They're depressing….
Jobs became scarcer in October, according to reports (see this, this, this and this). Unfortunately the employment news is grimmer than the latest official report lets on. The unofficial but likely more accurate unemployment rate is about double the official rate, according to Shadow Government Statistics:
Ford Motor Company continues to hemorrhage cash, according to official and unofficial reports (see this, this, this and this). General Motors and Chrysler are also treading water and should mimic Ford's troubled story when they release their latest earnings reports.
The world stands before another food crisis, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (here) and the Financial Times (via Naked Capitalism). The global financial crisis will be the proximate cause of the food crisis, according to the FAO report.
And, as one would expect in an economic environment characterized by institutional decay and a global crisis, retail sales have again plummeted (see this).
Some encouraging news: Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Jeffry Shapiro whines:
It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.
But this good news is not the best news possible. The best possible news: Congress impeaches Bush and Cheney; the two are then sent to be tried for the War Crimes they committed by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
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2 comments:
Thank you for the interesting website (I mean SGS)! Austrian school of economy always stated that statistics are the weak part of modern governments - or the strong one, it depends on the point of vies. You can often adjust statistic to exactly fit your needs.
However, 15% unemployment rate seems a bit too crazy, do you really believe it?
Lorne
A lot depends upon the method used to measure the discouraged unemployed.
Here is William's explanation for what the different rates depict:
http://www.shadowstats.com/article/54
His SGS adjusted rate merely reintroduces the Black unemployed which the Clinton administration intentionally under-sampled. So, a 15% unemployment rate does not seem farfetched to me.
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