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Carter Country, revisited

“U.S. Hiring Disappoints, Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%,” Bloomberg:

Employers in the U.S. hired fewer workers in May than forecast and Americans dropped out of the labor force, showing a lack of confidence in the recovery that may lead to slower economic growth.

Payrolls rose by 431,000 last month, including a 411,000 jump in government hiring of temporary workers for the 2010 census, Labor Department figures in Washington showed today. Economists projected a 536,000 gain, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Private payrolls rose a less-than-forecast 41,000. The jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent.

Stock-index futures extended losses and Treasuries surged on expectations a slowing in the labor market will restrain consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday that unemployment was exacting a heavy toll, showing why economists forecast interest rates will remain low.

“Hiring looks soft,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “It does raise some red flags that businesses are still pretty cautious.”

Of course, on the plus side, “government payrolls increased by 390,000. State and local governments reduced employment by 22,000, while the federal government added 412,000 jobs.”

— Which means that if you’re goal is a social-democrat / liberal fascist economy, your glass is actually half full! So buck up, campers. Good times are just around the corner!

21 Replies to “Carter Country, revisited”

  1. LTC John says:

    And when the Census follow ups finish, these folks will go back onto the unemployment rolls….whee!

  2. cranky-d says:

    Hey, we can have zero unemployment if everyone has a government job! The solution is so obvious that I wonder why no one has done it yet.

  3. LTC John says:

    crancky-d – I think you are on to something…what could we call it?

  4. LTC John says:

    cranky-d, that is.

  5. Joe says:

    Lifetime employment, great health benefits, and you can fuck with people. What’s not to like about working for a federal agency!

    Of course, no porn at work. You can get busted for that if you piss off the wrong co-worker.

  6. Silver Whistle says:

    crancky-d – I think you are on to something…what could we call it?

    Die Deutsche Demokratische Republik?

  7. JD says:

    Anyone want to bet that the temp census workers will not be eligible for unemployment until after the November elections?

  8. mojo says:

    Good news, brother! The choco rations been raised to ten grams a week!

  9. Silver Whistle says:

    Why mojo, if you save your choco ration, and I save my margarine ration, in several months we could be having some cupcakes!

  10. Bob Reed says:

    These fogures are more cooked than it appears at first glance

    http://powip.com/2010/06/is-obama-jobbing-us-about-the-jobs-picture/

    But, you know what they say, figures don’t lie, but liars figure. And I’m guessin’ that the liar in chief’s writers are working overtime on new and improved ways for him to rhetorically turns sow ears into silk purses.

    JOBS!

  11. Bob Reed says:

    fogures = figures = my bad typing!

  12. bigbooner says:

    We fogured.

  13. bh says:

    People were pointing out that the new census workers would provide a false bump long before the report was released. So, with those built-in expectations, all anyone noticed was “Private payrolls rose a less-than-forecast 41,000.”

    Yet the admin still tried to spin this as a positive report. I think they’ve simply lost the plot. Or, they’re experiencing some of that epistemic closure. Take your pick.

  14. Throughout the seventies, eighties, and most of the nineties (until US consumers started buying a shitload of their products), double-digit unemployment was the norm in Europe. Now the social-democrats are running the show here, and as long as they do, ten percent unemployment is the new normal. Welcome!

  15. WR says:

    What the hell is a “liberal fascist” economy? You don’t even bother to make sense lately. How many retarded conservative buzz words can you coin in one post?

  16. geoffb says:

    It is not generally a good idea to use your surname in adjective form as a way of insulting another. Then again perhaps, it is to simply prove, it is the right name.

  17. WR says:

    Watch your comma use geoffb lest you be too clever to be understood (because I sure as hell don’t understand you).

  18. geoffb says:

    Precisely so.

  19. newrouter says:

    What the hell is a “liberal fascist” economy

    this is it. axs bp

  20. Rusty says:

    What the hell is a “liberal fascist” economy?

    You’re living it.

  21. JD says:

    WR is one of the new ‘tards of thunder? Dummerer than a bag of slugs, it is.

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