Posted to michael.silverton.palo-alto.ca.us

US unemployment is 18.2% counting “the old-fashioned way”

http://michael.silverton.palo-alto.ca.us/packets/?p=1166

The unemployment timebomb is quietly ticking. One dog has yet to bark in this long winding crisis. Beyond riots in Athens and a Baltic bust-up, we have not seen evidence of bitter political protest as the slump eats away at the legitimacy of governing elites in North America, Europe, and Japan. It may just be a matter of time. SOURCE: Telegraph.co.uk. Do keep in mind that in America, some of the “governing elites” may inhabit Washington, D.C. but the vast majority do not. So, for the sake of those who would like to turn back the clock to some mythical Good Old Days, which never were, you might be surprised to find the ol’ rose-colored lenses a bit more — how shall we put this sensitively — brownish in hue, compared to what you thought you recalled: The Centre for Labour Market Studies (CLMS) in Boston says US unemployment is now 18.2pc, counting the old-fashioned way. The reason why this does not “feel” like the 1930s is that we tend to compress the chronology of the Depression. It takes time for people to deplete their savings and sink into destitution. Perhaps our greater cushion of wealth today will prevent another Grapes of Wrath, but 20m US homeowners are already in negative equity (zillow.com data). Evictions are running at a terrifying pace. [Emphasis mine].