I need new glasses, 'cause I sure don't see any economic recovery.
Bear With Us: Only 120,000 of the 215,000 non-farm jobs expected were created in March (it takes 150,000 to 180,000 or more just to stay even) yet the unemployment rate magically dropped to 8.2%. The civilian labor force participation rate, at 63.8%, is well below the 67% rate that has prevailed for the last 20 years. The number of people not in the labor force is back to all time highs: 87,897,000, and the government acknowledges there are 12.7 million unemployed they haven't yet been able to make disappear.
Foreign Policy:Reports say a second US drone has crashed in the Seychelles. For the usual prize, locate the Seychelles on a map and identify who America is killing there and why.
Meanwhile, Black In America: At a routine traffic stop in Chicago, 60-year old Howard Morgan was shot 28 times – 21 in the back. Morgan has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for attempted murder. The prosecutor was satisfied: “Every bullet he got, he earned."
Oil Upon the Waters: In Colorado's premier auction to allocate water, companies providing water to fracking well sites outbid farmers who need the water to grow crops.
Adventure Travel: Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar are hosting a new, treatment-resistant strain of malaria that is spreading rapidly. Pack your mosquito netting.
Three Mea-Culpas of Tea: Greg Mortenson, author of the best-selling account of his largely fictional activities in Afghanistan, has now agreed to repay $1 million that he “diverted” from the charity he founded to further enrich himself.
Multiiple Choice? Our wealth will be destroyed by (1) Inflation. (2) War. (3) Another credit market collapse. Or (4) Social unrest.
Exploratory Costs: Along a 90-mile stretch of Peruvian beaches 615 dead dolphins have washed ashore. The culprit is thought to be acoustic testing offshore by oil companies. If 615 washed ashore, how many thousands have died unseen? Oil is expensive in so many ways.
Summary Judgment: Here's a handy guide to the ongoing erosion of civil liberties in the National Security State.
Play Dates: The iPad-using orangutans at the Milwaukee zoo will soon be hooking up with novice users from other zoos as Facebook expands across species lines.
Shake Rattle & Roll: The USGS says that the recent series of earthquakes near oli and gass extraction operations from Alabama to the Northern Rockies were “almost certainly man-made.” Call your lawyer now.
Porn O'Graph: It's not working!
3 comments:
Re "Exploratory Costs" Take your pick: animals die all the time, no one's ever looked before, could be fishermen, or, my favorite. . . correlation does not imply causation (which is usually invoked when there's other incriminating evidence that we'd like to ignore as long as possible).
(it takes 150,000 to 180,000 or more just to stay even)
No, it doesn't. Population growth has slowed to about 0.75% annually, so the labor force growth is about 95,000 per month ( ( 313,000,000 * .0075 * 0.48 ) / 12 ).
Perhaps that's today's population growth rate, but those entering the labor force are composed of the crop born about 20 years ago (when the pop growth rate was ?) plus net immigration. And while no one knows the actual true and real break-even number the 150k to 200k range is most often used.
If there's a definitive number it must be a trade secret.
ckm
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