One can write lengthy essays, op-eds, and client letters explaining both why the labor force participation rate is plunging due to innocuous reasons such as everyone over 40 retiring yesterday full of jouissance and excitement to begin the sunset phase of their lives using copious life savings earning 0.0001% in interest, or, inversely, why this is one great big propaganda ploy by the BLS to make Obama look good a few short months ahead of the pre-election debt ceiling breach, pardon, his re-election date. We prefer cutting to the chase. Here is today's chart of the day from BofA, which begs one simple question: when will the two time series recouple, because recouple they will, and how will America react to the realization it was lied to for 2% worth of unemployment "improvement"? The chart says it all.I can just see Turbo Timmy now, screaming at anyone who will listen, "BUT WE BAILED THEM OUT! WE BAILED THEM OUT!! AND THEY JUST STAB US IN THE BACK!!!"
Monday, April 09, 2012
Merrill Lynch Chart Kerplodes the Administration's 'Official' Unemployment Number
The central bankers-slash-crony capitalists who run the financial system can't be happy with Bank of America's disclosure of the following:
Honestly, I do NOT understand the chart or the paragraph which precedes it. Help people like me who lack the necessary knowledge. Please, some extra commentary for us non-economists!
ReplyDeleteIt means that there is a huge chunk of the populace that has left the workforce. They aren't "unemployed" any more because they've given up looking.
ReplyDeleteIf you adjusted the unemployment rate to include these people (i.e. bring the orange and blue rates back together), unemployment would be revealed as over 10%. Which Obama can't have, so...
Another way to look at it is see how the two lines are relatively close together until Obama changed the formula to make the numbers look better.
ReplyDeleteSo in theory, when nobody has a job and all have given up looking, there will be 0% unemployment.
Hey, Merrill Lynch, how about drawing a chart that people can read? Simple charts are not supposed to be brain teasers.
ReplyDelete