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
The most exciting event in Slovenia last week was when... Read More
IN A DAY AND AGE where one voice screaming among... Read More
The clause (c) of Electronic Crime Act 2004 has been... Read More
Heaven, Hell, or some sort of Purgatory.I cannot seem to... Read More
With the recent shakeups in the presidential cabinet, it has... Read More
Policemen in many US cities are taking their new authority... Read More
An article in Information Week in January 14, 2002 discussed... Read More
If we go hog wild towards the liberal agenda where... Read More
Recently a friend insisted that I read a book by... Read More
I like Bill O'Reilly. I do. I have read two... Read More
The Bill of Rights to our Constitution caused -- and... Read More
The Iranian elections are certainly interesting indeed. The ruling party... Read More
I am an incurably ill American male forced to leave... Read More
Many believe Al-Qaida already has nukes in the United States... Read More
Iran's objection to ratifying the International Atomic Energy Agency's Additional... Read More
[Author's Note: Another essay that I wrote on notebook paper... Read More
Former Senator, Daniel Moynihan, accurately summed up the situation when... Read More
In response to Douglas Bower's article; Logic Class 101 Applied... Read More
The official figures are staggering: 35% of the workforce -... Read More
Many are quick to point out the benefits of religion... Read More
We are currently seeing a build up in China of... Read More
One third of all fertilized eggs spontaneously abort and are... Read More
Fuel costs seem to rank high in surveys of US... Read More
Conventional warfare is getting to its limits. Soon wars will... Read More
The resignation from cabinet yesterday, Sunday, by the Israeli minister... Read More
Lincoln Stretch rentals Willowbrook ..There is nothing-absolutely nothing-insofar as political power when it is... Read More
The recent first round of the Iranian elections somewhat resembled... Read More
Please read through this quick thought and discussion as if... Read More
Bosnia-Herzegovina (heretofore "Bosnia") is an artificial polity with four, tangentially... Read More
Many parents might think it a bit farfetched to compare... Read More
Prosecutors with political ambitions are known to modify the truth... Read More
We are slowing the transportation flows of our civilization by... Read More
Some call it the "unofficial" or "informal" economy, others call... Read More
Clint Eastwood recently plunged into the murky political pond with... Read More
Fuel costs seem to rank high in surveys of US... Read More
China maybe stopping some of the SPAM coming into the... Read More
Former Senator, Daniel Moynihan, accurately summed up the situation when... Read More
INTRODUCTIONThe aim of writing this article is to encourage the... Read More
If we go hog wild towards the liberal agenda where... Read More
How much oil can travel through a pipeline? It depends... Read More
There is no doubt in hindsight that Sarbanes Oxley was... Read More
An article in Information Week in January 14, 2002 discussed... Read More
Environmentalists say GM Seeds are bad for the environment, dangerous... Read More
A few hours ago, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the... Read More
It never fails to amaze me. HM Customs and Excise... Read More
Everyone knows the United States Government often falls down in... Read More
I hope to provide a starting point for the serious... Read More
One of Abraham Lincoln's claims to fame is the fact... Read More
For the business community 9-11 changed everything. In our company,... Read More
As you know Delta Airlines is close to bankruptcy. Their... Read More
Political |