An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A glimmer of hope on the job front?
The Treasury is reporting that it collected $126.4 billion in employment taxes in August compared with $131.4 in July.
On the surface that looks like another weak month for the job market, however, you have to read between the lines on this one.
That's because July had 23 statement days and August had only 21. So the averge daily employment tax take for August actually exceeded the average daily take for July.
July employment taxes: $131.4 billion
August employment taxes: $126.4 billion
July average daily take: $5.71 billion
August average daily take: $6.02 billion
A glimmer of hope as we come up to Friday's number.
If you want to take a shot on a trade, buy Monster Worldwide or Korn-Ferry today. Both stocks have come off their highs.
The excerpt below expresses it pretty clearly to me...by KARL DENNINGER
ReplyDelete"That's credit and population growth normed to a base of 1970. Population went from roughly 205 million to roughly 304 million during that time, a 50% increase.
Outstanding consumer credit went from $128 billion to $2,525 billion, or a 1,973% increase - and this is only consumer credit, ignoring mortgages, financial firm credit, business credit, commercial real estate and of course government debt!
Why are we not seeing "robust" economic growth when we exit recessions? Why is there no real hiring going on? Why can we not have a robust economic recovery? Why are we are replacing good jobs with "McJobs" that pay half as much - or less? And more importantly, where did all the "so-called prosperity" really come from, especially from 1994 on?
In each and every instance of recession from 1970 onward we have "pulled forward" (SEE CHART AT LINK BELOW) more and more demand and created fake "prosperity" through the creation of ever more debt that we have goaded consumers to take on. By doing so we have crippled the ability of the economy to grow, redirecting as much money as possible to a handful of people and firms (commonly known as "banks" and other "financial companies") instead of directing that effort and money into productive enterprises such as building cars, television sets and similar items.
THIS time though the recession didn't come from "ordinary business conditions"; it instead happened because the credit carrying capacity among both consumers and businesses hit the wall - they could no longer make the debt service payments and started to default.
It began with "subprime" mortgages but that was nothing other than the first "hiss" of trouble out of the pressure vessel as the structural integrity of the fraud-laced credit system, where "capacity to pay" became a bad joke, had begun to disintegrate.
We pushed the envelope of fraudulent credit creation and the sale of fraudulently-underwritten debt too far - and it blew up in our collective faces! ........"
http://market-ticker.org/archives/1400-Why-Our-Economy-Is-Utterly-Screwed.html
THE GLIMMER OF HOPE IS A JOKE .... JOBS PAYING FAR LESS, FAR LESS THAN BEFORE. See my comment on workers willing to take far less to have a job on Mike's previous post - "More frustration".
ReplyDeleteYes, lower real incomes are a big problem. Agreed. And having policies that support the production of real assets instead of paper flipping is also wise. I agree.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/business/economy/04norris.html?scp=20&sq=SMALL%20BUSINESS&st=Search
ReplyDeletefloyd norris is in paradigm finally
i'll send him a pitbull
Thanks, goog! I'll put this on the blog.
ReplyDelete