The October jobs report was just released. It showed the economy losing 190,000 jobs last month, slightly worse than the -175,000 forecast. However, September’s job loss was revised to only -219,000 from -263,000, while August’s reading also improved to -154,000 from -201,000.
The unemployment rate spiked to 10.2% from 9.8%, well above the 9.9% forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg and the worst reading since April 1983. The “all in” unemployment rate that includes people marginally employed, those working part-time because they can’t find full-time work, etc., rose to 17.5%, the highest since they began tracking it in 1994.
Average hourly earnings were a bright spot, up 0.3% against a forecast for +0.1%. But average weekly hours held at 33, tying the worst level in U.S. history (the data goes back to 1964). The diffusion index, which measures how many industries are shedding jobs vs. how many are adding them, weakened to 33.8 from 37.5.
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Mike,
Think about it. Many of these guys are as rich as Midas, and they are not as dumb (at least near the top of the heap) as people like to thing. I was a journalist and Public Servant for many years; I have an MBA; and if there is one thing I have learned it’s that if smart people seem to be doing really dumb things, look closer. There is something else going on. Not once in my career has that Mantra failed me.
Ask yourself, not settling for the answer that this is political (too easy), why would these guys do what they are doing and having seen their economic model fail for three decades; having seen Greenspan with tears in his eyes admit before a public hearing, the model was flawed; why would they just carry on in the same way. They know what Einstein had to say about that - going the same thing and expecting a different result is insane. That begs the question - what are they doing?
Take your analysis one step further. Like the law of gravity, we know how this ends. So do they. So why are they, the nation’s elite bent on destroying the existing order…dollar by dollar? Or, since why is a question to which there is no answer. Think about what it is they are trying to accomplish by taking the country over a cliff a second time? They have no fear politically - both parties in power behave identically. They have no fear of the media - it has sold it credibility and relevance to the public.
These people would not knowingly destroy the existing system without what they believe to be a very good reason. Your job, as someone still in harness, and publishing a newsletter is to find out. Take another turn on the rope and out them. What are they really so determined to achieve by what, on the surface seem political, stupid, greedy actions - but when considered more closely, cannot be that?
What is really going on here?
There is nothing good about the numbers, no matter what bright spots they try to highlight. I have three degrees, including one advanced degree, and can’t find a good job. I have some crappy jobs but not a good job, and I’m not the only one. Of course, I live in Phoenix, which really was hit hard because the economy here is so dependent on construction and home building. The best I can find is an $18/hr job as a mortgage loan processor. Those are the jobs that are being created now, low-level, sweatshop mortgage jobs to process loan modifications (AKA Obama loans). It’s a joke. Our standard of living is being reduced, and I see no end in sight, no matter how the media spins it. In addition, the so-called improvement in housing numbers is all “smoke and mirrors.” A broker in Phoenix who does a local radio show on Sundays talked yesterday about how the NAR inflates the pending home sales numbers. This is a broker whose “bread and butter” depends on selling homes. I have a current but inactive real estate license in Arizona, and I still get numerous e-mails in my inbox every day on homes that are being reduced (even on the very low end). Bottom line: The Ministry of Truth (media and government) are doing everything to convince you that everything is good. It’s not. Time will tell, and I know what it’s going to tell.