Key Obama economic adviser Larry Summers coined a telling way to look at the current American economic state of play. He said the U.S. is experiencing a “statistical recovery and a human recession.”
It is a phrase that should resonate through much of the industrial world, where high and long-standing unemployment is increasingly becoming a huge domestic political issue.
Speaking on a panel at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Summers said one in five American men aged 25 to 54 are unemployed. He said given a “reasonable recovery,” that rate could improve to one in seven or one in eight. That still contrasts with a 95% employment rate for that group in the mid-1960s.
He said the U.S. can gain from increased global integration, but if it is to be politically sustainable it “has to work for people.” That means job creation in the U.S. is a crucial issue.
In other words, the economy is still in the tank and going nowhere but we’re not going to tell you that.
The people who SHOULD be unemployed keep getting re-elected.
I know a computer/tech guy doesn’t want to hear this but technology has taken away many of the jobs that people used to do. Add in outsourcing and there you have it.Companies like Verizon are laying people ff in droves because a tech in the field can now test high speed data circuits with a blackberry.We are going to have to figure this out, companies are not going to hire while productivity increases with fewer people.By the way I took a buy out at age 60 to save a job for a younger tech with a family.
Either you lot are too wet behind the ears to have ever been through a recession before – or you never learned a damned thing.
Just about every indicator turns around before jobs start to reappear. That requires perks and benefits; so, part-time hires start first – and already have.
Read around through the information that the managers and administrators in every industry are required to read – and you’d realize most are preparing to compete with each other for the best of the unemployed. The employable men and women who’ve broadened skills and education while out of work.
The rest of you will continue to sit around and whine – especially since most of you haven’t been unemployed through the tough times, anyway. Otherwise you wouldn’t be hanging around here.
Broadband is one of the first things to cut when the bills begin to mount, so the people who need to hear this are probably not reading this blog. But my ever thoughts are with the unemployed and especially those with families to support.
He said the U.S. is experiencing a “statistical recovery and a human recession.”
Seriously, I would like to know how long you have to sit around doing some really good drugs, to come up with a statement like that!
I think that statement pretty much sums up what I have been saying all along. That politicians and high level bureaucrats live in a world unto their own, completely removed from day to day realities that the rest of us live in.
IT IS A JOBLESS RECOVERY.
LARRY SUMMERS NEEDS TO BE MADE JOBLESS NOW!
“god” seems to have reality covered from experience. I watch some of the same indicators for what little investing I do. Here’s Bloomberg’s report from ISM on the same topic:
http://tinyurl.com/ybwg759
For those of you who read stuff.
It’d sure be nice to see anyone who utter the phrase “Jobless Recovery” get pelted with rotten vegetables.
I just don’t understand why they think they’re fooling anyone. This is why people don’t trust the system stop effing lying to us.
We’re in a phony “statistical recovery” solely due to $trillions in bad debt liabilities transferred to the taxpayers’ tab combined with hundreds of $billions given with no strings attached to people in the financial sector, (thanks to their government subsidiary), people who fully deserved to be doing the orange jumpsuit perp walk for widespread, systemic fraud over a year ago. Combine that with the “legalized” fraud allowed by an end to the mark to market rule which allows the criminals to hold useless assets on their books at full, bubble-era “value” thereby allowing the “to big to fail” banks that are actually fully insolvent to maintain the facade that they aren’t.
Intel is doing great. Unfortunately all the jobs related to making computers are now outsourced and off-shored.
If the economy isn’t jobs, then what is it? A means to make rich rich and poor poor?
The recovery can be measured once the government stops spending more than its revenue!
If the government can’t stop spendng more than it takes in, then there is no ongoing recovery.
and remember this guy is an expert! he was one of the many other that told us that the economy was just effen wonderful before it tanked…
yeah i’d believe HIM!
#4 god said: Read around through the information that the managers and administrators in every industry are required to read – and you’d realize most are preparing to compete with each other for the best of the unemployed.
-Great, another shill. -did you forget Summers is one of the contributing architects of the derivatives bomb and our financial collapse?
Why do you think he was hired? Why do you think he has an office right next to obama’s?
Yes, let’s have the readers “read around” from some “reality based” sources so they can see the depth of the global lies and corruption that has been sold to the American Public for the last century or so, -shall we? For those too busy to figure out where to find reliable, *reality based* economic news, data and forecasts, I offer a few respected sites to add to your daily surf. These four sites and one podcast will give you all the launch points you need to see through the BS of our MSM.
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The Market Oracle
-Offers one stop economic shopping. Reality based authors outnumber the shills 50 to 1 here. if you only want one place to visit,
this is it. Covers every sector under the sun. -there is even some kool-aid authors sprinkled about to ease the withdrawal pangs of those still in stuck the MSM fog.
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Zero Hedge
Mystery man Tyler Durden is probably the signgle most brutal champion of the economic truth on the web. He *brutally deconstructs* every economic & financial lie spouted
from The Fed on down, -in plain English.. CNBC’s Kramer surely hates this man.. Highly Respected.
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Asia Times: World Economy
For those a little to the “left” who still only believe and “trust” news from branded MSM outlets like The Times to get their sweet spun, cotton candy coated news..
-I have a special treat for you: The Time’s Asian Division. Here you will still get some candy coated “sweets” -but the bulk of it will be just as harsh and reality based as those pesky news blogs you think are all just conspiracy. At the end of the week, i assure you will ask yourself: How come I have to go to Asia to find out what’s really going on here in the States? Welcome to the real world. Get used to it, -fast.
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UrbanSurvival.com: “The People’s Economist”
MBA financial analyst and family man George Ure is a patriotic and very unique individual. World travled and with a great sense of humour, he has been dishing out a brief, daily run down of financial analysis and daily news since the mid 90′s. His subscription based weekly Peoplenomics.com report takes it all to another dimension seldom few ever dare think about.
If it was said that there is only one person left on the planet with their common sense still intact, George would be that person. (which is miraculous when you consider he survived the brainwashing of college) As author of weekly Peoplenomics.com report and the excellent ebook “How to live on $10k a year” (a 74 page how-to guide no one should be without) -this science & tech savy HAM radio operator, ex-news reporter and city slicker, now lives on a ranch with an eye towards being fully self sufficient and off the grid. His daily insights are above all politics and will give you the edge you need to help make sense of a world gone mad and survive the extended hell that both, the masses at large and our nations leaders seem determined to drag us through.
Start your day with UrbanSurvival.com and your mind will never leave another stone unturned again..
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Four respected websites to use as a springboard to educate and connect-the-dots as to what is really going on with not only our economy, but the world’s economy at large.
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For icing on the cake, those on the go with common sense and humour intact, looking for a mishmash of all of the above, who prefer to get their news pumped into their ears.. -Look to none other than Dvorak Uncensored’s very own NO AGENDA podcast. John and Adam have been on fire as of late and go the extra distance suffering through hours of C-SPAN and the like to break down news and bring you the truths you will never hear from any mainstream or local broadcaster.
You will laugh hard and get a much needed heads up and reality check about what is really going on behind the scenes. Listen to them on your commute to work, or while you search for work. No Agenda is the solution to the problem of staying informed on the go, -and staying in good spirits while the world takes a piss. Listen.
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You owe it to your country, your family and to yourself to turn off your teevee and instead, spend that time learning what lies ahead in these uncertain times. Above are a few good tools to do just that. Eyes wide open.
-s
This reminds me of the former President, the elder Bush, who declared during his attempt for a second term, that “the recession was over.” Quantitative analysis was right: the recession was over. BUT, “it’s the economy, stupid” won out, because people living in the streets, struggling to stay in their homes, etc., i.e., qualititative analyses suggested something very much different. And while Clinton might have agreed with Bush behind closed doors, he wanted very much to be pres, and “felt the pain” of the crying masses (no doubt while he felt them up at the same time).
This is that all over again. Jobs are slow to return. Some components of a jobs bill may help. But my favorite feature would be to make it so damned expensive to continue employing cheap Chinese labor that jobs would have to return to our soils. Oh, and don’t forget all those support jobs in New Delhi and Mumbai that could come back home.
Larry Summers is absolutely right.
Statistically, the indicators are up. The DOW is up, GDP growth in 4Q09 is up, etc etc. However, at the individual (human) level, unemployment levels remain constant, consumer confidence remains iffy .
The sheep won’t be able to understand this but the Obama administration knows that reconciling the two are key to overall recovery.
I work at Hahvahd and they are the nastiest, most back stabbing, self serving bunch of worthless degenerates I have ever worked for (and I work in a department pretty high up in the organization). Collectively the administration reveals little or no common sense in doing almost everything, and they are terrible at designing and running systems. I wish the rest of the country knew this, as when they see HARVARD on someone’s resume, they should RUN LIKE HELL. These people, and the Yalies and the rest of the worthless elites are a large part of what went wrong with America. Don’t vote these people and their lackeys into office. Hahvahd SUCKS and Summers is a class example of it.
#16, But my favorite feature would be to make it so damned expensive to continue employing cheap Chinese labor that jobs would have to return to our soils. Oh, and don’t forget all those support jobs in New Delhi and Mumbai that could come back home.
I have a question, and I am not defending the move offshore by asking it, but how much would the price of goods go up if American workers had to produce those goods?
And I would like some facts, not guesses.
#19 -not to worry, the current administration is in the process of lowering wages across the board.
one example: if you are on unemployment, in one of the “emergency extension” acts over the summer, you received a letter stating that while you looking for a job, if you find a job that pays 80% of your last job (a 20% pay cut) you MUST TAKE IT.
They supply a sheet for which your are to fill out (minimum twice a week) every job offer you contacted: ie list name of company and phone number. Failing to fill out and send this sheet in at the end of the month, disqualifies your benefits. (this is in NYC) (my g/f is on unemployment) So you see, they are already getting us used to the idea of working for less pay..
This whole crisis is scripted. i think within 4-5 months a major event will happen that will be used to bury the fact this is a papered over recovery.
-remember, in a few months ARM mortgage resets start taking place again.. (Operation Housing Bubble Pop v2.5)
-s