3 Types of Lies: The Government Wants You to Go Shopping
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
And nowhere is this truer than with government reports.
Last week the U.S. Bureau of Labor reported 146,000 new jobs created in November.
But is this actually good news? The government would like you to think so. They want you to see the number, feel good about it, and go shopping.
Dig into the details, though, and you’ll find there’s not much to be optimistic about. Michael Lombardi reports “The Truth behind Today’s Job Numbers Report”:
The underemployment rate stands at 14.4% — nothing to be excited about. Unlike the official unemployment rate, the underemployment rate includes those people who have given up looking for work and or have part-time work because they can’t find full-time work. The structure of the labor market is still wounded, no matter what you hear on the mainstream media outlets.
Looking at the statistics within the job numbers report, people are finding work in low-paying sectors like retail and healthcare. There have been 140,000 jobs created in retail sector in the last three months and 53,000 of them were created in November! And, while we’re hearing or reading that the housing sector is coming back, the job numbers report says that 20,000 jobs were lost in construction in November!
But wait… that’s not all.
In a separate analysis, it was discovered that 73% of all jobs created in the last five months were created by the government.
In order for the government to create a job, they can either take more money from the private sector or they can print more money.
Either approach has a negative impact on the economy.
In the first case, they are taking money from a more productive sector (private business) and giving it to a less productive, less efficient sector (government).
Even assuming equal productivity from both sectors, it’s merely moving money from one place to another — so no net gain.
In the second case, the government inflates the money supply to “create” new jobs. This is a hidden tax on the hard-working private sector. Over time, your dollars lose their purchasing power. Prices rise and it takes more dollars to buy the same stuff.
You may think me a pessimist, but I’m actually an optimist. I want the economy to do well. And I hope it improves.
But I’m also a realist. And most of the statistics I’ve studied reveal that the economy is on shaky footing. Naturally, that won’t stop Washington from spinning damned lies every chance they get.
The fundamental economic problems that began to be revealed in the fall of 2008 have not been fixed, although some of the consequences have been delayed.
Why do we expect a recovery then? Can more debt solve the problems that too much debt created? Can a drunk man drink himself sober?
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. One truly bright spot in the economy is in the entrepreneurial space. Many people who can’t find jobs are starting their own businesses. They’re going freelance, creating products, making their own good fortune.
This is something I get excited about.
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