The Dirty Truth About American Jobs
First, the good news!
From all appearances the U.S. economy is showing signs of a sustained recovery from the Great Recession of 2008. Unemployment claims are down, the stock market is up, housing starts are up, car sales healthy, and businesses are sitting on huge cash reserves ready to invest when demand improves. We haven’t had a single month of net negative job growth in over a year. Except for the recession, after-tax corporate profits have been rising since 2001.
Adding to the good economic feeling was the recent annual Christmas consumer confidence boost from the U.S. news media intended to give us the warm and fuzzies about the economy and encouraging us to spend heavily for the holidays. The mainstream media played its traditional seasonal role in our capitalist economy: promoting Christmas sales by blowing sunshine about the economic good news. (In late January the actual sales data, not a self-serving forecast, will tell a more accurate data-driven story of actual sales.)
In the rollup to the 2012 elections the Obama administration will likely shift the timing of federal spending so that within-year expenditures are maximized. Though this spending is below the radar of the American public it will still temporarily boost the economy and contribute to the public impression that the U.S. is on an up-trend with even more jobs and higher incomes just around the corner.
Word in the mainstream media is that the Great Recession is over. We hear that all is well. Move along now, nothing to see here. Workers of the world don’t believe it!
Now the bad news!
Read the rest at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/18/1055407/-The-Dirty-Truth-About-American-Jobs?via=spotlight
