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Winter, I'm assuming your name is Winter... It's not about politics, nor is it about what makes Obama look good or bad, it's about the people, the economy, the cost of living, and jobs. The participation rate is historically low, which mean s millions of Americans have no job, are living in poverty, and families are struggling to make ends meet.
We are wallowing in a depressed, economic stagnation, millions more people are living in poverty. As of Feb 2014, we've added 18 million onto the food stamps program, over the past 5.5 years. That number equals out to over 270,000 people each and every single month, who've been added to the SNAP program.
We're not adding to the SNAP rolls any more. That growth in SNAP came during the Great Recession and the couple of years immediately following it. Now, SNAP participation is falling - and that's been the case for well over a year now.
In Dec of 2012 there were 47,792,056 SNAP participants.
By Dec of 2013 there were 46,782,084 SNAP participants.
By Mar of 2014 there were 46,097,719 SNAP participants.
That's a DECREASE of 1.7 MILLION in 15 months (.7 million in the last 3 months alone - so the pace is EXCELERATING). There's still a lot of people on SNAP, but the idea that SNAP participation is still growing (or even just standing in place) is DEAD WRONG. SNAP participation has long since peaked and is now FALLING.
Unemployment is going down while SNAP enrollees are increasing.
Not a very good long term picture here folks.
One year change..SNAP is down 2.09%
Five year change..SNAP is up 45% (Harry Reid's state leads the pack with a 105% change over 5 years)
15% of the US population are on SNAP benefits.
So while people are getting jobs, those jobs are not paying enough to live the good life in America.
We are either not creating long-term growth jobs or not offering enough to provide long-term economic growth. I am glad I am not the only one seeing that people are not making end's meat without government assistance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsjj251
Dude, you just quoted another C-D poster as if he was some famous economist.
I do like how you say the Great Recession is called just that, and then dont realize that the Panic of 1873 isnt called a depression either.
I don't agree with Mircea many times (personally that poster is tooo economic (claiming X breaks the laws of economics) and talks down at times) but the silent depression, I will agree with.
The issue for what is a depression and isn't is a set criteria. It is a recession that lasts two years (or more) or has a 10% drop in real GDP. If you match either criteria during a run, you have a depression. The Great Recession/Silent Depression is pretty close to a textbook recession but not quite there even though recovery wise it is acting like one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michigantown
Probably in 5-10 year depending on how much companies want to pay their employee and if they realize if all companies want cheap labor then no one will be able to buy all their products.
That is always the issue I have with across the board low wages and little to no raises. Eventually you'll bankrupt everyone if you offer dirt wages. Until we turn that trend around, we wont have true long term economic growth. The growth of the 50's and into the 60's weren't because we paid employees dirt wages was it?
Unemployment is going down while SNAP enrollees are increasing.
Not a very good long term picture here folks.
One year change..SNAP is down 2.09%
Five year change..SNAP is up 45% (Harry Reid's state leads the pack with a 105% change over 5 years)
15% of the US population are on SNAP benefits.
So while people are getting jobs, those jobs are not paying enough to live the good life in America.
Why do you folks keep making stuff up?
As I just posted, SNAP enrollment is NOT increasing. It's DECREASED by 1.7 MILLION in the last 15 monhs. Even YOUR OWN LINK shows that. SNAP participation climbed dramatically during the Great Recession and it's immediate aftermath, we're past that now, and the trend NOW is SNAP decreasing - and that DECREASE is excelerating, with nearly as much decrease in the most recent 3 months as there was in the previous 12 months. That's a pretty encouraging sign and is a direct result of the decrease in the UE rates.
Why do you folks keep making stuff up?
As I just posted, SNAP enrollment is NOT increasing. It's DECREASED by 1.7 MILLION in the last 15 monhs. Even YOUR OWN LINK shows that.
Ken in Texan's defense, Texan listed it went down in the last year though in the five year trend it went up considerably. So while it is in fact going down and don't get me wrong it is good to see, they have a good amount to go to get to pre-recession levels.
Ken in Texan's defense, Texan listed it went down in the last year though in the five year trend it went up considerably. So while it is in fact going down and don't get me wrong it is good to see, they have a good amount to go to get to pre-recession levels.
Sure, there's a LOT of people to go to get to pre-recession levels because the recession was HORRENDOUS. At the end of 2008 we were shedding over 3/4 of MILLION jobs a month - and that went on for several months (and had been building throughout most of 2008). That created a HUGE backlog. We are now back to pre-recession levels in regards to the total number of people employed, but because the population has grown as well over that time there's still a significant backlog. That backlog has resulted in employers being able to be pretty cheap in regards to wages and there's no denying that many high-paying jobs were shipped overseas during the recession (and immediately afterwards) - which has had the result of adding additional people to SNAP (aside from those who actually lost their jobs). Not to mention the fact that the Obama administration made it EASIER to participate in SNAP - which FURTHER increased the SNAP rolls.
With the UE rate now down to pretty close to decent levels (the U-3 will be down to under 6% by the end of the year) competition for quality labor is already starting to occur. This WILL result in significantly rising wages (compared to the last few years) in 2015 - which will cut SNAP participation even faster.
The idea that the economy is not recovering is DEAD WRONG. The economy HAS been recovering, it IS still recovering and it will CONTINUE to recover. The recovery has been painfully slow, but it HAS been ocurring - as SNAP participation has started to show.
Ken
Last edited by LordBalfor; 06-08-2014 at 12:07 PM..
Smart government spending? Really? Like in New Jersey with the Zuckerman donation? Smart government spending would be a first.
Yes smart government spending. You think the US's modern, now crumbling infrastructure appeared out of nowhere?
You vastly underrate the government's ability, go read up on history because the US is strong because the government made better decisions more often than not.
Dude, you just quoted another C-D poster as if he was some famous economist.
I do like how you say the Great Recession is called just that, and then dont realize that the Panic of 1873 isnt called a depression either.
In 1873, the start of the Long Depression, the bank of Jay Cooke (who you probably have no idea who that is) closed its doors starting the Panic of 1873 (but I'm sure you were probably schooled in a public institution which is why you have no clue what those phrases are so it's not technically your fault, I guess). Over the next two years 18,000 business went under along with 89 railroad companies and UE across the nation rose to 14% by 1876.
Those dates already go well past the mild recession of 2008's 18 months. It lasted 65 months in total in the US at a time when the US was under industrialization and wasn't facing capital flight to other countries like China, India, SE Asia, C. Eurasia and Africa.
But why don't you focus on something like a phrase from another poster or something so that you can ignore the facts of history.
Yes smart government spending. You think the US's modern, now crumbling infrastructure appeared out of nowhere?
You vastly underrate the government's ability, go read up on history because the US is strong because the government made better decisions more often than not.
Really? Like when Congress bypassed the free market in the housing industry which led to the biggest collapse since the Great Depression? Or the dot com boom and bust that was caused by governments loose lending? Or in New Jersey where government squandered the 100 million donated by Zuckerberg for education?
Reagan had it right when he said "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Yes smart government spending. You think the US's modern, now crumbling infrastructure appeared out of nowhere?
You vastly underrate the government's ability, go read up on history because the US is strong because the government made better decisions more often than not.
Republicans have complained about the spending that it requires. This is why Amtrak doesn't own its own tracks and instead uses commercial tracks and are having issues upgrading to high speed rail systems like government wants them to.
Sure, there's a LOT of people to go to get to pre-recession levels because the recession was HORRENDOUS. At the end of 2008 we were shedding over 3/4 of MILLION jobs a month - and that went on for several months (and had been building throughout most of 2008). That created a HUGE backlog. We are now back to pre-recession levels in regards to the total number of people employed, but because the population has grown as well over that time there's still a significant backlog. That backlog has resulted in employers being able to be pretty cheap in regards to wages and there's no denying that many high-paying jobs were shipped overseas during the recession (and immediately afterwards) - which has had the result of adding additional people to SNAP (aside from those who actually lost their jobs). Not to mention the fact that the Obama administration made it EASIER to participate in SNAP - which FURTHER increased the SNAP rolls.
With the UE rate now down to pretty close to decent levels (the U-3 will be down to under 6% by the end of the year) competition for quality labor is already starting to occur. This WILL result in significantly rising wages (compared to the last few years) in 2015 - which will cut SNAP participation even faster.
The idea that the economy is not recovering is DEAD WRONG. The economy HAS been recovering, it IS still recovering and it will CONTINUE to recover. The recovery has been painfully slow, but it HAS been ocurring - as SNAP participation has started to show.
Ken
The new jobs are service jobs..typically low paying.
Haven't you been paying attention to the details of the BLS reports ?
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