“Should I tell you the most damning thing I ever heard about the Soviet block? Just before the wheel finally came off in East Germany you couldn’t get a shredder for love nor money in West Germany. The STASI were shredding at a rate to keep all Europe in hamster bedding till 2050 and true socialism couldn’t keep up with the demand for shredders so they had to buy them from the West.”
— Nick M.
We have an election coming up. We also have $5/gallon gasoline and $5/loaf bread coming up. I do not expect the real unemployment rate to fall, although there will be frantic attempts to make it look lower, largely through statistical manipulations based on the definition of unemployment: if you’re not looking for work, you aren’t unemployed even if you have no job and never again expect to find one. As more give up looking, the unemployment rate goes down. And since the unions do not intend to lower their wages and perks, and the states are out of money, there will be “furloughs” among public employees including teachers. You can manipulate those numbers so the “furloughed” are not unemployed. It promises to be an interesting summer, but it will end with $5/gallon gasoline and $5/loaf bread. Look for the price of a can of beans to get higher. Look for the price of Top Ramen to rise…
This will continue so long as the current economic and foreign policies continue.