The economy -- are we replacing or repairing?

[Jim Wilkins]

Yesterday Ellen Degeneris stumped the Jersey Shore girls with this political awareness question:

"There are nine justices on the Supreme Court. Who presides on Judge Judy?"

jsw

[Stormin Mormon]

Good God. I've got to change my citizenship. It's too embarassing to be USA. Maybe some pacific island where the women wear grass skirts, and the men carry machetes and WWII surplus .45 pistols?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

Yesterday Ellen Degeneris stumped the Jersey Shore girls with this political awareness question:

"There are nine justices on the Supreme Court. Who presides on Judge Judy?"

jsw

[The Daring Dufas]

I have no children that I know of but my doctor gave me some bad news when he told me I could no longer have children. He said they contain too much sugar and I might choke on the small bones. ^_^

TDD

[willshak]

Speaking of affirmative action. I haven't eaten in at MacDonalds in the last couple of decades, but I remember they used to have written on their paper place mats, "We are an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity employer". Isn't that a dichotomy?

[Frank]

I've been trying to find job statistics that make any sense to me. I would like to know the actual employment percentages of the total population over the past couple of decades. I think government agencies are deliberately obfuscating for the administrations benefit.

[The Daring Dufas]

I The UK, they call it "Positive Discrimination". ^_^

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

That's my best guess, also.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

I've been trying to find job statistics that make any sense to me. I would like to know the actual employment percentages of the total population over the past couple of decades. I think government agencies are deliberately obfuscating for the administrations benefit.

[Stormin Mormon]

Try em fried, instead of boiled. Boiling softens the bones too much.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

I have no children that I know of but my doctor gave me some bad news when he told me I could no longer have children. He said they contain too much sugar and I might choke on the small bones. ^_^

TDD

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Are people who are no longer collecting unemployment benefits (because they have run out) still counted as unemployed? How would they be tracked?

How, if at all, are the underemployed tracked -- those working part time who would like to have full-time jobs?

Are people working two part-time jobs counted twice as "employed?"

Perce

[Frank]

That's the point I'm trying to make. I think the rules have changed as to how unemployment is determined. Government bureaucrats, in spite of their personal political leanings, tend to follow their career goals by doing what they think their boss wants. Right now, their boss, fearing the next election, wants a low unemployment number. So, they give it to him.

[gfretwell]

Both jobs show up as being "created"

[Mr. Grumpypants]

No.

From

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order

11246 which required federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to hire without regard to race, religion and national origin.

[HeyBub]

The official "unemployment rate" is defined as those who are looking for work compared to the size of the labor force. This rate has been computed exactly the same way since 1940. Consider the basic definitions:

1. People with jobs are EMPLOYED
2. People who are jobless, looking for a job, and available for work are UNEMPLOYED
3. Everybody else doesn't count (not looking for a job, not available for work).

The "labor force" is defined as #1 plus #2 above.

Back when the definition was decided, the number of people in category #3 above was minuscule. Since then, category #3 has grown to be significant. It is so significant today, that it masks the unemployment rate. That is, when folks not looking for work are included as "unemployed", the unemployment rate skyrockets this past year from 11% to 19%.

[The Daring Dufas]

Then explain why "Minorities" are being accepted into schools while Caucasians with higher test scores and qualifications are being passed over? Is that Equal Opportunity, nondiscriminatory? The same thing has been happening in the work force for many years. o_O

TDD

[Kurt Ullman]

But then the courts got involved and it has evolved into something more statistical. The original affirmative action was largely that you had go looking for minorities, etc. Now, it is you have to meet certain levels (dare I say quotas?) or run into problems.

[Stormin Mormon]

I don't know the answer to those. I've heard various radio hosts talking about the statistical lying that's being done to make the numbers artificially lower.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

Are people who are no longer collecting unemployment benefits (because they have run out) still counted as unemployed? How would they be tracked?

How, if at all, are the underemployed tracked -- those working part time who would like to have full-time jobs?

Are people working two part-time jobs counted twice as "employed?"

Perce

[Mr. Grumpypants]

That's not true. It's an urban myth perpetrated by the parents of stupid children.

[The Daring Dufas]

Ah, yes, a member of The P.L.L.C.F. reveals itself. ^_^

TDD

[Mr. Grumpypants]

Wrong again...but you're certainly free to keep guessing. ;-)

[The Daring Dufas]

If it quacks like a duck, it must be trolling. ^_^

TDD