US employers cut 467,000 jobs in June

Hope and Change...

We're hoping to keep our jobs, while looking for change among the seat cushions. [Ooooh, a shiny quarter and three pennies. I can buy enough carbon credits for twenty exhalations!]

Children, can you say screwed? I knew you could.

Unemployment rate

"[C]ompanies in the States slashed 345,000 jobs in May, boosting the unemployment rate to 9.4 per cent. Through the magic of seasonally adjusting the numbers, slicing another 467,000 jobs in June only pushed the unemployment rate to 9.5 per cent, according to the BLS. ... This strikes me as BS, and it is a pity that it is not just called the Bureau of Statistics."

From what I have been told (which may be wrong, but I doubt it), the US government only considers you "unemployed" while you are receiving unemployment benefits (I believe you can only receive benefits for 6 or 12 months). Once your benefits expire, you are no longer considered unemployed, regardless of whether or not you have a job.

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@AC re "Bama and the Feds are in Denial"

"Record unemployment and climbing yet Bama and the Feds refuse to pull their heads outta their arses. Some metro areas of the U.S. have 26% unemployment and quite a few have ~20%. This is serious and the FOOLS in Washington have no clue."

And what, exactly, do you propose they do about it? Have you found the mystical tree upon which jobs are grown? Have you devised a plan to restore the country to a prosperous economy? Do you have any idea how to reduce the unemployment rate? If so, then please, inform us. If not, then what qualifies you to criticize others for not magically finding jobs and fixing the economy?

The government is not supposed to be a big brother or nanny. The government is supposed to provide infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc) and protection. We have come to rely on the government for far too much already. We, the people, have collectively decided to hand our country over to China through our purchase of their products exclusively. We refused to buy US-made products because they were more expensive. As a result, more companies moved their manufacturing to China, causing the loss of US jobs. This resulted in more people being unable to afford anything not made in China, which resulted in a vicious circle. So now, when we are finally seeing the result of our collective decision, you want the government to step in and bail us out. We, the people, are collectively no better than the greedy corporations who made bad decisions and begged the government for a bailout. No wonder we're the laughing stock of the world.

@ first AC

Naturally, you, personally, would have fixed everything that's wrong with the world in your first month in office, if only the good but apparently tragically-deceived citizens had had the brains to elect you instead.

language

Chris C pretty much nails it. However, I think we must weigh more heavily the damage Business School Product did to U.S. business. They've been shipping manufacturing out of the U.S. long before the Chinese decided to leach off the rest of the world. BSP did this because they (1) never really understood manufacturing anything, that's why they graduated from BSP schools, and (2) have no loyalty to anything beyond their own self-interest. The fact that engineers and laborers worked hard to manufacture a product is meaningless to them; they are only interested in shipping design and manufacturing somewhere else to capture that last fraction of a percent of profit which can duly be reported in support of their year end bonus.

They have finally achieved what no other group has: they have become the moral equivalent of lawyers.