You’re not wrong, Chuck, the numbers they want people to believe are. After all, the economy is soaring, right? That would be why I have to share a house with others instead of having my own place.

It seems so simple:
1st - Break up Big Business
2nd - Election reform
3rd - Campaign reform
4th - Get rid of the neocons and indict them all for their crimes
5th - Repeal everything the neocons have done

official unemployment rates never hit double-digits…they are automatically dropped from the un-employed list.

cooking the books is big biz as usual…

iowametal76

Funny that the majority of capitalists & politicians responsible for causing that impotency are the same who espouse “American values” and invoke “Jesus” and the “Founding Fathers” so often.

that’s just an IQ-test - if you laugh or protest, you passed the test, otherwise - YOU’RE WELCOME, dear voter/employee/share holder/cash cow!

Also, I have read that if you claimed to have worked even a day during that quarter, you are not considered unemployed. It is the same for insurance, the question is “did you have insurance any or all of this quarter?”
I think Chuck is right, if we base unemployment figures on the number of people currently receiving checks, there is no way it can be accurate.

There is a good piece on truthout.org
Josh Holland interviews Antonia Juhasz, author of “The Bush Agenda”
Check it out.

As I understand it, it isn’t even just about giving up. When people are no longer eligible for un-enployment benefits –just a few months nowadays–they are automatically dropped from the un-employed list.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

This really struck me.

One of the reasons that official unemployment rates never hit double-digits (as, by rights, they should have) is the number of unemployed people who have essentially given up. Occasionally, you’ll hear someone say, “Well, I would never do that. How can people stop looking for work? Isn’t that just being lazy?” But what is never accounted for in those statements is the impact being without work or even the prospect of work can have on a person, on their sense of self. For someone who has spent their whole life occupied in providing their employer with an honest day’s work so they can receive what they hope is an honest day’s pay, for someone who spent years thinking they were a good employee, a hard worker and an asset to the company, the realization that no one wants them any more can be devastating.

It’s no wonder, when you get right down to it, that some people give up.