Economic Schizophrenia: Jobs, Stocks, Housing and the Real Story

[MrHipfrog]

We have no gold standard... USA can print its' money and give jobs to everyone... End of bad biz in one day.

[MrHipfrog]

When citizens begin mass killings at the most expensive restaurants, country clubs, churches, business meetings, rich neighborhoods, etc..., then there will be more reflection on eliminating taxation and profit from necessities (housing, food, transport). Until then, respectable people will continue to be eliminated very quickly. The police will not be able to stop the killings, and some will realize that they have been working for extortionists, and will bravely switch sides. The DOOZIE!

[macpduff]

Good point about the unemployability of the former self employed. For 3 years I assisted with my husband's dba business. That has punched holes in my resume. It can be dealt with, but it does leave those gaps that employers don't like to see.

[perkulez]

Sharp kids you got there, congratulations! I have been without a TV now for 4 years now, can't say I miss it. I still watch a lot of documentaries and a couple of TV-shows on the internet.

[siddhaam]

of course those unemployment figures are gov figures. you can add 50%+ to them.

[iluvwine13]

Its all a dog and pony show.I'd say by the end of the year the depression will be official and the riots will begin. The commercial real estate bubble will burst and the massive inflation will devour whats left of our economy. The msm is a circus that is nothing more than propaganda. If I was a bank too big too fail and I got 10 trillion dollars in taxpayer cash I'd have stocks and profit up the ass. And screw you taxpayers and politicians. I don't have to say shit about where the money is.

[subjer0]

I read an article that said, out of a thousand economists across America only 12 of them saw this crisis coming! And these same economists that didn't see this crisis coming, are saying every other day, "Oh it's going to get better in a couple of months, I see it turning around."

BULLSHIT!

[AwakenSafely]

Yeah...I hear the same things out of folks who just want to turn over and go back to sleep.

One of my friends recently said, "Oh, I truly believe that in 90 days, we're going to see a whole different economy... (better)".

[subjer0]

I have an observation, which could be wrong. But I believe, that people who believe in the MSM optimism, watch too much TV. I haven't watched television for almost over 7 months and it has opened my mind to the truth. I hunger for the truth. The truth is not found on TV. Television feeds us lies. Television is meant to sell you junk, whether it be products or false ideas and false truths.

Those of us who are weaning or completely stop watching tv are seeing the truth.We are awakening.

[AwakenSafely]

no...that sounds RIGHT. very good observation.

the "TV-Industrial Complex" grew massively over the years as a causal factor of AND a result of the consumer society. It's the "non-virtuous cycle". We can talk about this some more.

In other words...early TV had limited commercials (it's always been a commercial medium, to be sure), but as manufacturers and marketers realized the power to SELL STUFF through this vehicle, they actually started to fund more and more PROGRAMMING.

[doctorofghetto]

I agree Awaken. Our government agency(USDOL) is hidding a lot of statistics from the public. They say unemployment is at 7.6% as of December 2008/January 2009. But, if you include all aspects of all type of workers, times that figure by 1.5. That is the actual employment rate, if not close to the actual figure.

I do not rely on governent anymore on their statistics, since they think people are stupid all the time.

[taineasy]

Basic economic theory dictates that with low employment you can not have a healthy economy. We have a true unemployment rate of 15-17% and rising quickly. The stock market is to the economy as a vegas casino is to the vegas housing market. As long people are willing to gamble to beat the odds the market will be unpredictable even while the ship is sinking.

[AwakenSafely]

nicely said!

[drutter]

My small online business (collectibles) was paying my bills through 2004 and 2005, pretty good in 2006 and 2007, still making ends meet in 2008 until the fall. Since then, considering half my customers were Americans, things have been bleak. I've been liquidating stock at half price, but that can't last long.

I have a degree I can't really turn into a job right now, a business that can't continue unless things change, and no bailout coming. The credit card bills seem unmanageable.

[axostech]

Adapt your products, sell gold and silver bullion since the US Mint is out :D

-D

[BeenInACaveWayToLong]

We're in this together. Some were more prepared than others. Some are prospering in this environment.

My friend, your's is almost a blueprint of my situation. Although, I am not yet living on credit cards. Still solvent and living out of savings and a trickle of income from my business.

Spent time with famiy members last night and they are SO resistent to preparation for deteriorating times. They believe silver is a fools game! No need to prepare! Dealing with them is so depressing.

[AwakenSafely]

Drutter and BeenInACave....

part of the entrepreneurial "ethos" is an inveterate optimism, it seems. In other words...no matter WHAT kind of risks we need to take, we'll keep our enterprises going.

Well...there are times when we've lived on the razor's edge for too long. Doesn't take much of an economic jiggle to cause the small entrepreneur to lose balance and fall onto the blade.

Frankly, it can be best to see it, take the medicine and move on...

[drutter]

Thannks, Been. None of my family members are on board yet. My brothers listen and nod, but haven't prepared anything. I see them spending the last of their easy money on DVDs and dinners out. I hear them saying "I have a secure job". I've tried the slow educational approach and the shocking facts approach. My friends have all but alienated me because of this, except a couple, one of whom is preparing half-heartedly. It's a slow battle.

And yeah, credit card debt is stupid, I know. Sigh.

[AwakenSafely]

honestly....prepare yourself and be an example of good cheer and good energy. I find that all my "gloomy warning talk" doesn't attract those who resist it anyway.

I have decided to be cheerful and loving around those who I know disapprove of my direction--and only try to bring them into the conversation if/when they ask about it.

"a man convinced against his will, doth remain unconvinced still" or something like that

[drutter]

Thank you for the advice, Jacob. I'm going to try that.

[mtlsoul]

The government unemployment numbers are lower than the actual unemployment numbers, becuase the government only counts the people it has to pay, so anyone who doesn't get unemployment benifits, isn't counted. It is not something that is hidden, but nobody else really has good numbers on it, and the government is a source everyone can agree on. I don't know that its so much of an outright lie, as people thinking it represents something it does not. (Although they should count all, oh well.)

[Buckhead1959]

MTLSOUL...go to the BLS website and use columns U1-U6 to figure unemployment..it's around 16.4% according to their site.

[mtlsoul]

That sounds about right, I appreciate the information. I have found most gov websites are not iser friendly.

[mrcool011]

Never underestimate propaganda! I expect first quarter reports to be good or not as bad as expected. Banks and government are cooking the books, I expect the false rally to continue. The gov and markets will downplay the increasing unemployment numbers because they have already been priced in(for now).

[whiskerchild]

Jacob:

Glad you had a good vacation.  Of course, we're still friends!

Good vid,

(Tina)

[djosephhart]

For those of us who pay attention, and do not buy into the gov't propoganda machine, this upturn allows us more time to buy gold/silver at reasonable levels, food storage and everything else we need to bunker down....dig down to the root and this is a short term rally.

[comokate]

1) There is a fantastic article in the April edition of Harper's magazine, by Thomas Geoghegan,regarding the demise of the US financial system due to uncapped usary fees and the switch from being a country that produces, to being one that simply has financial/credit markets

[comokate]

2) a quote from an interview with him:

"People lost the ability to get wage increases and got the ability, an incredible ability, really unknown in previous times, to get credit cards with which they had high rates of interest. "

[comokate]

3) So, unable to get wage increases, people—or unable to get union cards, really, people got credit cards and began running up these great debts, which addicted the country to high rates of return in the financial sector, so that people were kind of spending their way out of the real economy, pushing more and more money, by the fact that they were going into debt, into this virtual financial sector economy.

[comokate]

4)So, really, the inability of people to raise their own wages and the incredible ease with which they could get credit instead helped create this flow of capital out of manufacturing and into finance. You know, we, the little people in this country, helped finance the bloating up of this financial sector and really the downsizing of our own jobs in the real economy. We sent the signals, you know, to investors to put money into the financial sector and not into the manufacturing sector.

[comokate]

I work in health care in Minnesota and have seen the economy slowing for the past 2 or 3 years. We had an overheated housing market with prices that did not match local wages. Many big employers have left the state along with the higher wages. My hours have been cut in half and many hospitals here are laying off scores of nurses. No one seems to be spared.

[AwakenSafely]

yeah...really fascinating and true. Wow.

[aw3212]

the stock market rally may have some legs, but it doesn't have a brain!

[AwakenSafely]

good point

[elgringote3]

I'm part of that hidden layer. Technically I quit but I was 100% comm based and my employer tried to renig on the promised commission. I believe this layer is larger than most realize and alot of people in this position are burning thru their savings. More disaster to come.

[AwakenSafely]

yes. I understand that 100%.

people are burning through savings AND burning through what available credit they have, too...

That's why I've been warning folks about getting their credit lines trimmed WITHOUT WARNING and, if they don't have any cash reserves....they're f&$#@-d.

[wearechangela]

The Federal Reserve set up the stock market so that they can make it go up or down at will. The Council on Foreign Relations control the media, including Bloomberg.

Get your money out of the Stock Market. Get out of debt.

[veritasfiles]

Welcome back. I hope you had a good vacation. My own opinion is that the economy is going to continue this way for some time until everyone begins to get used to investing at the 7,500 to 8,500 level, and when all is seemingly going back to normal in the investment side of the economy, more bad news will come down and shake it to its knees again. I always thought the Djia would make it down to 5,200 or lower, but we'll see I guess.  Have a good rest of the weekend!

[june201955]

I closed up my business over 2 years ago. What I had found out after applying for different "livable wage" earning jobs, (at the time of the interview) I was always told that I was "over qualified" for the position. This had given me the sense that most employers feel threatened by confident leaders and they only want followers. Also, I had found that your resume on experience means nothing to most employers if you've been self employed.

[Elizruth]

Welcome back Jacob! Don't be gone so long!

In terms of unemployment is I know more people now who are about to lose their jobs... I think we'll be taking another big dip done in the unemployment rate in 3-6 months. And I'm fearing that the "safety net" our gov't provides won't be sufficient. Friends and family and church will always be the best safety net around.

Friend Jacob --- Glad to see you back!

[redmoonspider]

It's always the same story ...with the unemployment numbers...and the GDP.

they give the numbers....2 months later..

whooops...revise it.

what was the gdp drop?..something like 1.6...then 6.1...it hillarious. do we like have high school students running stats?

[minstral2]

I imagine that the Unemployment rate in the US does not include the number of people that have given up looking for work or who do not collect employment insurance and cant find work.

In Canada, they do not include the number of people on Social Assistancethose that have run out of UI and fall into Social Assistance. If that is true also in the US then the numbers are actually far worse.

37 million on food stamps is more than 10% of the US population. Is unemployment a factor in that #?

[AwakenSafely]

that's a good question.  I would venture to guess NO, but I really don't know.

anybody else know this answer?

[knightstryder21]

as far as I know also your assumtion is correct

[thirstybullet]

we havent seen anything yet....... wait till the bank of england or germany collapses they are worse off than we are.... when the welfare checks stop working look out !!!

[AwakenSafely]

Thirsty...

why do you say that they are "worse off than we are". Not arguing it, but give some detail on this statement?

[aw3212]

I think the UK is worse off too - their GDP is terrible and their future GDP looks worse. Their banking situation is as bad or worse and noone bought their treasuries when they tried to auction.

[knightstryder21]

Cycles of History Again:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years.

[knightstryder21]

These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage." BREAK THE CYCLE< GET INFORMED

[AwakenSafely]

and where to you put America in this continuum? apathy to dependency or dependency back into bondage?

[knightstryder21]

if you stand back and really try to honestly answer that question i see a majority is dependent and ripe for bondage

[AwakenSafely]

yeah...kind of strikes me that way, too

[DavidAKZ]

Hey ! You forgot 'Dancing with the Stars' !!

[AwakenSafely]

David,

Did you see that I did a whole vid on the Rolling Stone article you sent me?

[DavidAKZ]

Yes, I thought it might interest you as you have a background in real estate, I'm starting to see the alphabet soup if Fed based debt buckets pop up all over the place.

[AwakenSafely]

interesting....

I've read this before, but can't remember who said it...who?

[forestlight5]

Welcome back.

[AwakenSafely]

Thank you! really appreciate that.

That's (fitness) one thing we can ALL do. Get fit physically...mentally...spirit­ually.

I am also self-employed (over 10 years) and am forging ahead into new areas for income--but it's not like just hanging out a new shingle and cashing checks.

Thanks for your comments...very much appreciated!

For those interested...go check out my Fitness Channel.....do a search for /user/ShapeShifterSecrets

Thanks again, Hermbilliam...

[CliffPotts]

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality.

BLS U-6 Table is at 14.8% as of Match 6, 2009. U-6 is as close to the *real* number as you can get.

[AwakenSafely]

Hey, Cliff...well, you probably know that I was using the "schizo" word in its popular sense--not your much more scientific one :-)

BTW, please decipher your last sentence for me/us? I sort of gather that the REAL unemployment numbers are closer to 14.8%?

[CliffPotts]

The BLS has a number of Unemployment Tables. The Official table is U-3. It is what they count and don't count. The U-6 table is the all inclusive number which includes most of the people you mentioned in your report. That puts the Unemployment rate at 14.8% nationally. I did a video on it some months ago, and continue to track it.

[AwakenSafely]

Curious why the self employed # isn't factored in the "Official" table, Cliff. I mean...is it just assumed that self-employeds are sort of flighty/flaky and will figure something out?

I'm employing a bit of sarcasm there, but seriously...wonder why that isn't in the official number? Thoughts?

[CliffPotts]

Politics ... it makes the president, and the policies, look better. Kennedy tweaked them back in 60/61 (not sure of the year). Nixon did it again. Then Reagan cut them in half. That is how we have the U-3 table. Let me find the video I did on it and post it here for you.

[AwakenSafely]

thanks! that would be helpful.

[drutter]

I join you in expressing frustration at people calling things with two opposite sides "schizophrenic". That disorder may contain the prefix for "split" but it doesn't refer to a split personality. The disorder that matches closest with the meaning intended here is "multiple personality disorder".

[CliffPotts]

It was not so much frustration as it was curiosity. *We* throw that word around allot, and it had been some time since I looked up the clinical definition. It helps to refresh ones base information. It allows for a centering of the approach. I am doing that with the video I am loading now over on my channel.

[hermbilliamherm18]

my dad was self employed (high school grad., 2-3 pointless college classes) and he is jobless and has been for almost 2 years now. The jobs that he can get right now pay about 80% less than he made then. He is still doing some on the side work but that probably equals the 20% he could make at a regular job. Were all in this together bud! Likin' the shapeshifter vids...I'm 20 and trying to get healthy and toned up!

[hermbilliamherm18]

1st 5str bud! hope u had a good vacation!

[AwakenSafely]

thank you!  :-)

[MeanHacker]

cool