Inflation

[Wifezilla]

To get the inflation and jobs numbers calculated the way there were in the 70's, go here...
http://www.shadowstats.com/

Using the old formula, unemployment is over 20%. Inflation is over 11%.

One more thing to consider, the land under water in MO is crop land. Now is when that land is usually planted. It will be weeks before the water is even gone. One more hit to the food supply during a time of raising prices.

 

[Dunkopf]

I started paying attention when I was around your age Q. We have always been screwed. Or so it seems sometimes.

I always look around the world and tell myself that we may be screwed, but because of our government we live in what I feel is the best country in the world. I fail to understand how people think our country is great and go "Rah Rah America", then turn around and talk about how screwed up our government is. Doesn't make any sense. Overall the government is fine. People need to stop being so petulant all the time. Weather you want to admit or not, the government is the reason our country is so great. It has many flaws. Without it, this great country wouldn't exist though.

 

[Wifezilla]

Our country is great DESPITE our government.

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." Thomas Paine

 

[Gardengirl 2011]

It seems that when we are led to believe things are starting to level off, something else happens. Where I live, our umemployment is over 13%. And that's just of who is actually counted. not considered is the under employed, those who used to be self employed and thos who havce simply given up. Add to that the rise in groceries we're all going to continue to see due to flooding now and it gets worse. Add to that the "regular" bills going up and it can get dire. My health insurance just went up another $66 per month.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
A lot of us are not screwed because we ignore the gov and participate in the black market if they did not have so many stupid regs inhibiting business they would not have such a large "black market " ROFL the gov has nothing to do with the success or failure of the individual I feel sorry for the fools who have been "played " into believing this. There are those of us who thrive even when the economy stinks it is not the gov who is thriving us we thrive in spite of the gov MORONS!!! you want a good book read the richest man in Babylon "Fortune favors the bold "

that and the harder I wpork the " luckier "I get ROFL

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
We wouldn't have a country without government. Thomas Paine said it much better than you did. It may be evil but it is a necessary evil. How good the country is depends on the government of the country. No country can exist without a government.

I believe the inflation numbers do include groceries and oil. They also include inconsequential stuff. Unemployment figures are based on new filings for unemployment. Obviously there is no way to get an accurate figure when you consider the underemployed and those that have run out of benefits. If your unemployed things look pretty bleak. Others will say that we are overflowing with jobs. Politicians will say whatever is best for them.

On my end, I wish feed prices would go down. Sounds like they will only go up with all this flooding. Feel bad for those people that are getting flooded today to save people downstream in La. I wonder if flood insurance covers them for that. I don't think it would. If the gov decides to flood the out I would expect the gov would have to pay losses.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
A lot of us are not screwed because we ignore the gov and participate in the black market if they did not have so many stupid regs inhibiting business they would not have such a large "black market " ROFL the gov has nothing to do with the success or failure of the individual I feel sorry for the fools who have been "played " into believing this. There are those of us who thrive even when the economy stinks it is not the gov who is thriving us we thrive in spite of the gov MORONS!!! you want a good book read the richest man in Babylon "Fortune favors the bold "

that and the harder I wpork the " luckier "I get ROFL

Very true. Without the gov 98% of would be screwed by the unregulated business practices. Look at what happened with Wall Street. They drop the stupid regs as you call them and 10 years later the country is ready to collapse. Then the crooks that took us to the brink walk away three fold richer than they were before. I pity the fool that buys what the rich keep telling them about how regs need to be dropped. There are a lot of regs that need to be revised or dropped. Regs are still a very important part of a functioning society though. Yes fortune favors the me first screw everyone else people. No doubt about it.

 

[rufus]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, I think some people confuse the government with the nation. We as a people are exceptional in that we believe in personal freedom and equal opportunity. The government on the other hand believes in management and driving society to achieve government's social engineering goals, not the wants and needs of the people.

When the goals of government are at odds with the desires of the people things must change.

While the politicians in power say that things are getting better, I see a different picture. They cannot talk us out of the depression; words will not fill empty bellies or pay the rent.

Rufus

 

[chickened]

A large part of the problem with our economy is it is too dependant on the Government (GM anyone?) drilling moratorium = another reason for high fuel prices. Our government is going through puberty it seems and when dealing with an adolescent some times you just have to say no. Our government is in a shamble so why would the government dependant economy not follow suit. I export products overseas as part of my business and I can tell you my industry would die if it were not for foriegn markets as the domestic market sucks because of government regulatuions (sallie mae freddie mac anyone?).

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
That's true about the nation. My point is that I hear so much about eliminating our government. People act as though the country would function just fine if we just eliminated the government. If anyone has ever seen Robocop, that is what our country is turning into. Two very distinctly separate classes. The majority living in filth and squalor with little order. The well educated and the fortunate living much better and ignoring those below them.

There is way too much social engineering going on. Things like forced integration back in the late 60's. Busing people to schools where they are not happy. It didn't work and they dropped it. There were better ways to achieve the same goal. Unfortunately portions of the population namely below the Mason Dixon Line were very much against all ideas to change the social problem addressed by that move. Even though we are a nation of personal freedom and equal opportunity those values are selectively doled out by society.

What it boils down to IMO is that the immediate threat to our nation is not the government. It is the control of government by corporate money. That applies to all facets of the government. We need our government. We need it to change a lot but we still need it.

To Chickened. I know you are probably in the camp of "End all regulations". It would probably be good for you, but it wouldn't be good for the nation. We have had too many reminders of that since Reagan. Fannie Mae and Freddie were good concepts to start. Carters decree about creating housing opportunities for those less fortunate was a good concept. Then regulations on loaning were dropped in conjunction with deregulating investments and the investors took full opportunity of the situation. They drove the economy into the ground and hurt the whole nation except for a very small percentage that is doing quite well right now. That portion also controls the media. That's very handy because it keeps the masses misdirected and placing blame in places that don't really apply.

As for GM. They are doing well now and are well on their way to paying the government back. If they had not been bailed out we would have lost around 6 million jobs in all. That was something that could not be allowed to happen at the time and still could not be allowed. So that example can't really even be considered in a discussion of government mis management. There's plenty of that to go around so let's stick to something bad instead of something that was very good.