GDP numbers are completely manipulated. Government spending of taxpayer dollars on a number of inflated programs, including continued spending on Obamacare, is added to GDP calculations.
Without this fancy accounting, U.S. GDP growth would actually be negative, according to ShadowStats. But even with the juiced data, official GDP growth is still in decline,
falling to 1.9% and well below the 3% growth we were supposed to see this year.
Official unemployment stats remain at all-time lows, which is commonly cited by the mainstream media, Donald Trump (he used to argue the opposite three years ago), and even the Federal Reserve in reference to the health and stability of the economy.
What they do not mention much is the 95 million people not in the labor force and not counted because they have been unemployed for so long. When the media does mention this fact, they claim the number is “misleading”, that most of these people are students or retired, that the retirement age is decreasing and Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce sooner, and that the people who don’t have jobs are simply “not interested” in working. None of this is true.
The retirement age is increasing in the U.S., not decreasing, according the SS Administration.
Current average retirement age is now 67, up from 65, almost the same as it was during the Great Depression.
Baby Boomers are not retiring at rates similar to ten years ago, and are in fact attempting to
stay in the workforce due to the poor economy. Many of them are trying to come OUT of retirement just to make ends meet.
The labor participation rate remains near record lows.
Interestingly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) house survey that is used to determine if people “want a job” assumes that if you are near retirement age and do not have a job, you are simply not interested in a job, and they count you as “non-participating”. However, if you DO have a job and you are near retirement age, they count you as participating. It’s a rather convenient assumption on the government’s part to claim that just because an unemployed person is near retirement age, that means they “don’t want a job”.
While there is surely a small percentage of the 95 million people not counted in the labor force that do not want a job, if unemployment stats counted U-6 measurements as they used to, the unemployment rate would be
closer to 20%.
Another problem is the quality of jobs being created. U.S. manufacturing jobs, as well as higher wage jobs, are in
steep decline. They have been replaced with low paying jobs in the service sector.
Real wages in the U.S. have not kept up with inflation. The average worker is now
losing money overall as prices rise beyond the pace of their incomes.
As more and more Millennials say they cannot afford to buy a home,
rental prices have skyrocketed in the past several years.
The home ownership rate plunged starting in 2006 and has not recovered since.
U.S. manufacturing has fallen to levels not seen since the crash of 2008.
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com