Vulcan's Hammer

The March 2013 Jobs Farce

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:03:00 +0000

The recent jobs report is another example of how much of a farce the headline unemployment is; the unemployment rate dropped to 7.6% from 7.8% despite the fact that only 88,000 jobs were created for the month of April. Remember, anything less than 250,000 jobs created per month is almost meaningless for our economy since our working age population grows about 300,000 people per month. But the most concerning aspect about the drop in the unemployment rate was that it is mostly due to a large amount of people who had dropped out of the work force because they were discouraged by not being able to find a decent job. The Wall Street Journal also reports:

“The share of the population that's either working or looking for work, a metric known as the participation rate, fell to 63.3% in March, its lowest level since 1979. Nearly half a million Americans dropped out of the labor force in March, the biggest one-month decline since December 2009…The participation rate doesn't get as much attention as the better-known unemployment rate, but many economists consider it a better gauge of the labor market's long-term health. The jobless rate only counts people who are actively looking for work; it ignores the millions of Americans who have given up looking entirely.”

I’m already hearing the Obama apologists claiming that the people that are dropping out of the work force are people (boomers) that are retiring. This is not entirely untrue but a good chunk of the discouraged workers are not retiring Boomers:

“March's labor force decline was concentrated not among retirement-age baby boomers but among those under age 25, who accounted for nearly half of all drop-outs. The participation rate among those under 25 has fallen below 55%, from just under 60% when the recession began. That reflects to some degree the long-run increase in college attendance, but the big one-month drop also suggests young people are struggling to find work in the still-shaky economy.

Among those in the middle of their working lives, the downward trend is milder but still unmistakable. The participation rate for so-called prime-age workers—those between 25 and 54—was 81.1% in March, the lowest level since 1984. There is no benign explanation for that decline: The number of prime-age workers counted as "unemployed" has fallen by 731,000 in the past year, but just 166,000 of those workers found jobs; the rest simply gave up looking.

The shrinking labor force has long-term implications for the U.S. economy. Economic research has shown that the longer people stay out of work, the harder it is for them to find jobs—thus many of the recent drop-outs will likely never return to the labor market, even as millions of baby boomers are poised to retire. Barring a rapid economic acceleration that leads to a hiring surge, that will leave a smaller share of the population supporting the economy.”

The fact is that this economy is not creating jobs despite what liberals claim. By the way, the U6 rate for March 2013 is still very high: 13.8%

Leading Indicators

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:16:00 +0000

Just a reminder--some of the important leading indicators are:

Core retail sales
ISM index for manufacturing
ISM services (80% of the economy)

Is the U.S. dollar doomed?

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:55:00 +0000

Only the most naive still believe that we are going to get out of this economic mess without some real pain and consequence.

America's credit rating should be much worse

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 01:40:00 +0000

Peter Schiff hits the nail on the head as to why S&P should have down-graded U.S. debt even more than it did.

The joy of high speed rail in Cali

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:36:00 +0000

So, it turns out that it is going to cost a lot more than the cheerleaders told us that it would:

The estimated cost of California's high-speed rail project is rising by billions of dollars.

Environmental impact studies released Tuesday and obtained in advance by The Associated Press put the cost of building the initial segment at anywhere from $10 billion to $13.9 billion.

That's sharply higher than the $7.1 billion estimate from 2009 for the Merced-to-Bakersfield section. Rail board executives say the higher costs include more elevated tracks in the Central Valley and more specific data about property values.

What a surprise. Politicians with the aid of environmentalists sold this "feel good" boondoggle to gullible voters and now we're stuck with footing the bill for decades to come. I wish I could say that there was a lesson learned here but I doubt it.

Hope and Change---HAHAHAHAHA!!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:27:00 +0000

h/t: Captain Capitalism

Enjoy the decline!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:02:00 +0000

Jim Rogers: "Driving down the value of our own money is lunacy."

Police State?

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:58:00 +0000

You decide.

Another rat leaving ship

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:53:00 +0000

Larry Summers, Christina Romer, and now the guy with the weird name jumps off the pier. I just wish that he could take Jared Bernstein with him.

Bye, bye tax credits

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:43:00 +0000

Here's hoping that this starts a trend across the country . There are a plethora of tax credits for so-called "green" alternatives in California that should be eliminated. One of them is for hybrid cars.

No media bias at MSNBC

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:57:00 +0000

LOL!! MSNBC is hilarious!

We don't need no mind control

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Public education is one of the greatest scams perpetuated on the masses.

He was right.

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 30 May 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Peter Schiff is not perfect but he called the economic debacle that was looming quite nicely. This clip is from 2006 which is just a year or so before The Great Recession. Note that the economist sheeple he debates in this clip can't see the forest from the trees.

Private property rights? Bwhahahaha!!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sun, 22 May 2011 20:26:00 +0000

So now our wise overlords what to start restricting how much control we have over our 401K plans, eh? They can't manage the federal budget but they are happy to dip their fat hands into your cookie jar. This latest move should disabuse anyone of the notion that private property rights are, or have ever been, cherished by the powers in Washington.

The meaning of economic planning

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:54:00 +0000

HT: Liberty Pen

Thomas Sowell on public service and education

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 17:27:00 +0000

An excerpt: "Higher education is supposed to teach people to see beyond surface glitter and plausible words. It is supposed to see beyond the fads of today to the broad sweep of history. Most of history is the story of how political leaders have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race."

HT: Liberty Pen

Enjoy the decline!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:48:00 +0000

This video on Quantitative Easing is terrifying even with funny and cute cartoon dolls.

Even the rich are doing it...

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:35:00 +0000

More Americans opt to rent than to pay a mortgage.

HT: Captain Capitalism

All hail, Al Gore!!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Here's the kind of news that will have you shaking your head:

Anyone who opposes ethanol subsidies, as these columns have for decades, comes to appreciate the wisdom of St. Jude. But now that a modern-day patron saint—St. Al of Green—has come out against the fuel made from corn and your tax dollars, maybe this isn't such a lost cause.
Welcome to the college of converts, Mr. Vice President. "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Al Gore told a gathering of clean energy financiers in Greece this week. The benefits of ethanol are "trivial," he added, but "It's hard once such a program is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going."

No kidding, and Mr. Gore said he knows from experience: "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for President."

Mr. Gore's mea culpa underscores the degree to which ethanol has become a purely political machine: It serves no purpose other than re-electing incumbents and transferring wealth to farm states and ethanol producers. Nothing proves this better than the coincident trajectories of ethanol and Mr. Gore's career.

Oh, how nice. Mr. Gore now sees the light while the American taxpayer gets to foot the bill for years to come for another environmental pipe dream gone sour. Somehow I doubt that this new revelation by Gore will spur Greens to be a little more skeptical about adopting and advocating every earth saving idea that comes down the pike. Environmentalism is a religion that does not tolerate free thought or dissent.

Ben Bernanke's Dollar

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 04:50:00 +0000

Unemployment is now 0%...

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 04:43:00 +0000

...at least for me. I now have a full-time gig after spending two years hustling hard for contract or temp work. I have transitioned into the health-care industry from financial services. There are many things to learn and I am excited at the opportunities. Posting may be light around here for a while. Onward!

Olbermann suspended!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:07:00 +0000

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy--Hahahahahaha!! I remember the vile schadenfrued that Olbermann exhibited when Rick Sanchez was fired from CNN.

Nullification!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 05:34:00 +0000

I just downloaded Thomas Woods' book "Nullification" onto my Kindle. I'm looking forward to reading it. Here is an interview with Prof. Woods on the subject. (38 minutes long.)

Democrats get a beating!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:50:00 +0000

Democrats got their butts handed to them last night. Here are some of my favorite links:

1) Democrats lose centuries of seniority in the House.

2) Barney Frank won but he lost his powerful financial services seat. Whew!

3) Goodbye, Pelosi.

4) Obama’s former Senate seat goes to a Republican!

5) Chris Matthews and his "tingle."

6) GOP made HUGE gains in state legislatures around the country--This will give them the upper hand in the coming redistricting.

Election Day!

noreply@blogger.com (VH) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:05:00 +0000

Election Day 2010. Democrats are going to get a well deserved sock in the eye for their hubris. Then we'll have to hear all the wailing from liberals about how "Americans are stupid," "Fox News is evil," "liberals are fleeing to Canada," "The Koch brothers bought the election," blah, blah, blah. Maybe it's BAD LIBERAL POLICY-MAKING without compromise and their feckless attempts to "fix" the economy that has people voting against Democrats. But I guess having Democrats looking at their own faulty political philosophy would be too easy and obvious, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I have no illusions about Republicans grabbing power in the House. They can be as pathetic as Democrats. I'm just hoping for, at the very least, gridlock. Sweet, sweet, slow-down of the giant resource-sucking behemoth in Washington, D.C.

I'm going to have fun watching the results come in tonight. The bubbly is chilled and ready.