It’s a rhetorical question , I know, but really, when the head of the Federal Reserve continues to claim that high unemployment will “persist” why does he also say the economy will continue to recover?
The pace of the US economy “will pick up in coming quarters,” but the relatively high unemployment rate will decline “only slowly” because of “headwinds,” Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday. […]
Given the expectation of modest economic growth, the Fed is projecting that the nation’s jobless rate will return to normal levels “albeit only slowly,” Bernanke said. The unemployment rate hit 9.2 percent in June, and the Fed expects it will end 2012 in the range of 7.8 percent to 8.2 percent.
The headwinds that Bernanke cited as slowing the economy included slow growth in consumer spending, the depressed condition of the housing market, and cuts in spending by all levels of government.
Bernanke also claimed the following:
“The anticipated pickups in economic activity and job creation, together with the expected easing of price pressures, should bolster real household income, confidence, and spending in the medium run,” he said.
I am not an economist but when people are being laid off right and left and the “official” jobless rate is still in excess of 9%, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When families lose their health care and half to work two or more jobs just to pout food on their table and pay their rent, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When prisoners are being used to replace state government workers, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When food and energy prices keep rising at rates that far exceed the “official” inflation rate, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When new college graduates face the worst hiring market I can remember, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When state governments furlough employees or, as in the case of Minnesota, shut down their government, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When even in this weak economy we are still running a $500+ Billion Dollar Trade Deficit, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When small businesses are still suffering due to tight credit, and new small business formation and IPOs are declining, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When US companies continue to outsource jobs overseas and experts predict that by 2015 “U.S. employers will move 3.4 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages overseas,” I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When the US banking sector is seeing a decline in revenues, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
When more people are falling out of the middle class than entering it, I don’t call that a “recovery.”
On the other hand, if I were a senior executive making more money this year, maybe I would call it a “recovery.” For me, anyway.
But, I’m not one of those lucky duckies at the upper 1% of the economy’s food chain. I don’t earn a seven figure income, much less a six figure one. So, my question remains, if 99% of the people are merely treading water at best, or at worst drowning in an ocean of economic hardship and misery, how can anyone say our economy is “recovering?”
I guess you have to be the Chairman of the Federal Reserve (or one of his ideological and well-off buddies) to utter those words with a straight face. I know I sure can’t. I bet you can’t either.