What people get admired and appreciated for in community are their soft skills: their sense of humor and timing, their ability to listen, their courage and honesty, their capacity for empathy.
M. Scott Peck
Obama Rejoices at the New Numbers:
Nonfarm Payroll +236,000 Unemployment 7.7%
Before going on, the stock market rejoiced over yet another multi-year high. Let Louis Armstrong set the mood:
Of course, given a zero-growth economy, you might expect something in the fine print: "In February, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about unchanged at 4.8 million. These individuals accounted for 40.2 percent of the unemployed. The civilian labor force participation rate, at 63.5 percent, changed little. " And let's us recall the official unemployment (U-3) rate last Sept. stood at 7.8%.
John Williams' ShadowStats has an alternate perspective:
The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.
The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.
Those who track the quality composition of the jobs, as opposed to just the quantity, will know that the part and full-time jobs breakdown has long been a major issue. And not unexpectedly, in February according to the Household Survey, the number of full-time jobs declined by 77K from 115,918 to 115,841. The offset: a jump in part-time workers which rose from 27,467 to 27,569, or 102K. Part-time jobs, for those who are unaware, are "jobs" only in the broadest of definitions.
But the most surprising development in February from a quality standpoint was that the number of multiple job-holders rose by a massive 340K, which just happens to be a record. One wonders: how many actual people got new jobs, as opposed to how many qualified single individuals ended up getting more than one job in February in order to boost that much needed weekly income to sustainable levels.
And for those wondering how much better we're doing this year versus last year and how much bang for the buck we're getting from trillion dollar deficits, Durden adds this in another post:
In other words, the first two months of 2012 saw a 582,000 increase in non-farm payrolls. In 2013: 355,000. But something else happened between February 29, 2012 and February 28, 2013... Oh yes, the US government issued some $1,198,397,883,967.30 in debt. Oh, and the Fed monetized about half of this amount, and virtually all of the Treasurys issued to the right of the ZIRP period (i.e., risky debt).My retirement nest egg hit an all-time high today, but I certainly don't really feel "richer". The effects of a world flush with paper dollars make themselves known in little ways: for example, a financial newsletter points out some differences between prices in 2007 and today:
The Ford F-150 [truck] is the bestselling vehicle in the United States. The base F-150 model retailed for $18,275 in 2007. Today, it retails for $23,670, a 30% increase. Rents – which were not directly connected to the big credit bubble – have gone up. A typical two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in downtown Atlanta, between Buckhead and Midtown, cost $1,075 per month in 2007. Today, it's $1,350 per month. The federal minimum wage at the beginning of 2007 was $5.15 per hour. Today, it's up 40%, to $7.25 per hour. [And they want to raise it higher!] Today, corn sits at $7 a bushel, 75% more expensive than it was six years ago. And we're still stupidly using food as a fuel. A barrel of oil cost $98 in 2007. Today, it's trading for $90. But gasoline has gone up. A gallon of gas (wholesale) in 2007 was $2.39. Today, it's $2.85. Why has gas gone up? Mostly because of political restrictions on building new refineries… but also because most of the existing refineries are designed to process sour crude, not the light, sweet crude we're producing domestically. Likewise, as a percentage of GDP, federal government spending has grown from 19% of GDP to more than 24%. States spend another 15% of GDP on top of this, pushing government in all forms to more than 40% of GDP. Total U.S. federal debt has gone from $9 trillion in the fall of 2007 to more than $16 trillion today. That's an increase from 65% of GDP to more than 103% of GDP. Gold has gone from $832 per ounce to around $1,500 per ounce. That represents an enormous decline in the dollar's purchasing power.Here's John Williams' take on CPI (an inflation number):
Mini-Drones: Coming Soon to a Location Near You
Michigan DNR v Farmers & Consumers
Add Crony Big Pork, the State of Michigan's DNR, Dept. of Agriculture and/or the USDA, and consumer lose a choice of healthy, tasty meat:
Let me quote from a recent relevant farm blog post:
The pig situation deepens. Mark was needing to process a group of our feeder hogs in January and decided to see if they would be OK through the USDA facility we’ve used before or if the vet would reject them. The reason he did this is that the state rejected the health paperwork done for a friend of ours and threatened the license of the vet who certified the pigs as healthy. Once an animal is in a USDA kill facility it can not be released back to the farm. If it can’t go through for some reason (illness, injury, or a quality control issue), it must be disposed of or transferred directly to another USDA facility. This place had done Mangalitsas for us before, but now that our name would flag because of the lawsuit, Mark wanted to be sure he wouldn’t have to pay a “disposal fee” because his pigs may be deemed “feral.” Sure enough, the USDA inspector had a form listing the characteristics, with photos. The processing plant owner said Mark’s pigs could be tagged on the kill floor, and so he’d rather not deal with the problem. It would be a major problem for the plant and for Mark, and would cost them both considerable time and money. In both cases the state is making our veterinarians the enforcers by threatening their license to practice if they break rank. What is also disconcerting about both situations is they involve agencies other than the DNR, agencies that deal with farms that raise animals for USDA slaughter: the Michigan Dept. of Ag and the United States Dept. of Ag. Wait a minute, you may say, the DNR simply wants to stop the flow off the hunting preserves, they aren’t after traditional type farmers. HA! Only a farm such as ours uses a USDA processing facility. Hunting operations use custom exempt shops that do animals for the owner’s use. Our farm is basically embargoed. We can raise all the pigs we want, but can not move them out to our market. That cuts off cash flow, effectively starving the farm financially and the pigs practically.Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Robert Ariail and Townhall |
All tours of the White House have been canceled due to budget concerns. Don't worry, there's another way get into the White House if you don't belong. Fake your birth certificate. - Craig Ferguson
[Or instead of buying two consecutive elections each with nearly $1B in campaign money, you "donate" a mere $500K or more to
President Obama took a group of Republicans to dinner last night. And at the end of the meal, the president personally picked up the tab. Afterwards, Republicans said "Typical Democrat. Spend, spend, spend." - Conan O'Brien
[Of course, Obama had to personally pick up the tab. Did you think any of the Republicans wanted to pass the bill? Of course, future taxpayers will actually pay for the dinner.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Journey, "Don't Stop Believing". One of my personal top 3's ("When You Love a Woman", "Separate Ways"). Memorable lyrics, melody and arrangement, and Steve Perry's pipes: what else do you need for pure pop rock magic?
