Spinning Bad Financial News Into GoodPaul Craig Roberts, Contributor The government produces another unemployment measure, U.6, which includes people who have been discouraged by the inability to find a job and have been out of the work force for less than a year. This measure of unemployment is 14.7%, a number that would get attention if reported. When the long-term (more than one year) discouraged workers are included, the US unemployment rate is about 22%. In other words, the real US rate of unemployment is almost three times higher than the reportedheadline rateof 8.1%.What is the purpose of reporting an unemployment rate that is about one-third the real unemployment rate? The only answer is deception through Happy News. Lets have a look at those 96,000 jobs. What kind of high-tech, high-income super jobs is the worlds only superpower, the indispensable nation, the worlds greatest economy and capitalist heaven creating? The answer is lowly paid third world jobs, which is why there is not and cannot be an economic recovery. All the good jobs have been moved offshore in order to maximize the incomes of the rich. Health care and social services, primarily ambulatory health care services and home health care services, provided 21,700 jobs or 22.6% of the jobs. So, 52% of the new jobs created by the American superpower are lowly paid waitresses, bartenders, practical nurses, and hospital orderlies. Highly paid manufacturing jobs declined by 15,000. The incomes lost by these jobs most likely exceed the income gains from the waitresses, bartenders, and hospital orderlies jobs. Where did the other 46,000 jobs come from? Formerly, in hard times government employment would expand, but, despite Republican propaganda, not today in todays mean times. Government (federal, state and local) lost 7,000 jobs. Professional and business services gained 28,000 jobs, primarily in computer systems design and related services (mainly Indians on H-1B work visas) and management and technical consulting services (mainly former corporate professional employees who now eke out a living by consulting, without pension or health benefits, with their former employers; in other words, they are working the same for less). Where are the remainder? A few thousand jobs in finance and insurance, jobs that absorb consumer incomes but produce no product. Telephone, cable, water, electricity, and heating produced 8,800 jobs. Transportation and warehousing to store unsold goods produced 5,700 jobs. Retail trade, primarily food and beverage stores (alcohol), produced 6,100 jobs. And there you have it. The powerful American economy is an economy that cannot produce its own clothes and shoes, or the manufactured products, including high technology products, that it consumes, or its own energy, all of which it imports by issuing more debt. The great hegemonic American economy is on the verge of total collapse, because the only way it can pay for the imports that sustain it is by issuing more debt and printing more money. Once the debt and money creation undermine the dollar as world reserve currency, the US will become overnight a third world country, much to the relief of the rest of the world. Last week Mr. Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank, announced for propaganda purposes that the ECB would buy up the sovereign debt of the troubled EU member governments if, and only if, the assisted member governments agreed to the conditionality that would be imposed. In other words, Draghi told Greece, Spain, and italy that the ECB will buy your bonds if you do what we tell you. Draghis conditions are a combination of austerity on the countries populations and the surrender of the countries financial sovereignty. Since the troubled debtor countries already had that option, Draghis scheme doesnt change anything. However, the NY StockExchange used Draghis announcement to gin up day-trading profits. It is difficult to image worse news than Draghis. Yet, stock markets rose. This result is more evidence that financial markets are not to be trusted. But you will never, ever, hear this fact from the financial press. A financial system based on lies and deceptions cannot forever last. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 