The latest White House claim insists that unemployment dropped to a three year low of 8.3 percent — the lowest it has been in nearly three years. This is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But not so fast; a rowing number of financial experts around the country are reporting that the figures have likely been manipulated using a creative accounting method that significantly decreased the number of Americans in the workforce. According to them, the actual unemployment rate is closer to 9 percent rather than the 8.3% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

It’s a relatively easy, clever ruse; the unemployment rate is determined by simply dividing the number of unemployed job-seekers by the total number in the labor force. By reducing the number of workers in the overall workforce, the administration can easily show actual unemployment dropping, but in reality the improvement has been questionable for months.

As a growing number of people drop out of the workforce because of a multitude of reasons, the BLS conveniently labels the unemployed person a “discouraged worker.”
Interestingly, the BLS immediately categorizes them as “marginally attached to the workforce,” whereby they or no longer considered to be part of the nation’s working population. Dumping them from the employment rolls ensures the unemployment rate will move lower thereby skewing the unemployment numbers during the past year.
This would account for the unprecedented record number of persons currently unemployed, estimated to be nearly 1.5 million.

The bottom line here is the job market remains bleak, and those searching for work continue an uphill battle due to the shrinking number of actual employers. Those that are hiring are doing so guardedly and are writing employment contracts for specified durations of time similar to the way people invest in CDs. Anyone who believes the unemployment bubble has reached maximum capacity and is actually declining had better take a peek beneath the surface to see the actual reality of the ongoing situation.

What’s your comfort zone for the price of dinner? How does $10,000 a  plate sound to you? How about the time of day you prefer to go to dinner, does rush hour seem ideal?

If you happened to be in Albuquerque, NM yesterday afternoon you too could have been stranded in rush hour traffic that was backed up on the Interstate highways for 10 miles from the airport to downtown. No, it wasn’t a horrendous traffic accident that caused the inconvenience, it was Vice President Biden’s motorcade making its way through the heart of downtown Albuquerque at the height of rush hour in route to dinner, a $10,000 per plate fund raiser.

It’s so reassuring to know that the “Einstein of Washington” was willing to log a few miles on his vice presidential jet at taxpayer expense and concurrently screw up the lives of a few thousand workers who simply wanted to get home to their families after a long work day. And yes, I realize it’s amazing that this many people actually have jobs. But seriously, who would pay ten grand to hear Biden speak during dinner? Wouldn’t that actually detract from the quality of the meal. Then again, I suppose you could think of it as an outrageously expensive dinner at a comedy club…

Never one to miss an opportunity, President Barack Obama offered his perception of the truth in his recent State of the Union address.
The president didn’t lie, he simply omitted some important facts that would have undermined his broad claims of success in a particularly high profile area.

Let’s use the auto industry as an example. Here’s what he said about the auto industry followed by what he “forgot” to say.

He said on the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.

He forgot to mention that the GM bailout process was initiated under President George W. Bush, and the success at Ford Motor Company was accomplished without any government action; the company didn’t take any government assistance. Yes, some jobs were saved, but overall the auto industry lost in excess of 200,000 workers. He also omitted the cost of the bailout to the American taxpayer. Considering the total cost of the national investment, the government has to sell its shares at $53 each to break even. GM stock is currently trading at around $25 a share, leaving the U.S. taxpayers $14 billion in this financial abyss.

Interesting how politicians can take a seemingly straightforward topic and spin it into something entirely different…