It seems like the recent economic news is a continual rollercoaster ride! Rosy predictions bring up hopes, which are dashed by some report or other. What is the truth?
Well, if you believe as I do that a lot of the media grabs on to small things and hypes it, you will be on the lookout for someone who seems to have a clearer picture of what is really going on. Maybe you will agree with them or not, but at least it is something more concrete than looking at a percentage of a percentage point difference and saying the recession is over.
Enter Martin D. Weiss, PhD, who wrote an article posted 11 May 2009 on the Money and Markets web site. He lists “Five Economic Storms Raging NOW!”. You know most of them, such as the one about big banks’ risk of failure, but do you know how bad it really is? Let’s take the #1 and my favorite: Plunging Jobs:
Storm #1.
Plunging Jobs
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that job losses were running at a slightly slower pace than in the first quarter. So Wall Street cheered.
But it’s a joke, and the 539,000 additional Americans out of work aren’t laughing.
Nor are the 23 million people — 15.8 percent of the work force — who are officially unemployed … are struggling with lower paying part-time jobs … or have given up looking for work entirely.
Look. In December 2007, there were 138.1 million jobs in America. Now, there are only 132.4 million.
So even if you accept the government’s tally of the narrowest unemployment measure, 5.7 million jobs have been lost.
Plot those figures on a chart and the picture is absolutely unambiguous: Jobs in America are collapsing. Right here and now!
Where’s that “slightly slower pace of collapse” they’re raving about? You’d need a microscope to see it.
Check out the other 4 economic storms at the Money and Market site.
Frankly, the US is spending a lot of money for very little result. Worse, we are leaving a debt to our grandchildren’s children.
Contrast this with what the Bible says a “good man” or righteous person does, which is leave an inheritance that will last to his children’s children (Pr 13:22)!