CHESSNOID

The stock market is up again and the DOW just broke the 8000 mark.  Hopefully, many of you don’t equate stock market performance with real economic recovery.  It will continue to get worse before it gets better, regardless of which direction the stock markets go.

The latest headline news if more reflective of how the economy is performing. It is easier to see the direct correlation between rate of joblessness and the economy.

Unemployment soars to 8.5 pct.; 13 million jobless-

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment zoomed to 8.5 percent last month, the highest in a quarter-century, as employers axed 663,000 more workers and pushed the nation’s jobless ranks past 13 million. The hard times were only expected to get harder — a painful 10 percent jobless rate before long.

The current rate would be even higher — 15.6 percent – if it included laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have had to settle for part-time work because they can’t do any better. That’s the highest on record for that number in figures that go back to 1994.

“Even if the economy continues to show signs of improvement, businesses will cut jobs and trim fats to stay lean and mean,” said Sung Won Sohn, economist at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University, Channel Islands.

I think the 15% unemployment is a more accurate picture of our economy. I have lived through a couple of recessions and this is by far the worse I have seen in my lifetime as well as the longest. If you follow my blog, I refer to this economic time we live in as the Bush-Obama Depression. The numbers are so staggering, we all know family members, relatives, or friends who have become unemployed or lost their business. These are definitely the toughest times.

I do think it is good to maintain a positive attitude in the climate we live in, but it has to be accompanied with realistic views. It does bother me when some economists and experts predict the recession ending next month, next quarter, or by the end of the year because it gives people a false sense of security and prevents them from properly preparing for hard times. The government is encouraging spending when we should be saving. The government is wasting trillions of tax payer dollars on ridiculous bailouts.