The nominations for the economic prediction of 2009 are in. But, first, a bit of background:
Friday’s unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics is anything but a green shoot. The official U-3 unemployment number is 10.2%. The broader and more comprehensive official unemployment number, the U-6, is at 17.5%. The U-6 counts all the people that want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, and all the people who dropped off unemployment benefits because their unemployment benefits ran out. John Williams at Shadowstats.com suggests that real unemployment is actually running at 22%, which, by our calculation, is approaching Great Depression unemployment numbers... The unemployment report may come as a surprise to those who have been following the Obama administration and mainstream economists like Paul Krugman.
Just an interesting anecdote: Krugman's nickname is Marxie the Mouthpiece (and I hear that's the appellation he prefers). So, without further ado, the nominees are:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2-vy8yno4BUq6LoZJz56jQznhkQ9E4lZb78OuXnCoi0hOq7_7vyUSs1ujl0KDrtvKg9L1zT1FRoLwMAacKwI_kuuu-5mpx-HvTETCOX1YXWD-SiKMXMoZIGHU-ty9eY89Kh8WQ/s400/091115-c-obama.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieIWxX_JaNnNWIdjWznf-CAwWfH5SfTz9dx0TxfGhG8NW56asnKwoqUCgm-GV693LLCXVf5w3X2VWTQ-mhw3q7E50OQjICTk5TGd-sdqhE7hNKhJurGQVYA8QnG9V3nacnE3xnqg/s400/091115-c-axelrod.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwDn6-BNkZucGxRrF7VNEfSVPj3E5VWXvlaX5eMHxOd2qfAAUaiuruu-Vs9tGl5mJ4Zl5oyyrwUCiqt0VVG-EowAe9RpHawrLzAuoxhyphenhyphenoz6-WuX_MUf1qydVZzhj_VpWjr3KgUA/s400/091115-c-krugman.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFoecBZEYMBTLP2CbZDqAvU4CUy0_aihXLN7OV3Oe5vGcqKeTwdEH0So_TAanR_fU99TX7loTwuWhJgb8F2d8WCDQ4vetaYpjCebZohegu_8uF6hvj6AT2d6KNXWKUt88mZRkdA/s400/091115-c-bernanke.jpg)
If the results of their failed experiments weren't so devastating, I'd be tempted to laugh. As it is, most of us feel like weeping.
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