 11:01 AM • permalinkNow, six years later, the Dow finally has surpassed its old closing high of 11,722.98, ending Tuesday at 11,727.34, thanks to an amazingly resilient economy driven by higher productivity and profits, lower tax rates and, crucially in recent weeks and days, a sharp decline from record oil prices. The Dow also set an intraday high of 11,754.55.
In current dollars, the economy is more than a third larger than six years ago, with gross domestic product, or annual output of goods and services, exceeding $13 trillion. Joblessness still is low at 4.7 percent.
This is simply terrible news. By the looks of things the US is in rapid decline and we in Oz must buckle our belts
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 10 07 at 11:07 AM • permalinkPeople are buying stuff for less than they’re worth to them, but people are selling stuff for more than they’re worth to them.
Each side screws the other on the same transaction! It’s greed. Each side extracts profit from the other!
A stronger government is needed to prevent this.
People on the dole need the same opportunity.
ErnieG
Hmm - I jst filled my tank in Oz and it was $1.12 /litre
How many litres in a gallon? About four?
It’s all the baby Boomers retiring this weekend that’s caused this here
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 10 07 at 11:45 AM • permalinkNo shit. When you don’t get headlines like “Unemployment drops to 4.6%” but instead get “Fewest number of jobs created of past 12 months; forecasts not met”, you know there’s a Republican president and Congress.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 10 07 at 11:47 AM • permalinkBut much has changed about the U.S. economy since the boom and the subsequent bust. Inequality within American society has grown. The budget deficit is looming as a major problem as the Baby Boomers begin to retire. Health-care costs have skyrocketed. The savings rate is negative as people go deeper in debt or use home equity loans to pay for purchases. Energy costs have surged until recent weeks. The damn cat died. My mother in law is coming to stay, for fucking forever. My boss is a prick. My toe hurts. I enjoyed my Doctor’s rectal exam and he’s cute. My brother told me just this morning, that Mom was a hooker. I have a root canal scheduled for this afternoon. OWWWWWWWWW, God damn it! Just caught my dick in my zipper.
Ushie
We are investing our money in our kids
“You need money to pay that huge bill son?”
“OK - there goes another $500”
“You need $1,000 to pay the rent???”
“OK darling boy - here’s half my retirement money”
We are working really hard to get on that darned pension
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 10 07 at 01:31 PM • permalinkUshie
We’re past the big spending thing really - we have everything needed
Yes some of our stuff is archaic - like our ‘60s turntable and our ‘70s furniture
But we do not just shop for the sake of shopping
And yes our kidlets ( 4 - 2 each from our previous relationships) have been instructed severely that it is there job to care for us when we can’t use the keyboard anymore!
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 10 07 at 02:19 PM • permalinkThis is the biggest bunch of hooey since, well, the 30’s. The unemployment rate was higher in 1939 than it was in 1933, even after 6 years of “peace” and raw socialism.
I am not sure what motivates these people other than the desire for power. Prosperity on a level unimaginable in the rest of the world is available here for anyone who wishes to participate. It is stunningly obvious to anyone who cares to look. It doesn’t matter what color you are, what gender you are or whether you even speak English. If you want to work hard and keep your nose clean, you will prosper. Even if you don’t, there is a safety net that will keep you at a level better than 99% of the rest of the world. The Left just wants to run it is all, and they will spout any amount of quite frankly abominable crap to be able to do so.
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 10 07 at 02:57 PM • permalinkRemember the good old days of just six years ago?
Once I wrote a broadsheet, I made it run
I made it run against blogs
Once I wrote a broadsheet, and now it’s done
Buddy, can you spare a dime?Posted by andycanuck on 2006 10 07 at 03:34 PM • permalinkI just called all my serfs in from the field and asked them. They don’t feel unequal at all. Well, not as long as they have wronwright’s example to make them feel better.
Note to wronwright: Exactly WHAT again did we ask you to do with Foley’s hard-drive…?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 10 07 at 04:24 PM • permalinkandycanuck unless you looked in the right place (Blomburg’s for instance) and quickly you missed that in Sep the DoL ‘adjusted’ employment figures (as they do every year) and found an addition 681,000 (IIRC) jobs that had not been registered during the past year. So that jobs report wasn’t even as bad as they’d like to think.
Picture that headline: ALMOST 700,000 NEW JOBS CREATED!
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2006 10 07 at 05:11 PM • permalink#6 Aussiemagpie;
Hmm - I jst filled my tank in Oz and it was $1.12 /litre
That would be $0.83US. How nice for you.
How many litres in a gallon? About four?
3.785 liters per U.S. gallon. (4.55l per imperial gallon.)
So you paid about $4.24(AUS)/gal. (U.S.), or $5.09 (AUS) per imperial gallon.
That would be $3.15(US)/gal (US). I paid $2.49/gal a couple days back, and we’ve got some of the highest priced gas in the country here in the SF Bay area. Better than it was a few weeks ago, though.
They keep saying that as the Baby Boomers retire, they’re going to drag the economy down. Not so. It’s going to be a workers’ economy and job market, I’m telling you.
I went through stretches in my younger life when I couldn’t get a permanent job to save my soul. Now that I’m retired, people keep thrusting part-time jobs at me, desperate to find somebody. Everybody I know but me who’s my age, has a job. Baby Boomers, apparently, are going to keep working until they drop (not me though), and then the labor shortage will keep the economy humming and the unemployment figures way down for a very long time.
What does it matter who’s rich and who’s poor when we’re all going to be dead in 50 years from rising seas and world-wide famine (unless that maniac George Bush gets us all nuked first—in which case I’m heading for Oz because, you know, I’ve seen On the Beach).
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 10 07 at 06:15 PM • permalinkHey, Richard, how many “Republican=pedophile” signs did you see at the protest last night?
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 10 07 at 06:21 PM • permalinkInequality in America. Some facts.
-Only 5.1% of the poorest fifth of Americans in 1975 were still in that quintile in 1991. 30% of them were now in the wealthiest quintile and 60% were in the top two quintiles.
-On average, those who fall below the poverty line stay there for 4.2 months.
-Only 4% of the lowest quintile have been poor for more than two years.The simple fact is that the rich and getting richer and the poor are getting richer. Does it matter who is getting richer faster, as long as life is getting better for everybody?
By the way, it has been found that - on average - 1% of GDP growth represents a growth in income for the poor of 1%. It’s as simple as that.
#20 - RebeccaH, My Chief retired a few weeks back, thinking he HOPED he could get a part-time job to supplement the pension (we’ve paid off everything but the house, re-fied the SAME old house with under $500 payment). He’s now owner/operator of a handyman/odd job/custom upholstery&leatherworks; company. AND has 2 part-time jobs that will give us pocket money. He’s been offerred 3 or 4 other jobs because he has a work ethic that seems to be difficult to find in the younger generation. Not bad for a former hippie/biker/Sailor!
Life Is Good in the USA, far as I can see, though you’d never know it from the mainstream media…which is why I get my info from my favorite internet sites & pay no attention to their blather.
Also, in March this year CNN reported that: “Between 2001 and 2004 (the most recent year for which data are available), incomes of the poorest 20 percent of families increased ... Basically, the poorest families’ share of total incomes grew…”
At townhall.com, Bruce Bartlett writes about a study which tracked economic class over 30 years and finds that everybody was getting richer. He also cites a NY Times article which reaches the same conclusion.
Cato.org reports that in 2001, only 1.5% of working Americans held multiple jobs; that poverty in America is decreasing; that 65% of unemployed people found work within three months; that the cost of necessities has fallen (which is great news for poorer families but has little effect on wealthier families) and that the middle class was growing.
Life is getting better in America. The people who don’t want to accept these facts are the same ones who want to guilt and shame people on other issues. Liberals no longer join the debate with a view to finding ways to make life better but simply to make people feel like shit.
They make me sick.
26 Auntie, retired Sailor myself. In the first year, I had so many job offers, I couldn’t keep em straight.
Of course, that was in the compassionate Clinton administration. Now cuz of Bushitler and his greed, my family and I (well, what family I have left after Rove starved them by cancelling the school lunch program) are huddled around a burning 55 gallon drum full of free heating oil provided by Hugo Chavez trying to stay warm. The rest of our time is spent taking turns saving a place in the line for the soup kitchen that the DNC has set up. Bless them!
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 10 07 at 07:22 PM • permalink#s 26,28. Must be something about the older generation.
My dad had 21 years in the army, then another decade and a half (or so) in defence support. When he retired, he got bored in no time and went out and got himself another job. This one not related to the forces at all, just for something different.
My mum had the same situation. She would retire after 5 years in one job because she got bored, then 6 months later she’d have a part time job which turned into an offer for fulltime work, and a few years later she’d move on again. She was a payroll genius like no other, so even when she was on her deathbed (literally) she was still getting calls from the temp agency because they needed and wanted her skills.
I’ve also noticed here that Maccas have a fair few older people in the store.
Funny about that work ethic thing, eh.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 10 07 at 07:38 PM • permalinkAll I know is 35 years ago my mother cooked for me, bought my clothes, tied my shoes, and drove me everywhere I went.
Now I have to do all the crap MYSELF! Don’t tell me about increased standards of living. All because of Reagan, Bush, and most of all Chimpy Bushitler.
Posted by Shaky Barnes on 2006 10 07 at 07:55 PM • permalink#28: Speaking of Hugo Chavez: he received some severe criticism from this Brooklyn-based scholar. Language alert .
H/T to Babalu , which is also reporting that Fidel Castro has terminal cancer.
That’s because they’re making delusional jobs that make lots of money by doing nothing take for example “consultants”.
See also actors, artists.
And BTW, the “savings” quoted in the paper does not refer to money in the bank. Economists call that wealth. Savings, to them, has something to do with the difference between earnings and spending. Just more misleading ‘reporting’ from the MSM.
#17 Richard McEnroe
I just called all my serfs in from the field and asked them. They don’t feel unequal at all. Well, not as long as they have wronwright’s example to make them feel better.
They’re called “minions” Richard. And those foremans out there? “Henchmen” or “fascists-in-training” if you prefer. By the way, we’ve rebedded the roses and applied a different color of mulch. We’ve installed the Italian water fountain that you
brazenly stolethoughtfully relocated from Baghdad due to traffic safety concerns and dug the reflecting pool. Actually we’ve done everything you’ve instructed except for installing the hedgerow labyrith. Really Richard, is this something you’re sure about? I have a bad feeling about this.Note to wronwright: Exactly WHAT again did we ask you to do with Foley’s hard-drive…?
Well, let’s put it this way. There is an old old saying that goes back to the days of Ancient Ur: One never fucks around with Karl Rove and the fool who does will rue the day he was born.
Foley attended the Republican golf outing a couple weeks back. You know, the one held in the secret neocon golf course that everyone else thinks is the Arlington Cemetary. While taking a pause for the traditional 9th hole chug-a-keg-of-mead-and-belch, he remarked that Karl’s lime green Polo shirt looked gay. The President laughed and Rumsfeld actually spilt mead through his nose laughing so hard.
Now I must mention right off that those rumors that Karl does not have a sense of humor are entirely wrong. He does have one, albeit of a rather intellectual style with most of the punch lines containing references that only a walking encyclopedia like MentalFloss would understand. (I usually just laugh, at the same degree of shaking that Cheney does and hope it’s not a “it was chocolate pie!!!” joke).
Karl also enjoys the occasional joke at his expense. As long as he planned the joke. You know what I mean? I mean to say, he actually hands out scripts to us and we have to give the lines and do what it says exactly how it instructs us. And at the end we can all enjoy the good humor of seeing Karl being placed in a silly dilly situation. As long as Karl says how silly dilly the silly dilly situation is.
That is not what happened here. When Fooley made his gay remark, Karl responded with a slight smile. You know, that smile. At that point everyone stopped laughing and looked away. Except for that doofuss Foley who then proceeded to remark that Karl’s shorts made his ass look rather largish. And maybe curvy. And then he say, inviting.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Suddenly a pall comes over the whole golf course. I mean the whole golf course. Even the part beyond hearing range. Even the freaking birds and squirrels stopped their activity, just frozen with shock.
Everything just froze. I mean everything. The President. Cheney. The SS. And I don’t think it was of our volition. I couldn’t move. I felt like I was in an episode of The Outer Limits when time just froze. And the cold. It was so cold. Oh it was bad.
Then Karl says “gay is it? You think my clothes make me look gay? Hmmm, we’ll see who looks gay”. At that point, Karl looked over to me, down on our fours holding the beer keg on my back of course. He nodded and gave me the Masonic secret signal and the code name of what diabolical plan was to be carried out.
I still shiver when thinking about it.
(drinks large gulf of Accadian mead)
Posted by wronwright on 2006 10 08 at 07:57 AM • permalinkUm, that should read “mead keg”, not beer keg. And “Akkadian”, not Accadian. Oh damn, I can’t think straight having to relive that nightmare.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 10 08 at 11:11 AM • permalinkUh, yes. “gulp”. That’s what I meant.
(shakes a bit)
Thanks ushie. It’s been a hard day.
(eye twitches, takes big gulf of mead)
Posted by wronwright on 2006 10 08 at 01:01 PM • permalink
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And my Starbucks drink went up a nickel! I’m in despair. Damn that Bushitler!