We have read about the unemployment rate being high. Really anything around six percent is pretty good and it is less than that now according to the statistics, but some politicians say it is terrible and others say it is reasonable. It depends upon which side of the isle you sit.
Our Washington geniuses claim they are working on finding more employment. We have lost 2.7 million jobs over the last 3 years. That doesn't matter if you are NOT one of them. Finger pointing by everyone in our capitol blames "the other guy", but especially China and India. The total of jobs going overseas is only 300,000 out of the 2.7 million. Where did the other 2.4 million jobs go?
As the economy slowed down in 2000 due to the increasing interest rates companies had to do something to keep profits. The work week could be shortened if you did not have a production line, but that doesn't work for service businesses. All unnecessary workers were laid off. As business contracted machines became idle and more people were chopped. But that was not enough. More production efficiencies were put in place so that fewer workers would be able to turn out the same amount of goods.
Production dropped from the 92% to about 75% of capacity today. When a company has 100 machines and only 75 of them are producing there is no incentive for management to buy more machines.
Sir Alan can try to stimulate further by lowering rates even more, but how much below 1% can you go? He could buy long-term bonds to further reduce rates to continue to stimulate the housing market, but financial stimulus does not create wealth. The banks borrow from the Fed at 1% to buy long-term government bonds that yield 4.2%. If I were a banker and could lock in 3.2% with no risk why should I make loans to businesses? And beside that I can fire all my loan officers to save more money.
But we need more employment. How? The Federal government is hiring more people every day. These are new jobs, BUT they do not contribute to the overall economy. In fact every new government worker is another tax. In a factory a worker turns out products that adds to what is called Gross Domestic Product. A government worker turns out nothing and adds zero to the GDP and even has to give back part of his salary in taxes. The IRS takes in the money, gives it to Congress who creates burocracies that hire people to recirculate the cash. Every government worker is a tax.
This makes the employment numbers look good, but adds nothing to our economic production. It is a way to keep money flowing. It puts money in peoples' pockets that keeps us marching in place. Until real productive job are created by business we are just fooling ourselves.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
1-888-345-7870; http://www.mutualfundmagic.com
Hello! Happy new year. May you live a long healthy... Read More
As of late steroid use in sports has been the... Read More
Lecture given at the Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) on 18/4/2001Human... Read More
Do you ever wonder how everything gets to the super... Read More
Thought of the day; Questions about the judicial system. If... Read More
Believe it or not, every theatre, church, or Britney Spears... Read More
Environmentalists say GM Seeds are bad for the environment, dangerous... Read More
A coffee shop conversation about a Great Country in Historic... Read More
I hope to provide a starting point for the serious... Read More
An irresponsible Chinese General made a very telling comment recently.... Read More
Regarding the issues with the Space Shuttle and the in... Read More
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a report... Read More
If we go hog wild towards the liberal agenda where... Read More
Prosecutors with political ambitions are known to modify the truth... Read More
President George W. Bush has unofficially won his re-election bid... Read More
Many are condemning the latest GM Terminator seeds. Yet there... Read More
The clause (c) of Electronic Crime Act 2004 has been... Read More
A Governmental commission, headed personally by the Prime Minister has... Read More
(1) Each person is to have an equal right to... Read More
Legislation was introduced into Congress this week that would establish... Read More
Policemen in many US cities are taking their new authority... Read More
Yes, Bush is two-faced. The two sides of the faces... Read More
Mexico the country of Salsa, Tortillas and Corruption; I first... Read More
The civil war in Iraq seems to be much more... Read More
The plight of whistleblowers ? those employees who sound the... Read More
cleaning help near Bannockburn ..It is time for a change. A change in philosophy,... Read More
The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees every American... Read More
INTRODUCTIONThe aim of writing this article is to encourage the... Read More
You are not going to believe what is going on... Read More
Maybe some of the people complaining ought to go to... Read More
This is the third in a short series of four... Read More
We know we can cloak a giant airship from those... Read More
The No Child Left Behind can work if the Federal... Read More
Heavens, what are we up against? It seems these days... Read More
The Republican Party became popular due to its view on... Read More
America has some monetary issues, which need to be addressed.... Read More
Rush is right! The government's stepped up bid to regulate... Read More
I always have to remember to take a deep breath... Read More
The debate to raise minimum wage in California is totally... Read More
In many reports we see that the Federal Trade Commission... Read More
One third of all fertilized eggs spontaneously abort and are... Read More
Have you noticed that the when the service men who... Read More
It is a law that we register deadly weapons with... Read More
The great leader and Senator from New York and wife... Read More
Indonesia's Energy Minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, is unhappy with the modest... Read More
SYNOD OF DRUM CEATT (494 - 5):It is interesting to... Read More
Einstein when ask how did he believe WWIII would be... Read More
-The Protocol plan 'will remain invisible until the moment when... Read More
Washington DC council member David Catania actually suggested that the... Read More
I hear it all the time; you can't say that.... Read More
Political |