Recovering Economy Goes Into Relapse

Author: Mac Slavo- May 18th, 2011
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State sponsored media will have you know that the economy is doing better. Never mind that the fundamental problems facing America are nowhere near resolved – and in fact – are much worse now than they were prior to the 2008 crash.

Hope is just about lost. Change is not coming.

The much touted recovery never happened, unless your singular measure of economic health is the stock market, in which case America is booming.

The reality on the ground, however, is dismal, as evidenced by events of the past few weeks:

• People are still losing jobs and there’s no meaningful labor to be had. While Vice President Joe Biden continues to talk up the administration’s jobs programs, it’s clear that real jobs – the kind that pay the rent and put food on the table for a family of four – are hard to come by. The official unemployment rate inched up to 9% last month, and if you count those who are part-time laborers looking for full time work we’re at 15.9% (link). As is usually the case, however, the government’s numbers don’t tell the whole story. According to John Williams, utilizing the same statistics that were used to calculate the unemployment rate before 1981, over one in five Americans are currently without work – roughly 22%. The recession of the late 70′s and early 80′s saw unemployment reach 10.8% and during the Great Depression unemployment reportedly hit 25%. Looking at the figures from John Williams, it is quite clear that this jobless recovery is a whole lot worse than it’s been made out to be. We are bordering on Great Depression territory – and it’s very likely that we’re already there.

• Housing Is Destabilizing. The Fed can continue to print as much money as they so choose in an effort to “stabilizeâ€