Mike Shedlock has provided a chart that says it all. Here were the closing levels on the Dow Jones on the last day of February in 2008 and 2013:
Dow Jones – February 29, 2008 – 12,266
Dow Jones – February 28, 2013 – 14,054
This is a 14.6% increase in 5 years. Not great, but still a positive return. Meanwhile, the working age population has risen by 12 million, there are 2.3 million less employed Americans, there are 5.3 million less full-time employed Americans, 9.8 million Americans supposedly left the workforce by their own choice, there are 20.3 million more Americans on food stamps, the median household net worth has declined by 30%, and real wages are lower than they were in 2008. These FACTS certainly mean that the stock market should be hitting all-time highs. Right? Who is winning? You or them?
| Year | Population | Labor Force | Not in LF | Employed | FT Employed | PT Employed | Unemploy. | SNAP |
| 2008 | 232,809 | 152,503 | 80,306 | 144,550 | 119,452 | 25,098 | 7,953 | 26,316 |
| 2009 | 234,913 | 153,804 | 81,109 | 140,105 | 112,947 | 27,158 | 13,699 | 28,223 |
| 2010 | 236,998 | 153,194 | 83,804 | 137,203 | 109,100 | 28,103 | 15,991 | 33,490 |
| 2011 | 238,851 | 152,635 | 86,216 | 138,093 | 110,731 | 27,361 | 14,542 | 40,302 |
| 2012 | 242,435 | 154,114 | 88,322 | 140,684 | 112,587 | 28,096 | 13,430 | 44,709 |
| 2013 | 244,828 | 154,727 | 90,100 | 142,228 | 114,191 | 28,037 | 12,500 | 46,609 |
| Change | 12,019 | 2,224 | 9,794 | -2,322 | -5,261 | 2,939 | 4,547 | 20,293 |
| OC | 9,915 | 923 | 8,991 | 2,123 | 1,244 | 879 | -1,199 | 18,386 |
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/#ZAsC1kKDRyvsBb6q.99
wip says:
Buffett says equities will rule over the next 20 year’s.
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11th March 2013 at 11:40 am
wip says:
Here is a commercial spot running in DC for over 4 weeks now. Can someone post this http://wramsite.com/video/come-and-take-it-ourguns-org-steve-vaus-official-video?xg_source=activity
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11th March 2013 at 11:43 am
SSS says:
“Who is winning? You or them?”
—-Admin
Given my highly regarded mathematical and analytical skills and the fact that I have a 50-50 chance of getting the correct reply, I’m going to answer that question with a simple, “They are.”
Am I right?
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11th March 2013 at 11:58 am
AWD says:
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development defines the employment rate as the employment-to-population ratio. The employment-population ratio is many American economist’s favorite gauge of the American jobs picture. According to Paul Ashworth, chief North American economist for Capital Economics, “The employment population ratio is the best measure of labor market conditions.” This is a statistical ratio that measures the proportion of the country’s working-age population (ages 15 to 64 in most OECD countries) that is employed. This includes people that have stopped looking for work.
As you can see, the percentage of Americans with a job fell from about 63 percent to below 59 percent during the last economic crisis. Since that time, it has not risen back above 59 percent. This is the first time in the post-World War II era that we have not seen the employment rate bounce back following a recession. At this point, the employment-population ratio has been below 59 percent for 42 months in a row.
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11th March 2013 at 12:19 pm
AWD says:
“‘Devaluing a currency,’ one senior Federal Reserve official once told me, ‘is like peeing in bed. It feels good at first, but pretty soon it becomes a real mess.’”
—Francesco Guerrera, The Wall Street Journal, 4 Feb 2013.
“Any perception of our wavering in our commitment to sound money would undermine our ability to sustain stimulus.”
—Headline on 26 February 2013 quoting Bank of England’s Paul Tucker. We suspect that what he meant was that fraud only works for the fraudster so long as victims don’t see they are being defrauded.
“Being downgraded by Moody’s is like being called a moron by a moron.”
—Tim Price, “End of Empire,” 25 Feb 2013.
“Understanding that in a market economy a person can only get rich by enriching others torpedoes claims to the moral high ground of those who propose that government redistribution of wealth is a means to alleviate poverty.”
—Manuel F. Ayau, Not a Zero-Sum Game: The Paradox of Exchange (2007).
“I abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.”
—George W. Bush, interviewed on CNN on 16 December 2008.
“Somebody like Paul Krugman, who’s overdosed on mathematics and uses the King’s English better than practically anyone alive is very dangerous.”
—Charlie Munger, Daily Journal Corp Annual Meeting, 6 Feb 2013.
“It is easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”
—Tom Brokaw
“It is more than passing curious that those in the university community who are most heavily addicted to diversity cannot tolerate it when it comes to divergence of opinions, conclusions, public policy prescriptions, etc.”
—Walter Block, Building Blocks for Liberty (2006).
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11th March 2013 at 1:12 pm