Author Topic: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"  (Read 151933 times)

GigantorX

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1175 on: January 23, 2013, 12:58:54 PM »
Truly you can't possibly believe that the blockbuster closing is a sign of the economy?

It's just a sign of the digital times.

Yep. They were one step behind in pushing out a digital distribution service. Never had themselves a mediabox for home use and such, it's a shame.

As a kid I used to love going to the Blockbuster and just walking around looking for movies (always the 3 movies for X amount of dollars) and then the wonderment of marching through the Nintendo rentals praying the game I wanted was actually there and if it was you hoped that it didn't suck. My dad had some patience to just sit in the car and wait.

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1176 on: January 24, 2013, 08:34:53 AM »
It's Official: Worst. Recovery. EVER
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/24/2013 09:22 -0500


Ben BernankeGross Domestic ProductMichael CembalestrecoveryRussell 2000St Louis Fed


If there was any debate whether the Fed's policies have helped the economy or just the market (and specifically the Bernanke-targeted Russell 2000), the following two charts will end any and all debate. As the following chart from the St Louis Fed shows, as of the just completed quarter, US GDP "growth" since the "recovery" is now the worst in US history, having just dipped below the heretofore lowest on record.



A slightly prettier version of the same chart created by JPM's Michael Cembalest, is presented below:



 

But fear not: it is only the worst recovery ever for anyone unlucky enough to still rely on such Old Normal concepts as the "economy" to feed, clothe and provide shelter for themselves.

For those lucky 1% of the US population whose entire wealth is in financial assets (and who once again managed to avoid a tax hike on carried interest or any actual financial assets), times have almost never been so good.



Well, it's not the biggest surge in the market since the economic trough in history, but it is close. Which as Bernanke admitted some time ago (when discussing the level of the Russell 2000), is the only thing that actually matters to the Fed.

Yet oddly enough, the trickle down from the trillions in excess wealth created for those who hold financial assets, as a result of daily POMOs pumping some $85 billion, and soon more, into the stock market each month, has yet to materialize.

Oh well: just keep on doing more of what you are doing Uncle Ben, and if possible destroy the US economy even more than you already have - at this point, at least on a relative basis, you can't destroy it more.

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GigantorX

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1177 on: January 24, 2013, 10:11:13 AM »
I do agree that the recovery could not possibly be slower... This is definitely something to note.

Will it eventually collapse or is it a sign that the recovery will last and be stable is the long term question. I do not have an answer at all.


It isn't a recovery at all for "us" but it sure is one hell of a recovery for "them."

i.e., "The Elite"

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1178 on: January 27, 2013, 06:52:39 AM »
37 Statistics Which Show How Four Years Of Obama Have Wrecked The U.S. Economy
TEC ^ | 01/25/2013 | Michael Snyder
Posted on January 27, 2013 9:12:43 AM EST by SeekAndFind

The mainstream media covered the inauguration of Barack Obama with breathless anticipation on Monday, but should we really be celebrating another four years of Obama? The truth is that the first four years of Obama were an absolute train wreck for the U.S. economy. Over the past four years, the percentage of working age Americans with a job has fallen, median household income has declined by more than $4000, poverty in the U.S. has absolutely exploded and our national debt has ballooned to ridiculous proportions. Of course all of the blame for the nightmarish performance of the economy should not go to Obama alone. Certainly much of what we are experiencing today is the direct result of decades of very foolish decisions by Congress and previous presidential administrations. And of course the Federal Reserve has more influence over the economy than anyone else does. But Barack Obama steadfastly refuses to criticize anything that the Federal Reserve has done and he even nominated Ben Bernanke for another term as Fed Chairman despite his horrific track record of failure, so at a minimum Barack Obama must be considered to be complicit in the Fed's very foolish policies. Despite what the Obama administration tells us, the U.S. economy has been in decline for a very long time, and that decline has accelerated in many ways over the past four years. Just consider the statistics that I have compiled below. The following are 37 statistics which show how four years of Obama have wrecked the U.S. economy...

1. During Obama's first term, the number of Americans on food stamps increased by an average of about 11,000 per day.

2. At the beginning of the Obama era, 32 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, more than 47 million Americans are on food stamps.

3. According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of "Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming."

4. The number of Americans receiving money directly from the federal government each month has grown from 94 million in the year 2000 to more than 128 million today.

5. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either "poor" or "low income" at this point.

6. The unemployment rate in the United States is exactly where it was (7.8 percent) when Barack Obama first entered the White House in January 2009.

7. When Barack Obama first entered the White House, 60.6 percent of all working age Americans had a job. Today, only 58.6 percent of all working age Americans have a job.

8. During the first four years of Obama, the number of Americans "not in the labor force" soared by an astounding 8,332,000. That far exceeds any previous four year total.

9. During Obama's first term, the number of Americans collecting federal disability insurance rose by more than 18 percent.

10. The Obama years have been absolutely devastating for small businesses in America. According to economist Tim Kane, the following is how the number of startup jobs per 1000 Americans breaks down by presidential administration...

Bush Sr.: 11.3

Clinton: 11.2

Bush Jr.: 10.8

Obama: 7.8

11. Median household income in America has fallen for four consecutive years. Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.

12. The economy is not producing nearly enough jobs for the hordes of young people now entering the workforce. Approximately 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed in 2011.

13. According to a report from the National Employment Law Project, 58 percent of the jobs that have been created since the end of the recession have been low paying jobs.

14. Back in 2007, about 28 percent of all working families were considered to be among "the working poor". Today, that number is up to 32 percent even though our politicians tell us that the economy is supposedly recovering.

15. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, only 24.6 percent of all of the jobs in the United States are "good jobs" at this point.

16. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the middle class is taking home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before.

17. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the United States is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.

18. The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.

19. According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001. That number declined steadily over the course of the next decade and was only at 21.6 percent in 2011.

20. The United States actually has plenty of oil and we should not have to import oil from the Middle East. We need to drill for more oil, but Obama has been very hesitant to do that. Under Bill Clinton, the number of drilling permits approved rose by 58 percent. Under George W. Bush, the number of drilling permits approved rose by 116 percent. Under Barack Obama, the number of drilling permits approved actually decreased by 36 percent.

21. When Barack Obama took office, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.84. Today, the average price of a gallon of gasoline is $3.26.

22. Under Barack Obama, the United States has lost more than 300,000 education jobs.

23. For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.

24. Families that have a head of household under the age of 30 now have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

25. More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as were sold in 2012.

26. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

27. Health insurance costs have risen by 29 percent since Barack Obama became president.

28. Today, 77 percent of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck at least part of the time.

29. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

30. The total amount of money that the federal government gives directly to the American people has grown by 32 percent since Barack Obama became president.

31. The Obama administration has been spending money on some of the most insane things imaginable. For example, in 2011 the Obama administration spent $592,527 on a study that sought to figure out once and for all why chimpanzees throw poop.

32. U.S. taxpayers spend more than 20 times as much on the Obamas as British taxpayers spend on the royal family.

33. The U.S. government has run a budget deficit of well over a trillion dollars every single year under Barack Obama.

34. When Barack Obama was first elected, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio was under 70 percent. Today, it is up to 103 percent.

35. During Obama's first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined.

36. As I wrote about yesterday, when you break it down the amount of new debt accumulated by the U.S. government during Obama's first term comes to approximately $50,521 for every single household in the United States. Are you ready to contribute your share?

37. If you started paying off just the new debt that the U.S. has accumulated during the Obama administration at the rate of one dollar per second, it would take more than 184,000 years to pay it off.

But despite all of these numbers, the mainstream media and the left just continue to shower Barack Obama with worship and praise. Newsweek recently heralded Obama's second term as "The Second Coming", and at Obama's pre-inauguration church service Reverand Ronald Braxton openly compared Obama to Moses...

At Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Braxton reportedly crafted his speech around Obama’s personal political slogan: “Forward!”

Obama, said Braxton, was just like Moses facing the Red Sea: “forward is the only option … The people couldn’t turn around. The only thing that they could do was to go forward.” Obama, said Braxton, would have to overcome all obstacles – like opposition from Republicans, presumably, or the bounds of the Constitution. Braxton continued, “Mr. President, stand on the rock,” citing to Moses standing on Mount Horeb as his people camped outside the land of Israel.

But it wasn’t enough to compare Obama with the founder of Judaism and the prophet of the Bible. Braxton added that Obama’s opponents were like the Biblical enemies of Moses, and that Obama would have to enter the battle because “sometimes enemies insist on doing it the hard way.”

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1179 on: January 27, 2013, 07:46:17 PM »
I don't give a fuck.

I sleep all day, wake up go lift weight, go home shower and go to the bar and kick it with the honeys. Obama gives me free money to buy protein and that's all I care about.

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1180 on: January 27, 2013, 08:24:38 PM »
I don't give a fuck.

I sleep all day, wake up go lift weight, go home shower and go to the bar and kick it with the honeys. Obama gives me free money to buy protein and that's all I care about.

stupid fuck

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1181 on: January 29, 2013, 03:36:05 PM »
Why Employment in the U.S. Isn't Coming Back
 Of Two Minds ^ | 01/29/2013 | Charles Hugh Smith

Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 4:01:10 PM by SeekAndFind





If we understand the simple dynamics of value creation, total compensation costs and the cost-basis of doing business (general overhead), then we understand why employment isn't coming back in the U.S.



 It is impossible to understand job creation without understanding value creation and labor/overhead costs. People hire other people when their labor creates more value than it costs to hire them.


 When labor costs are high, the value created must also be high; it makes no sense to hire someone if doing so generates a loss.


 When labor is cheap, the bar of value creation is lowered, and so the risk of hiring a worker is also lower: they don't have to add much value to be worth their wage.


 This is why you see many low-value jobs in developing-world countries. There are night watchmen on duty in virtually every parking lot and building in urban Thailand, for example; these workers are providing a fundamental value, "eyes on the street," but it is a low-value proposition: no special skill is required other than being a light sleeper. The cost of their labor is equivalently low, but in a low-cost basis economy such as Thailand's, a very low wage is still a living wage.



 In a self-employment example, many vendors in urban Thailand set up their informal food stall (a cart or a tent) for a few hours a day. Their net income is low, because what they provide--readymade food and snacks--is available in abundance, i.e. there are many competitors.

 Nonetheless, because the cost basis of life is relatively low, modest earnings from a low cost, low-profit enterprise make the enterprise worthwhile.



Compare that with the typical government job in the U.S. or Europe. It is difficult to measure the true cost of government pension costs, as local governments do their best to mask their pension costs and inflate their pension funds' projected returns. But a back-of-the-envelope calculation yields about a 100% direct labor overhead cost for the typical government job with full healthcare, pension and vacation benefits. So an employee earning $50,000 a year costs $100,000 in total compensation expenses.



 Many local government employees on the left and right coasts earn close to $100,000, so their total compensation costs are roughly $200,000 per worker.



 How much value must be created by each employee to justify that compensation? Government needn't bother itself with that calculation, as the compensation is not set by market forces and the revenue stream can be increased via higher taxes, junk fees, tuition, licences, permits, etc.

 As the legacy costs of healthcare and pensions for retirees become due, local government operating budgets are being gutted to pay these ballooning legacy costs.



As a result, it is now impossible for many local municipalities to fill potholes: it makes no sense to have $100,000/year employees performing low-value work like filling potholes. Put another way, there is a labor shortage in high-overhead government bureaucracies because after paying for legacy pension costs, there is no money left to hire more people at $100,000 a year in total compensation to fill potholes, a job that might be worth $35,000 in total compensation.



The value created by government employees filling potholes is completely out of alignment with the cost of their wages/benefits. If employees cost $100,000 (recall that their annual earnings may be $50,000--we must always use total compensation, not wages as reflected on pay stubs), then in effect all work that generates less than $100,000 in value can no longer be done.



This is why cities and infrastructure are falling apart. Once you raise the cost of compensation far above the value being created by the labor, then most lower-value but nonetheless essential work (e.g. filling potholes) becomes unaffordable to accomplish.



We can understand this dynamic very clearly in a private-sector example. Let's say a high-tech start-up pays its programmers $90,000 a year, with minimal benefits. The total compensation costs of each programmer are thus around $125,000 annually.



 Now let's say that the owners are very egalitarian and they pay everyone they hire $90,000 a year ($125,000 in total compensation costs) regardless of their skills or how much value their labor creates. Does it make sense to pay someone $125,000 a year to empty the trash cans in the office? No, it does not. So the trash doesn't get emptied. Does it make sense to have a $125K/year worker being a go-fer, typing correspondence and making copies? No, it does not.



 Those menial tasks are pushed down to the programmers and managers, who must do those tasks themselves on a need-only basis.



 The new hire is expected to create $200,000 of value annually (the minimum output of value needed to keep the company afloat) or they must be let go, or the firm will lose so much money it goes belly-up.



Now let's say that the local minimum wage law sets the minimum total compensation costs of any employee at $40,000 annually. For example, $25,000 in wages and $15,000 in direct labor overhead (healthcare, disability, workers comp, vacation, 401K pension contributions, etc.)



 What is the value created by an administrative assistant who makes copies and empties the trash cans? Let's say the value added is $20,000 a year. At $40,000 per year minimum cost, it makes no sense to hire a "low-cost" worker because the value created by that worker is not even close to their total compensation costs.



As a result, the job of administrative assistant is not just unfilled--it vanishes. It makes no sense to hire workers when the value they create is less than their compensation costs.

 How do we measure value created? The most accurate way is to let the market discover the value of the work performed by raising the price of our goods and services to reflect the value added.



 Does our product or service become more valuable if the trash in our office is emptied? No; so the trash is not emptied, as the labor cost only raises the cost-basis and lowers gross profit, thus increasing the risk of insolvency.



 The same can be said of all sorts of overhead: from healthcare costs that rise far faster than the company's revenues, expansive offices, higher junk fees and taxes, higher energy costs, and so on.



In a global economy, the value added by labor is measured on a global scale. As the overhead costs of healthcare, energy, office rent, local government junk fees, etc. keep rising, each worker in the company must produce more value just for the firm to generate enough gross margins to pay overhead costs and stay solvent.



 If overhead costs--the cost-basis of doing business in the U.S.--keep rising faster than gross profits (out of which overhead is paid), then the owners have little choice: they can either close the business before they are personally bankrupted, cut everyone's pay or lay off some employees and somehow raise the productivity of the remaining workers to maintain enough value creation to survive.



This is the U.S. economy in a nutshell. If we understand the simple dynamics of value creation, total compensation costs and the cost-basis of doing business (general overhead), then we understand why employment isn't coming back in the U.S.

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1182 on: January 29, 2013, 03:54:09 PM »
Layoffs at Kapolei Golf Club - Whatever will King Obama do?
 khon ^ | 1/28/2013

Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 6:54:21 PM by FreeAtlanta

The Kapolei Golf Club laid off 14 out of 110 employed at the course recently. The employees were from various departments.

"After careful consideration and full review of operations, we had to make the difficult decision of reducing our staff at Kapolei Golf Club," said Micah Kane, chief operating officer of Pacific Links Hawaii, in a statement. "This shift enables Pacific Links Hawai'i to operate at optimal efficiency and better provide the high quality of service that our customers have come to expect and solidify the future of our remaining employees. We do not anticipate any further staff cuts."

Other courses owned by Pacific Links Hawai'i are not affected.

Pacific Links Hawaii also owns and operates Royal Hawaiian, Makaha Golf Club (East), Makaha Valley Country Club (West), and Olomana.







LOL!!!!!  This is where Obama golfs!!    LMFAO 

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1183 on: January 30, 2013, 06:23:13 AM »
Anyone say double dip? 

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1184 on: January 30, 2013, 06:25:18 AM »
Skip to comments.

GDP Shows Surprise Drop for U.S. in Fourth Quarter (unexpected alert)
CNBC ^
Posted on January 30, 2013, 8:46:18 AM EST by Perdogg

The U.S. economy posted a stunning drop of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, defying expectations for slow growth and possibly providing incentive for more Federal Reserve stimulus.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...

TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Click to Add Topic

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1185 on: January 30, 2013, 06:36:11 AM »
GDP Shows Surprise Drop for U.S. in Fourth Quarter


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The U.S. economy posted a stunning drop of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, defying expectations for slow growth and possibly providing incentive for more Federal Reserve stimulus.


The economy shrank from October through December for the first time since the recession ended, hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles.

 The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. That's a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.

 The surprise contraction could raise fears about the economy's ability to handle tax increases that took effect in January and looming spending cuts.

 Still, the weakness may be because of one-time factors. Government spending cuts and slower inventory growth subtracted a total of 2.6 percentage points from growth.

 And those volatile categories offset faster growth in consumer spending, business investment and housing -- the economy's core drivers of growth.

 Another positive aspect of the report: For all of 2012, the economy expanded 2.2 percent, better than 2011's growth of 1.8 percent.

 The economy may stay weak at the start of the year because Americans are coming to grips with an increase in Social Security taxes that has left them with less take-home pay.

 Subpar growth has held back hiring. The economy has created about 150,000 jobs a month, on average, for the past two years. That's barely enough to reduce the unemployment rate, which has been 7.8 percent for the past two months.

 Economists forecast that unemployment stayed at the still-high rate again this month. The government releases the January jobs report Friday.

 The slower growth in stockpiles comes after a big jump in the third quarter. Companies frequently cut back on inventories if they anticipate a slowdown in sales. Slower inventory growth means factories likely produced less.

 Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, Inc. said this week that it reduced its inventories by $2 billion in the fourth quarter as global sales declined from a year earlier.

 The biggest question going forward is how consumers react to the expiration of a Social Security tax cut. Congress and the White House allowed the temporary tax cut to expire in January, but reached a deal to keep income taxes from rising on most Americans.

 The tax increase will lower take home pay this year by about 2 percent. That means a household earning $50,000 a year will have about $1,000 less to spend. A household with two high-paid workers will have up to $4,500 less.

 Already, a key measure of consumer confidence plummeted this month after Americans noticed the reduction in their paychecks, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.

Economists expected the first reading on gross domestic product to show growth of 1 percent, down from the third quarter's reading of 3.1 percent.

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1186 on: January 30, 2013, 06:53:34 AM »
Via Breitbart

________________________ _________


Yesterday, Breitbart News reported that consumer confidence had dropped to its lowest level in almost two years. Much of the media spun the number as the result of a payroll tax increase that hit millions who were repeatedly told by Obama that only the rich would see their taxes increase. Surprise! But the spin didn't explain why consumer confidence had steadily dropped during the months prior. Well, now we know: The American economy has taken a nosedive.

For the first time in over three years, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product shrank. Between October and December of 2012, the GDP had a negative growth of 0.1. And let's remember that this is the same quarter where we saw the media go into hyper-drive to spin Obama's anemic job and GDP growth into a repeat of the Roaring Twenties.

The problem with the American economy is that Obama and his media can't fool it. Happy talk and spin and distractions about contraception don’t create jobs or growth. You might be able to fool legions of people into voting a certain way, but you can't fool them into spending and hiring and investing.

Apparently, though, the media and Obama have managed to fool themselves. Even the Wall Street Journal calls today's news "unexpected." And anyone who watched Obama's Inauguration speech knows that his failed economy and the millions suffering in it are either not on his radar or of no concern whatsoever. Obama spoke of many things, but not the economy. He's in a war to win the culture, not to win anyone a job to lift them out of poverty.
 
The media is just as bad. The biggest story in our country today should be the increase in poverty and an unemployment crisis so dire our labor force has shrunk to thirty-year lows. But neither will speak of it. We do, however, know all about some idiot and his phony girlfriend. We know all about a "heckle'' that didn’t happen. One wonders which is the bread and which is the circus.

The pickle both Obama and the media have put themselves in, though, is this: If either makes the economy a priority, that's an admission Obama's economy is in trouble. And so we find ourselves in a situation we've seen in other countries where the state and media have aligned -- a situation where we're told a bad economy is a good economy, and the victims of this propaganda are those suffering in a bad economy no one wants to admit exists.

Already the media's spinning this GDP report in a way that says our economy tanked because the government didn’t spend enough. That's right, annual trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see, but the media push to protect the State from blame and to use this terrible news as a way to further grow the State, is already on.

NBC's Chief White House Correspondent, Chuck Todd, just assured America this was a one-time economic anomaly and that prosperity is right around the corner. If a job had been created every time a member of Obama's media said this, we'd have full employment today.

We live in interesting and dangerous times.

 
 
Follow  John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1187 on: January 30, 2013, 07:26:17 AM »
[ Invalid YouTube link ]

LIESman is a worthless obama HACK

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1190 on: January 30, 2013, 11:13:15 AM »
But-but-but "Time Magazine" assured me Obama's economic policies had made it all better:
 

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/01/30/Time-Anounces-500-Layoffs?utm_source=bigtweeting&utm_medium=twitter


The Wall Street Journal said that around 500 people will be cut from the world's largest magazine company -- home to Time, Sports Illustrated and People, among others -- though other outlets said the numbers could reach as high as 700. That means that the roughly 8,000-strong workforce would be cut by between 6 and 8 percent.
 
Time Inc. is reportedly seeking around $100 million in savings from the cuts. Ad sales and publishing and subscription revenues have all declined. New CEO Laura Lang has been tasked with righting the ship.
 
So the same publication that sold its soul in 2008 to present Obama as the only hope for our economy, begins 2013 with a round of massive layoffs.
 
So the same publication that assured us Obama trickle-down government policies were the magic beans that would grow us into the lush life, begins 2013 with a round of massive layoffs.

So the same publication that assured us all throughout the 2012 election that our economy was humming and there was no need to find new management, begins 2013 with a round of massive layoffs.

Yeah, that's a shame.

And I'm sure I speak for the millions of chronically unemployed when I say, "Welcome to the economy you dropped on the rest of us."
 
 
 
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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1191 on: February 01, 2013, 03:49:07 AM »
Global medical company lays off 100 in US, blames ObamaCare
fox news ^ | 2/1/2013 | fox news
Posted on February 1, 2013 6:25:27 AM EST by tobyhill

A global medical technology company has laid off nearly 100 employees at its offices in Tennessee and Massachusetts and is blaming the layoffs on the medical device tax tied to ObamaCare.

London-based Smith & Nephew said Thursday it laid off fewer than 100 employees between the two offices, which operate as the company's advanced surgical devices unit, according to The Commercial Appeal.

The company specializes in developing orthopedic reconstruction products, has nearly 11,000 employees and operates in over 90 countries, according to its website. The Affordable Care Act includes a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices, which is expected to raise nearly $30 billion over the next decade. The tax is applied to gross sales revenues.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1192 on: February 01, 2013, 06:10:59 AM »
8.5 Million Americans Left Labor Force In Obama's First Term
 





By Noel Sheppard | February 01, 2013 | 08:51
 
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A  A

 



The Bureau of  Labor Statistics released jobs numbers for January Friday showing that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent.
 
Lost in these headline numbers was another rise in the number of people not in the labor force.
 
This number now stands at a staggering 89 million, up from 80.5 million when President Obama took office.
 
This means that there are currently 8.5 million more Americans not in the labor force than just four years ago.
 
Forget all the other numbers.
 
This continued explosion of people not in the labor force should be tremendously concerning as it represents an obstacle for the government to ever balance the budget without drastically raising taxes on those still working.


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/02/01/85-million-americans-left-labor-force-obamas-first-term#ixzz2JeljTeRC

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1194 on: February 01, 2013, 06:49:43 AM »


January 31, 2013

More U.S. Small Businesses Cutting Workers Than Hiring

But hiring intentions for the next 12 months are more positive now than in November

by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist
 

PRINCETON, NJ -- More U.S. small-business owners say they let employees go than hired them on average over the past 12 months, for a net hiring index of -10 in January, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. This is similar to the -12 recorded in November, the -9 of a year ago, and the -12 of January 2011, but up from the low of -27 in January 2010.
 


These results are from the quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business survey, conducted Jan. 7-11, 2013, with a random sample of 601 small-business owners.
 
Small-business owners' self-reported net hiring suggests less overall hiring activity and essentially no improvement in small business job growth over the past two years. Owners reported less hiring as well as less firing in January. The 12% of small-business owners who reported increasing their company's hiring over the past 12 months is down from 14% in November. However, the 22% reporting a decrease in the number of job positions over the past year is also down, from 26% in November.
 


Owners Are Not Hiring For More Than the Usual Reasons
 
When owners who are not looking for new employees were asked to evaluate eight potential reasons they are not doing so, overall business conditions headed the list as usual, including not needing new employees at this time (with 81% indicating this as a reason), worries that revenues or sales won't justify adding more employees (74%), and worries about the current status of the U.S. economy (66%).
 
However, 61% of owners pointed to worries about the potential cost of healthcare, 56% to worries about new government regulations, and 55% to worries about cash flow or the ability to make payroll. Thirty-two percent point to it being hard to find qualified employees.
 
At the bottom of the list, but still at a surprisingly high level, 30% of owners say they are not hiring because they are worried they may no longer be in business in 12 months. This is up from 24% who had the same worry in January 2012.
 


Owners' Hiring Intentions Turned Positive in January
 
Looking forward, U.S. small businesses now expect to add more net new jobs than they plan to eliminate over the next 12 months, with owners' net hiring intentions at +5 in January. This is up from -4 in November, but still below the +10 of July and the +14 of a year ago.
 


Net hiring intentions are calculated by subtracting the percentage of owners expecting a decrease in jobs from the percentage expecting an increase. Currently, 12% of owners say they expect the number of jobs or positions at their companies to decrease over the next 12 months, down sharply from the 21% who held such expectations last November. At the same time, 17% expect to increase the number of jobs at their companies, the same as in November but down from 20% in July and still at the lowest level measured since October 2011.
 


Implications
 
The lack of improvement in small-business-owner self-reported net hiring over the past 12 months is consistent with January's lack of year-over-year improvement in Gallup's P2P (Payroll to Population) employment rate. Small businesses continue to hire fewer employees than they are letting go, while overall full-time U.S. employment is, at best, keeping up with the growth of the U.S. population. The lack of improvement in small-business hiring is also consistent with the estimated -0.1% annualized growth rate for fourth quarter GDP.
 
On the other hand, small-business owners' net hiring intentions turned positive in January, consistent with the improvement in the quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. While owners suggest little improvement has taken place in the net hiring in the past, their hopes for future hiring have improved compared with where they were immediately after last year's November elections.

 
Finally, the fact that so many owners say worries about such things as potential healthcare costs and potential new government regulations are holding back hiring is troublesome for the job market outlook. Still, probably the most worrisome response is that 30% of small business owners fear they may not be in business 12 months from now. This a bad sign not only for small-business hiring and capital investment, but also for the overall U.S. economy in 2013.
 
About the Wells-Fargo Small Business Index
 
Since August 2003, the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index has surveyed small-business owners on current and future perceptions of their business financial situations. Visit the Wells Fargo Business Insight Resource Center to access the full survey report and listen to Wells Fargo's quarterly Small Business Index podcast.
 
Survey Methods
Results for the total dataset are based on telephone interviews with 601 small-business owners, conducted Jan. 7-11, 2013. For results based on the total sample of small-business owners, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
 
Sampling is done on a random-digit-dial basis using Dun & Bradstreet sampling of small businesses having $20 million or less of sales or revenues. The data are weighted to be representative of U.S. small businesses within this size range nationwide.
 
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
 
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1195 on: February 01, 2013, 06:59:00 AM »
US Becomes Japan: Unemployment Rises to 7.9%, U6 Unemployment Stays at 14.4%
 Confounded Interest ^ | 02/02/2013 | Anthony B. Sanders

Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 10:04:28 AM by whitedog57

The employment numbers are out today. The headline numbers are not good news for housing: U3 unemployment ROSE to 7.9% and U6 unemployment and partial employment remained the same at 14.4%.

The good news? Labor force participation didn’t get any worse! It remained the same at 63.6%.

The bad news? We are now like Japan in terms of labor force participation after we leveled off under President Clinton and began declining.

The civilian employment to population ratio also remained the same as a measly 58.6%.

But also like Japan, our employment to population ratio is generally declining. Like the movie “There’s Something About Mary,” there is something about Clinton since our employment to population ratio leveled off and began to decline in Clinton’s second term as President.

At least nonfarm payrolls printed at 157,000. That is DOWN from the revised figure of 196,000 in December. Do I detect a trend?

In January, job gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, and wholesale trade, while employment edged down in transportation and warehousing. (See table B-1.)

Employment in retail trade rose by 33,000 in January, compared with an average monthly gain of 20,000 in 2012. Within the industry, job growth continued in January in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+7,000), electronics and appliance stores (+5,000), and clothing stores (+10,000).

In January, employment in construction increased by 28,000. Nearly all of the job growth occurred in specialty trade contractors (+26,000), with the gain about equally split between residential and nonresidential specialty trade contractors. Since reaching a low in January 2011, construction employment has grown by 296,000, with one-third of the gain occurring in the last 4 months. However, the January 2013 level of construction employment remained about 2 million below its previous peak level in April 2006.

Coupled with the Q4 GDP print of -0.1%, this is indeed a cold economic winter. And not good news for the housing market.

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1197 on: February 02, 2013, 10:22:33 PM »
Study: 22 Military Veterans Commit Suicide Every Day

February 1, 2013 2:39 PM


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WASHINGTON (CBSDC) - The results of a new study indicate that suicide rates among veterans in the United States are increasing.
 
An estimated 22 military veterans take their lives every day in America, according to the study helmed by Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist and researcher who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
 
“While the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of suicides has increased,” the conclusion of the study stated.
 
Specific trends were observed during the course of the study regarding the age and gender of veterans who most frequently committed suicide.
 
“A majority of Veteran suicides are among those age 50 years and older. Male Veterans who die by suicide are older than non-Veteran males who die by suicide,” the study’s findings stated. “The age distribution of Veteran and non-Veteran women who have died from suicide is similar.”
 
The study was conducted over the course of two years, and is, according to Bossarte, indicative mainly of veteran suicides playing a part in what is a national problem.

 

“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” he was quoted as saying by the paper. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.”
 
Still, the Washington Post is reporting that the rate of veteran suicides discovered by Bossarte is approximately 20 percent higher than 2007 figures offered by the VA.
 
Representatives of the VA said the study is a part of their continued efforts to prevent veteran suicides.
 
“The mental health and well-being of our courageous men and women who have served the nation is the highest priority for VA, and even one suicide is one too many,” he said in a statement to the Post.
 
Bossarte and others are hopeful that the findings of the study will assist in creating better prevention programming.
 
“Although this was not a research-based analysis and there are significant limitations in the data that are available … this first attempt at a comprehensive review of Veteran suicide does provide us with valuable information for future directions in care and program development,” the study stated.
 
Others, however, feel the effort put forth by the VA is too insignificant in comparison to the larger issue at hand.
 
“If the VA wants to get its arms around this problem, why does it have such a small number of people working on it?” retired Col. and former Army psychiatrist Elspeth Cameron Ritchie rhetorically asked the Post. “This is a start, but it is a faint start. It is not enough.”
 

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1198 on: February 03, 2013, 01:48:48 PM »
Crain's Chicago Business / The Associated Press ^ | February 1, 2013
Posted on February 3, 2013, 4:43:02 PM EST by 2ndDivisionVet

Viking Range Corp.'s new owner is laying off one-fifth of the company's workers.

Middleby Corp., based near Chicago, said it laid off about 140 of Viking's 700 employees Thursday.

--snip--

Viking cooking schools in Ridgeland, Miss., and Memphis, Tenn., will close...

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobusiness.com ...

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Re: Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"
« Reply #1199 on: February 04, 2013, 12:31:26 PM »
Nearly Half Of American Families Live On The Edge Of Financial Ruin
 


Mandi Woodruff|Feb. 4, 2013, 1:19 PM|2,083|12
 


 In the past few years, Americans have learned a thing or two about how quickly disaster can strike.
 
And with each Hurricane Sandy, housing crisis, and stock market crash that rocks our world, we're faced with the realization that many of us simply aren't prepared for the worst.
 
A sobering new report by the  Corporation for Enterprise Development shows nearly half of U.S. households (132.1 million people) don't have enough savings to weather emergencies, or finance long-term needs like college tuition, health care and housing.
 
According to the Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, these people wouldn't last three months if their income was suddenly depleted. More than 30 percent don't even have a savings account, and another 8 percent don't bank at all.
 
We're not just talking about people who living people the poverty line, either. Plenty of the middle class have joined the ranks of the "working poor," struggling right alongside families scraping by on food stamps and other forms of public assistance.
 
More than one-quarter of households earning $55,465-$90,000 annually have less than three months of savings.
 
And another quarter of households are considered net worth asset poor, "meaning that the few assets they have, such as a savings account or durable assets like a home, business or car, are overwhelmed by their debts," the study says.
 
Stuck on the wheel
 
One of the prolonging reasons consumers have consistently struggled to make ends meet has more to do with larger economic issues than whether or not they can balance a checkbook.
 
Per the report, household median net worth declined by over $27,000 from its peak in 2006 to $68,948 in 2010, and at the same time, the cost of basic necessities like housing, food, and education have soared.
 
It's a dichotomy that is hammered home in a new book by finance expert Helaine Olen. In "Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry," Olen knocks down much of the commonly-spread advice that is sold by the personal finance industry –– most notably the idea that if you're not making ends meet in America, you're doing something wrong.
 
"The problem [is] fixed cost, the things that are difficult to "cut back" on. Housing, health care, and education cost the average family 75 percent of their discretionary income in the 2000s. The comparable figure in 1973: 50 percent," Olen writes.
 
"And even as the cost of buying a house plunged in many areas of the country in the latter half of the 2000s (causing, needless to say, its own set of problems) the price of other necessary expenditures kept rising."
 
And, as the new report shows, wherever consumers can't cope with costs, they continue to rely on plastic. The average borrower carries more than $10,700 in credit card debt, one in five households still rely on high-risk financial services that target low-income and under-banked consumers.
 
And given the fact the same report by CFED last year found nearly identical trends among consumers, we're no closer to finding a solution than ever.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/americans-live-on-the-edge-of-financial-ruin-cfed-report-2013-2#ixzz2Jxr2QHZs