Its An Illusion: Here Are the REAL Unemployment NumbersMac Slavo The Associated Press, whose report on the new rate is being distributed to news services around the country, says this is the strongest evidence to date that the economy is picking up. They cite numerous economic experts, claiming that the U.S. economy is now experiencing vigorous job growth, which they say is confirmation that the economic health of our nation is bouncing back from a rough winter. In fact, they mention bad weather and winter eight times in a single article just to make sure we understand that the problems weve seen over the last few months were seasonal. But, as is generally the case with mainstream assessments and government statistics as of late, the devils in the details. The drop in the unemployment rate from Marchs 6.7 percent came as the agencys survey of households showed the labor force shrank by more the 800,000 in April. Thus, while U.S. companies added some 288,000 jobs last month, three times as many people were dropped from the official unemployment statistics and are no longer counted in the labor pool. Uh oh. Yes, that headline number looks good. But April is usually good, and thats where the rubber meets the road; on anannualizedbasis we actually sawdeceleration. Funny how that works, isnt it? Contrarian economist John Williams suggests that the governments numbers are not even close. At his web site ShadowStats.com Williams calculates the rate of employment using the same methods that were used prior to 1994 when they were officially defined out of existence by bureaucrats looking to pad the numbers. According to those numbers, were looking at an unemployment rate of over 23%. Moreover, how is it possible that our economy is officially growing, while everyone in 20% of all American family households is unemployed? According to shocking new numbers that were just releasedby the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 percent of American families do not have a single person that is working. So when someone tries to tell you that the unemployment rate in the United States is about 7 percent, you should just laugh. One-fifth of the families in the entire country do not have a single member with a job. On top of that, nearly 50 million people are actively receiving food assistance fully one in six Americans. Yet, the stock market hit all time highs just this week. Something isnt right, especially if you take a look at the following chart which shows that Americas leading companies showed nearly zero earnings growth in the first quarter of 2014: Thats because reality isnt a fairy tale and as we have noted on numerous occasions it will end with the total detonation of the U.S. economy and financial markets, likely leading to a variety of serious issues that include a collapse of our currency and widespread impoverishment of the majority of people in this country. What will follow will be nothing short of a total collapse of our way of life, so much so that Richard Duncan, author of The New Great Depression, suggests our entire civilization is in serious trouble: If this credit bubble pops the depression is going to be so severe that I honestly dont think our civilization can survive it. When it does finally buckle, as noted by well known investor Doug Casey,it will be unstoppable and the speed of it will leave most people waking up to the danger after it has already happened. How long the illusions will continue is anybodys guess, but it should be clear that what were seeing from our government and their propaganda arm in the media is nothing but conjecture. When the trick is finally revealed a whole lot of people are going to feel quite foolish. You can read more from Mac Slavo at his site SHTFplan.com, where this first appeared. 