By Ron Paul:
Last week, supporters of the current administration rejoiced over job numbers released by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). For the first time since the administration came to power, the official unemployment number fell below 8%. Keynesian cheerleaders all claimed the numbers meant we are surely on the road to economic recovery, just in time for Christmas, and also, the election. Others saw through this ruse.
The situation on the ground looks nothing like a recovery. 23 million people are still out of work or chronically underemployed. This number is expected to rise dramatically next year. The situation in Washington should not give anyone cause for optimism. Politicians refuse to look honestly and intelligently at the cause of our economic malaise, and so real solutions are not taken seriously or acted upon. It is much easier and less painful to simply recalculate the numbers and redefine the terms until a rosier picture is presented. There is only blind hope that at some point, for some reason, things might change. But nothing will change for the better if we only stay the course.
The truth is the long term solutions to our economic quagmire involve some short term pain. Re-evaluating the economic role of an institution as insidious and behemoth as the Federal Reserve will inconvenience some people, and those people happen to have a lot of power. Similarly, the idea of ending government programs and closing down superfluous departments will always upset someone because it means someone will stop getting a government check.
No one wants to upset the apple cart, even if all the apples are rotten.
Not all of the unemployed are counted in the BLS unemployment numbers. This is no secret. In 1994 government statisticians came up with the term “discouraged worker” to remove entire swaths of people from the unemployment statistic. Now all the government has to do to improve the unemployment numbers is discourage people from looking for a job.
Far more unintended consequences are created in Washington than jobs.
Ideally, the business sector should be able to depend on sound numbers from the BLS, but smart business leaders know that trust in these numbers leads to bad decisions and failure. In regards to the recent jobs numbers, investor Jim Rogers recently stated “I have learned not to take advice from the government, especially the US government, which frequently misleads its citizens.” He also noted the election just around the corner, suggesting timing as an extra incentive to keep fudging the statistics.
The real drivers of the productive economy can’t afford to take risks based on false numbers. This is why economist John Williams created Shadow Government Statistics, utilizing more traditional methodologies and definitions to show business decision makers the real economic picture, warts and all. He shows the real unemployment rate to be a staggering 22.8%.
This is a difficult figure to accept as the actual truth. Perhaps if the politicians did, the people would finally demand real change and real solutions. Perhaps they would consider that all of the so-called stimulus spending, quantitative easing and mountains of regulation from Washington has only crippled the economy. Perhaps people would come to understand that fewer checks handed out from the public sector would mean more checks available in the private sector, and a return to real prosperity instead of just the appearance of it.
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All we have to do as Americans is put on a little pointy hat, get out in that rice patty, and take our money in Remimbi.
What’s the solution?
The solution is for the government to…
Stop lying and fudging the numbers,
Stop using tax monies to ship manufacturing overseas,
Stop being the military bullies of the world,
Stop printing money like it’s going out of style,
Start slashing the size of government,
Start giving incentives for starting or keeping businesses here in the USA,
Stop allowing illegal aliens from walking in to reap the bennies that were meant for legal US citizens……
(I have no problem with legal aliens, just come here legally like you are supposed to).
I could go on but will just leave it at that, you get the idea.
END The Federal Reserve!
The solution is for government to work for the people again instead of the corporation.
The most useful solution in my opinion is to wake up everyone around the world by tell them the truth, try to convince everyone that they should buy physical gold and silver. People needs to know how messed up we are right now!
I am still voting for Ron Paul as a write-in. If you vote for the other two you are an accomplice to the crime!!
Refuse to let them suck you in. The debates are a farce and mean nothing.
Silvergood1: Let me give you, please, my stance on your comment. I too felt like you when Perot ran for President. I thought long and hard about voting for him KNOWING he had NO CHANCE to win the election. Then I thought about the “other two”. Like you, they are going to be overwhelmed by special interest groups, etc, BUT, and I repeat, BUT in THIS 2012 election, there is a distinct difference between the two candidates. One man may not be the answer. However, Silvergood1, the other option is to re-elect Obama a man who clearly HATES the USA!!!! Please give your vote its due diligence! Being a man of principle is honorable and terrific. Giving your vote away is a shame! God bless you!
My worst fear is that if Obama wins it will be hunting season for the socialists/communists with the contitutionalists and libertarians and conservatives as the prey!
@RRG:
At least we are better armed than they are, on average!
-RGR
@Silvergood1 Don’t write down Ron Paul on your vote or else your vote is going to be disqualified because Ron Paul is not a candidate anymore. You should for Gary Johnson who is a Libertarian that supports Ron Paul and Ron Paul also endorses him. This election, you only need 5% of the people to vote for the Libertarian party so that the two party system which are the Republican and the Democrat parties could end.
Here! Here! My wife becomes a Citizen this coming Friday and the first thing she wants to do is register to Vote. She has already told me who’s she’s voting for and why and it makes me proud because she didn’t ask my opinion but she has seen me change the last couple of years by stacking silver, getting prepared and on the computer a lot and gaining knowledge. It has rubbed off on her and now she accepts what I’m doing and now she’s falling in my footsteps by learning. I’m One Proud Hubby.
@Marchas45 – congrats to your wife on becoming a citizen! Good to have you back here at SD as well.
-Doc
@ Doc Hi! Doc, I never left, just never signed in. Lol
THE PROBLEM with RON PAUL:
This article is well written, truthful, and to the point. He’s too accurate to be a career politician,
perhaps that is why he’s had several other careers! Too bad romney and the repubix screwed him in the primaries…
I didn’t know that all unemployed didn’t count towards the unemployment rates. Finding a week-end job as a teenager is very hard. I’ve posted about 50 CV for different jobs, only three of them invited me for an interview and only one has accepted me for the job thanks to the help of one of my friends.
Our “beloved” politicians use several “fudge factors” to make the “misery index”
look less troublesome for political purposes. The most troublesome news is that
many of the “chronically unemployed” that cannot file any more (past 99 weeks)
have applied for and received SSI DISABILITY benefits! Basically insuring a vote
for the current administration, to guarantee an uninterrupted flow of checks!
DESPICABLE!