Re: Unemployment down by Niki2

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Re: Unemployment down

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 08:13
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Saturday, December 3, 2011 5:44 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

The thing that leaves me speechless about this is that pundits are tossing it back and forth like it actually MEANS something. It's November, folks; you know, when businesses hire extra people for the holiday shoppers? I've heard a couple mention it, but for the most part the MSM is treating it like an ACTUAL lessening of the unemployment numbers.

Oh, and one mentioned it's partly because so many people have stopped looking for work, apparently some 315,000 of them. That might be valid, but the holiday hiring is such a common thing, I don't know why they're ignoring it. To shore up consumer confidence? That's the only thing I can think of, because come January, they'll go back up; they always DO.

Yeah, it's better than last year at this time, or the year before, but the fact that may well account for that.

Quote:
Governments at all levels have shed almost a half-million jobs in the past year.

I believe that's mostly thanx to the new "Republican ferver" for cutting government jobs...so much for job creation.

Remains to be seen what it actually means, I just find it interesting that so few have mentioned the seasonal hiring as part of the reason.

Some of the other positive signs aren more promising: Factory output expanded last month. Retailers reported a strong start to holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumer confidence surged in November to the highest level since July, and Americans' pay rose in October by the most in seven months. Car sales also rose sharply in November, normally a lackluster month for the auto industry. Chrysler, Ford, Nissan and Hyundai all reported double-digit gains on Thursday, compared to a year ago. That's good, but the propensity for taking each month's unemployment numbers and extrapolating them to mean something viably good or bad seems kind of silly.

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 6:09 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

"I believe that's mostly thanx to the new "Republican ferver" for cutting government jobs...so much for job creation."

Hello,

It's not just "Republican ferver." There are tens of thousands of defense jobs I'd like to chuck out the window, likely resulting in thousands of civilian support jobs being lost.

In fact, anyone who would like to see the wars come to a screeching halt, like myself, is someone calling for defense jobs to be drastically cut.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 3:34 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
I believe that's mostly thanx to the new "Republican ferver" for cutting government jobs...so much for job creation.

As a Federal employee from 1968 to 2005 I can tell you that both parties go through phases of fervor for cutting government jobs. Generally the hidden agenda is to allow more private contractors that the government doesn't have to pay retirement or health insurance for. The unfortunate problem with this concept is that, at least in my agency, you needed a couple of contractors, or one higher priced contractor, to replace each Federal employee.

When Madame Geezer retired from her Federal job, private companies were calling her offering twice her last Fed salary to do pretty much the job she retired from. Same with me, but only 1.5 times (She's that much better). Figuring that the companies were gonna take quite a cut off the top from what they charged the government, you can see that this isn't designed to save Federal bucks, but maybe to increase campaign contributions.

BTW, we both said we'd rather be retired.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 8:35 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Well yeah, there's jobs and there's jobs, I mean we could do without half and more of the so-called "defense" department, and don't even get me started on the alphabet soup goons...

But stuff like highway repair, postal service - thems things we do kinda need, so long as there's accountability and oversight I don't see a problem with funding things we-the-people directly benefit from, that's kinda the purpose of the General Welfare clause don't ya know.

The thing that rooks me is how many employers, including the Gov, don't seem to connect a lack of job security with a lack of motivation to do your job well, I mean as a short term solution making people fear for their jobs MIGHT squeeze a little more out of em, but in the long term they stop caring and start looking out for themselves rather than working with an employer - shit like that was WHY unions became, and still are, necessary although outside of the IWW I have little respect for em as they're almost as exploitive, bah.

Anyhows, one thing the realty company we're in cahoots with understands REAL well - loyalty to your personnel makes them more effective, happier, and willing to go the extra mile, as opposed to the top down terror which gets you nothing but here-for-the-moment drones uninterested in doing more than the barest minimum in order to get paid.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, December 4, 2011 10:52 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

I googled that, in an attempt to find where Democrats wanted to cut jobs. Can't find anything. If I google "Republicans want job cuts", I get pages and pages. I would respectfully request specifics on when Democrats have advocated cutting jobs.

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Monday, December 5, 2011 2:18 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I agree with Niki that the numbers are down because of it being Christmastime and the extra temp hiring that goes along with.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, December 5, 2011 6:33 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
I googled that, in an attempt to find where Democrats wanted to cut jobs. Can't find anything. If I google "Republicans want job cuts", I get pages and pages. I would respectfully request specifics on when Democrats have advocated cutting jobs.

Next Geezer will be telling you that "it was just a joke", and that he doesn't have time to look up facts. It's the new thing with conservatives, to say things like "I don't have any facts to back this up..." and "I don't have any evidence of this, but..."

They just throw out a bunch of shit that sounds truthy, and when questioned on it, they say it was a joke, or tell those who question them to lighten up.

And look how well it worked for Herman Cain!

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011 8:13 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Cain is a good example of that mentality, fer shore. Does seem to be the method of choice among the GOP candidates and politicians these days...I think, aside from intentional (and knowing they can get away with it), it's a play to the "ignorance is good, education is elitist" mentality which seems to have been growing in recent years.

And Faux News is one of the major influences where that's concerned. I watched a clip where one of them denounced "anonymous sources", then turned around TWO MINUTES LATER and quoted anynomous sources as if they were fact. It's a good gambit for those not paying attention or questioning anything; their major audience.

But the fact that so MANY are crowing about the lower unemployment without noting that it's the pattern this time of year and due to seasonal hirng is equally ridiculous, in my opinion.

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