Hat-tip to Bob Swern for putting together an amazing list of stunning new truths about Wall Street and the Economy at large. I don’t think all of his points are headline makers, but here are the ones I think are worth pointing out.
1) America has experienced the greatest percentage job loss since the Great Depression. What’s more, some sectors of our society are already experiencing joblessness as bad, if not worse, than some of the worst unemployment statistics realized during the Great Depression
2) The government is lying about unemployment statistics. Okay, you may have known that one. But did you know that the government has just recently changed the way it adjusts those numbers? Bottom line: Even on the headline number, the government is undercounting unemployment by about 824,000 people.
3) Unemployment is going to get worse. At the height of the Great Depression overall unemployment was estimated to be roughly 25%-30%. If we track an unemployment measure (U6) similar to how joblessness was counted in the 1930s, we could even see unemployment reach the previous record.
4) Standard government unemployment benefits are insufficient for this crisis. Bloomberg has an interesting story on this one.
5) The connection between Goldman Sachs and the halls of power in Washington are becoming more blatant than ever. Zero Hedge has more on this development, something that used to get people fired back when our country was governed by the rule of law.
6) Even the good-time Charlies in Washington are starting to admit that prosperity isn’t around the corner. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is expecting unemployment to stay grim through the end of next year.
7) Poverty is increasing dramatically. What’s more, worsening the situation, millions are scheduled to exhaust their unemployment benefits long before the employment situation improves.
8 ) US manufacturing is sliding into an abyss. Personally, I think this will keep happening as long as we make it easy for US companies to move jobs overseas. But Obama shows no willingness to end the “giant sucking sound.” Saying he’s marginally better on this than Bush is no comfort to the unemployed.
For more on this, read an article by Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Adminstration: “The Economy Is A Lie.”
To Swern’s list I’ll add a couple more points:
9) Obama has failed to reform the financial system. Jesse over at Jesse’s Café American has a good commentary on this problem that explains it in very easy-to-understand terms. To which I’ll add: Without real reform, if you think the financial crisis we just experienced was bad, just wait until you see the next one.
Finally, my view on something else that will delay a recovery – perhaps indefinitely …
10 ) The lack of public option health care is going to drag on our economy like an anchor. One of the biggest expenses for employers when hiring new workers is the cost of health care. Because the Insurance Industry has captured Congress, we aren’t going to see a public option worth having. Instead, any public plan will cost MORE instead of less, and saving money SHOULD be one of the important points of a public plan. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Vets Loving Socialized Medicine Show Government Health Care Offers Savings . My solution would be Medicare for anyone who wants it.
Hell, even not-so-Communist China is rolling out cheap healthcare for its citizens. It will cover at least 90 percent of its population. Are we the only major country that can’t do this? And if that’s so, what does that say about “can-do” America?
Related posts:
- The Finance Industry Has Captured Our Government What Jesse Says … Over at Cafe Americain, Jesse links...
- Momentous Day Great speech by President Obama today. See how he addressed...
- The Sad Thing About the Healthcare Fiasco Let me make what is probably (hopefully) my last statement...
- The Curious Case of the Too-Polite Financial Bloggers Yves at Naked Capitalism relates her experience in “A Curious...
- Tuesday — Question Time on Gold and the Dollar I have a new video today for UncommonWisdomDaily.com. If your...
{ 1 trackback }
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Sean: The lack of a public option on health care is bad? Are you kidding? Really undercuts your judgement in everything it you think that gov run health care under the guise of “comptition” is really going to lower the price of health care. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are all broke. What a great model for 17% of the US economy. Why not allow real comptition and allow all 1500 health insurance companies to cross state lines to compete? Definitlely attack the cost of health care - but use market forces, not government - to accomplish that goal. You are ally are for the free market, aren’t you? js
I’m fine with competition across state lines — the more competition the better. But I also want Medicare for all as an option. We always hear about how private insurance is more efficient than the government. Let them prove it. It’s one way to be sure that costs will come down, and competition across state lines won’t assure that.
I appreciate learning about all this stuff that’s going on, but all I have been asking and trying to do for the last 10 years, and nothing has happened was to get a grant/loan/stipend or some form of monetary gift to help me get back to my status of life merely a home for me and my son of our own. I have been turned down by Bank of America numerous times, I have been turned down by First Citizens Bank numerous times and tried at SunTrust and while there my identity was tampered with and now they are trying to get what the identity theft did from me. I have tried to apply for a grant for my multiple streams of income classes several times to help my son get to all the different NBA practice tryouts and developmental league tryouts, I wanted to invest in my child like others have done, but to no avail. At this time what is happening in this economy has nothing to do with the President of the United States as it is today, but what has accumulated throughout the years, as I stated, I have been working and filing out for grants/loans to invest, to place in stock markets, but for some strange reason that doesn’t happen the way it has been stated throughout history. I have learned more about the stocks in the last few months since reading your articles than my whole life of living. If you or any of your colleagues can give me a number to the owners of these big banks and tell them that one of your readers would certainly be honored to get another chance at taking life in the big dreams of homeownership and to be a blessing to those who travel down this same road as I do. Thanks for reading my message, however, I hope you Mr. Sean Brodrick get to read it and get back with me. The Banks however, never return a letter or a call sent to them by mail or via this great email system. Again, thanks, and to God Be The Glory, because in all awesomeness that is who we need. As I Ask The Giver, He informs me that Everything comes from somebody. Whatever we need already exists. That is why I am finally Asking, Asking, and Asking with joy, believing that someone will come through for me and my son. I believe that somebody wants to reveal His power to us all. Receiving I believe requires qualifications that I am very well qualified. I am in the process of designing a tool to take to the next level, however, I still have no funds to put it into action, which Faith without action is dead. Again, I thank you.
Sean: You are dead wrong on the public health care option; I came from Canada and have many relatives still suffering under the Government run program; also have a nephew working in the British system in England who could tell you how horrible their system is. More private competition(across state lines), tort reform, and more control over lobbyists and PAC contributions along with a good house cleaning in Washington,would be vastly superior to a government run system!
Speaking of being “dead wrong,” I have many friends in Canada. At least one of them would be dead if he’d been living in the U.S. when he got sick. And his experience with Canadian health care in a time of great crisis turned him from someone who thought that Americans had better health care to someone who believes that Canada has better health care. So, I guess it’s all in your perspective.
Also note: I’m not saying free market health care has to go away. I want a public plan, like “medicare for all,” to run alongside with it.
Government run health care is a platform for building freedom confiscation. Power grabbing and more control over socially engineered life to serve them is government objective.
The biggest reasons for high cost (main problem) are:
1, Bad regulatory policy (it’s current socialistic qualities)
2. Corruption
3. Fraud
4. Tort law.
Not only do current plans not address these cost issues, they amplify them with more of the same that has proven will always amplify cost. Isolate both vendors (doctors) and customers (patients) from cost is the way to make cost sky rocket. People need to choose what is right for them, and there needs to be more flavors of (private) insurance to choose from. Employers should also be removed from playing a role in these choices for ‘individuals’. Government has not proven competence to reduce cost (or even not to bankrupt), nor have proven they have integrity to be entrusted to hand over our constitutional freedoms.
You can always find ‘a’ story to support any given argument. What are the numbers? For each story of a Canadian life saved by their system, there are probably 10 Canadian lives saved by the USA system since the Canadian system refused to provide what was needed; or made someone stand in line for too many months (or years) for service. I know of such a story about a 22 year old who died because they wouldn’t treat her at age 18 when her illness was discovered. I know of another women who would have died because a year was too long to wait for her surgury in Canada where in the USA, she got surgery the day she got here. You can’t go by just one story. You need to look at all of them, and numbers such as mortality rates.
We have the best health care system in the world. If we didn’t, then those who can afford to from all over the world wouldn’t come here when quality care is needed to extend their life. If care abroad is so great, then why do they come here, and why do they never go to where there is ‘other’ socialized medicine when needs go beyond what they’ll provide?
I disagree. The biggest reason for insurance prices going up is that insurance companies want to pad their bottom lines. For example, read this story. But then, I don’t think my facts, or any facts, will change your mind. My bottom line is we don’t owe the insurance companies subsidized profits. Let them compete with “Medicare for All” and see if their costs come down.
I don’t disagree we have problems in need of being addressed. I disagree with the proposed solutions that’ll destroy the best health care system in the world, and sky rocket costs beyond what they are now! Existing government systems are proof.
Free market competitiion is the best way to regulate for lowest costs, keep insurance companies honest and without destroying the motivations that have allowed development of the best quality care in the world.
Don’t forget how valuable is freedom. The mass corruption and dishonesty of our government does nothing to earn trust with our lives. Even if we all agree there is a plan ‘A’ that’ll be best for everyone, I think there is way too much corruption that would need to first get cleaned up before we can count on government being able to do any good for people.
It’s unrealistic to think insurance companies can sustainably compete with power that can legally steal from its competition. Furthermore, as they collect all DNA of new borns (they’ve already been doing this in a few states), insurance companies competing would be like betting on a horse race that’s already been run, but only your competition knows who won!
Frankly, you surprise me about this, because you usually do make sense.
Why don’t people start taking better care of themselves.Stay away from those fast food outlets,eat as much fresh organic food as possible,take vitamins,exercisenand most importantly educate yourselves,you’d be amazed at how little you need your doctor
Sean,
I agree Insurance companies make large profits, but how can a for profit entity compete with a not for profit entity that also acts as the regulator? This is competition, but not fair competition. No for profit company can compete on an unlevel playing field. This would eventually put all insurance out of business and leave us with only one option. I don’t have the answer to the problem, but this will not fix the problem.
Don, thanks for a thoughtful comment. However, private insurance companies CAN compete with public insurance — they do it in Japan and other countries, so there’s no reason they can’t do it here. The truth is they don’t WANT to, so they say they can’t.
Look at it another way — Just because the Postal Service exists doesn’t mean UPS goes out of business. Yes, I know that’s a bit of an apples and oranges comparison, but I’m sure insurance companies will do fine, just not as profitably as they’d like to.