Syria Obama economic diversion, September 9, 2013, Food stamp use soars, Labor force participation rate at 35 year low, Long term unemployed worse than 1970’s 80’s recessions
“I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States. This is not a political issue. It is a matter of his judgement, truthfulness, reliability, loyalty, and trust–all absolute tenets of command.”…REAR ADMIRAL ROY F. HOFFMAN, USN (RETIRED)
“Over the last six months, of the net job creation, 97 percent of that is part-time work,”…Keith Hall, former BLS chief
“I don’t oppose all wars,” “What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.”…Obama, antiwar rally downtown Chicago October 2002
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″
So why would Obama want us constantly thinking about a possible attack on Syria and chemical threats there?
From Zero Hedge September 8, 2013.
“Households On Foodstamps Rise To New Record High: More Americans Live In Poverty Than The Population Of Spain”
“There was much discussion of Friday’s “disappointing” non-farm payrolls goal-seeked, seasonally adjusted, X-13-ARIMA conceived jobs “number.” The conclusion was that it showed an economy which one year after the start of QEternity was growing nowhere near where the Fed has projected and hoped it would be at this time. But in addition to the BLS jobs number, there was another just as important number that was released on Friday: the monthly foodstamp (SNAP) participation update. There was no discussion of this particular number and for good reason. If the NFP number was at least meant to show some economic stability, if subpar, the monthly foodstamp update shows month after month that the greatest depression is nowhere near ending for millions of American living in poverty (83% of SNAP households have gross income at or below 100% of the poverty guideline ($19,530 for a family of 3 in 2013), and these households receive about 91% of all benefits. 61% of SNAP households have gross income at or below 75% of the poverty guideline or $14,648 for a family of 3 in 2013).
To wit: in June, the number of households receiving foodstamps rose to 23.117 million, an increase of 45.9k in one month, and also a new record high. As for the average monthly benefit per household: $274.55, just off record lows.”
Read more:
Another hard hitting article from the Greensboro News Record September 7, 2013.
“Just how sturdy is the U.S. job market?
That’s the key question the Federal Reserve will face when it decides later this month whether to reduce its economic stimulus.
The answer depends on where you look.
The economy has added jobs for 35 straight months. Unemployment has reached a 4 1/2-year low of 7.3 percent. Layoffs are dwindling.
Yet other barometers of the job market point to chronic weakness:
The pace of hiring remains tepid. Job growth is concentrated in lower-paying industries. The economy is 1.9 million jobs shy of its pre-recession level – and that’s not counting the additional jobs needed to meet population growth. Nearly 4.3 million people have been unemployed at least six months.
What’s more, employers have little incentive to raise pay. Many unhappy employees have nowhere else to go.
Still, when it meets Sept. 17-18, the Fed is expected to reduce its $85 billion a month in bond purchases by perhaps $10 billion. Its purchases have helped keep home-loan and other borrowing rates low to try to encourage consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more.
Here’s a look at the job market’s vital signs as the Fed’s decision nears:
UNEMPLOYMENT
The unemployment rate slid in August to 7.3 percent, its lowest level since December 2008. Unemployment had peaked in October 2009 at 10 percent and has since fallen more or less steadily. Since then, the number of people who say they have jobs has risen by 5.7 million. And the number of those who say they’re unemployed has dropped by nearly 4.1 million.
That’s the good news behind the tumbling unemployment rate.
But the rate has been falling, in part, for a bad reason: People are dropping out of the labor force. Once people without a job stop looking for one, the government no longer counts them as unemployed.
Some are retiring. Some are young adults who have chosen to go to college rather than brave a tough job market. Some have gone on disability. And some have given up the job search, discouraged by repeated rejections.
The percentage of people either working or looking for work – the so-called labor force participation rate – fell last month to a 35-year low: 63.2 percent. If the participation rate were at the pre-recession level of 66 percent, up to 6.8 million more people could be counted as unemployed. And the unemployment rate could be as high as 11.2 percent.
The 4 million-plus Americans who have been unemployed for six months or more are down from a peak of 6.7 million in April 2010. Yet before 2009, the United States had never seen long-term unemployment surpass 2.9 million, even during the deep recessions of the mid-1970s and early 1980s.”
Read more:
The above problems are motivation enough for Obama to divert our attention using a Syrian manufactured crisis.
Of course we know that Obama has many more reasons.
Citizen WElls 