The Popular Vote: The U.S. economy's April Fools' Day joke
Michael Roberts
Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: Opinion
Then there is also the simple fact that we might not be looking at the right kind of unemployment data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the unemployment rate that we normally look at as "total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force." That's the number that just changed to showing our country as having an 8.5 percent inflation rate. The problem with this is that it's not the only unemployment number available. The biggest unemployment figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated is the U-6, which at the moment stands at a massive 15.6 percent. The recession may actually be a lot worse than we think, and worse than the statistics we know tell us.
It just seems that at the moment people shouldn't be as optimistic as they are currently being. Sure, the market was tremendously devalued and the past couple weeks have been strong stock market weeks, but that doesn't mean we are out of the woods just yet. We need to remember just how quickly the bank and mortgage crises hit the market, as well as remember that there are a number of industries that it could still happen to. We also need to remember that we don't know just how much more bailout money might be needed for the likes of the American auto companies and AIG.
We could be looking at more uncertainty on Wall Street and in this economy in general, and as we've learned lately, uncertainty can sometimes be worse than actual bad news. Don't let April fool you into completely buying this talk of market and economic recovery; there could still be more bad news ahead.
It just seems that at the moment people shouldn't be as optimistic as they are currently being. Sure, the market was tremendously devalued and the past couple weeks have been strong stock market weeks, but that doesn't mean we are out of the woods just yet. We need to remember just how quickly the bank and mortgage crises hit the market, as well as remember that there are a number of industries that it could still happen to. We also need to remember that we don't know just how much more bailout money might be needed for the likes of the American auto companies and AIG.
We could be looking at more uncertainty on Wall Street and in this economy in general, and as we've learned lately, uncertainty can sometimes be worse than actual bad news. Don't let April fool you into completely buying this talk of market and economic recovery; there could still be more bad news ahead.
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