Infinite Unknown

The fake “recovery” was nice while it lasted, says famous apocalyptic forecaster Gerald Celente, founder of the Trends Research Institute. But now the fun’s over, and we’re headed for what Celente describes as the “Greatest Depression.”

Specifically, the always startling Celente says the country is headed for rising unemployment, poverty, and violent class warfare as the government efforts to keep the economy going begin to fail.

The crux of the problem, Celente argues, is that the middle class has been wiped out. America used to be a land of opportunity for all, where hard-working people could build their own small businesses in their own communities and live prosperous and fulfilling lives. But now a collusion of state and corporate interests that Celente describes as “fascism” have conspired to help only the biggest companies and the richest Americans. This has put a shocking amount of the country’s wealth in the hands of a privileged few and left the rest of the country to subsist on chicken-feed wages and low job satisfaction as Wal-Mart “associates” — or worse.

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Tags: Depression, Economy, Gerald Celente, Global News, Government, Great Depression, Obama administration, Politics, Recession, U.S., Unemployment

The Greatest Depression is here.

- US: Bankruptcies Reach Nearly 5-Year High

- US Cities Face Up To MASSIVE Cuts

- Why the US is as busted as a busted flush - IMF analysis suggests the US is fiscally bankrupt

- John Williams: ‘Times That Try Our Souls’ (U.S. Bankruptcy - Hyperinflation - Great Depression), Preparedness Can Save Your Life:

The government is effectively bankrupt. Using GAAP accounting principles, the annual deficit is running in the range of $4 trillion to $5 trillion. That’s beyond containment. The government can’t cover it with taxes. They’d still be in deficit if they took 100% of personal income and corporate profits. They’d also still be in deficit if they cut every penny of government spending except for Social Security and Medicare. Washington lacks the will to slash its social programs severely, to change its approach to ever bigger government. The only option left going forward is for the government eventually to print the money for the obligations it cannot otherwise cover, which sets up a hyperinflation.

Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) — Claims for U.S. jobless benefits jumped to the highest level since November and Philadelphia-area manufacturing shrank for the first time in a year, indicating the economy may be slowing faster than forecast.

The number of unemployment claims unexpectedly shot up by 12,000 to 500,000 in the week ended Aug. 14, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index turned negative in August, signaling contraction.

“There’s a red flag being waved right now that says ‘Danger,’” said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Growth is going to slow in the second half and we might face something a little more ominous than that.”

Stocks dropped, led by declines in the largest U.S. companies including 3M Co., General Electric Co. and Boeing Co. that would be hurt by a slowdown in the recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s. A lack of jobs raises the risk that consumer spending will weaken further, just as manufacturing, which led the rebound, shows signs of stumbling.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.7 percent to 1,075.63 at the 4 p.m. close in New York. Treasury securities climbed, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note down to 2.57 percent at 4:07 p.m. from 2.63 percent late yesterday.

Unexpected Increase

Claims exceeded estimates of all 42 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and compared with the median forecast of 478,000. Estimates ranged from 460,000 to 495,000. The government revised the prior week’s claims figure to 488,000 from a previously reported 484,000.

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Tags: Economy, U.S., Unemployment

Highly recommended reading.

The Greatest Depression is here.

When Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admits to seeing an “unusually uncertain” economy ahead, it’s pretty terrifying to imagine what he’s really thinking. What John Williams envisions-and he’s by no means looking to the far horizon-is a systemic collapse, a hyperinflationary great depression and the cessation of normal commerce. Despite that bleak outlook, however, when the economist and editor of ShadowStats.com sat down for this exclusive Energy Report interview, he also had some good news.

The Energy Report: A few months back, John, you said, “if you strangle liquidity you always contract an economy and deliberately or not, liquidity is being strangled, resulting in sharp declines in consumer credit, commercial and industrial loans.” Does this mean it would spur more economic growth if banks actually started lending?

John Williams: It sure wouldn’t hurt. We’re still seeing contractions in liquidity, and that’s adjusted for inflation. In real terms, M3 money supply is down almost 8% year-over-year. It’s the sharpest fall in the post -World War II era. It’s not so much the depth of the decline in the liquidity or the duration, but the fact that the liquidity turns negative year-over-year that signals the economy turning down.

We had the signal in December of 2009 indicating intensification of the downturn, in this case, within six to nine months. We’re in that timeframe now and see softening numbers. People are talking about a weaker economy. Even Mr. Bernanke has described the economy as “unusually uncertain” in terms of its outlook. Wording like that from the Fed is a pretty good indication that something’s afoot. Continue reading »

Tags: Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Depression, Dollar, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Government, Great Depression, Healthcare, Hyperinflation, Inflation, John Williams, Medicare, Obama administration, Politics, Preparedness, Recession, Social Security, Stock Market, U.S., Unemployment, Weimar Republic

There is no recovery! This is the Greatest Depression.

- US: Food stamp Use Hit Record 40.8 Million in May

• American firms shed 131,000 jobs in July

• UK thinktank warns British ‘depression’ will last until 2012

Job seekers speak with recruiters during a career fair in Chicago but there are fears that a recovery in the US economy will not mean a revival in employment (Getty Images)

Employers in the US shed twice as many jobs as expected in July, adding to fears that the recovery in the world’s largest economy will not see a revival in employment.

The dismal US job figures came as the National Institute of Economic and Social Research predicted a protracted depression for the UK economy.

Across the Atlantic talk of a double-dip recession was revived when the government revealed 131,000 jobs were lost last month. That dwarfed forecasts for a fall of 65,000. June’s drop was also revised to a far steeper 221,000 from 125,000. Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Depression, Economy, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Recession, U.K., U.S., Unemployment

Peter Schiff

There is overwhelming agreement among economists that the Second World War was responsible for decisively ending the Great Depression. When asked why the wars in Iran (Peter Schiff is in the not too distant future here. Maybe he is a remote viewer and forgot to shift realities … or this is just a typho. ) and Afghanistan are failing to make the same impact today, they often claim that the current conflicts are simply too small to be economically significant.

There is, of course, much irony here. No one argues that World War II, with its genocide, tens of millions of combatant casualties, and wholesale destruction of cities and regions, was good for humanity. But the improved American economy of the late 1940s seems to illustrate the benefits of large-scale government stimulus. This conundrum may be causing some to wonder how we could capture the good without the bad.

If one believes that government spending can create economic growth, then the answer should be simple: let’s have a huge pretend war that rivals the Second World War in size. However, this time, let’s not kill anyone.

Most economists believe that massive federal government spending on tanks, uniforms, bullets, and battleships used in World War II, as well the jobs created to actually wage the War, finally put to an end the paralyzing “deflationary trap” that had existed since the Crash of 1929. Many further argue that war spending succeeded where the much smaller New Deal programs of the 1930s had fallen short.

The numbers were indeed staggering. From 1940 to 1944, federal spending shot up more than six times from just $9.5 billion to $72 billion. This increase led to a corresponding $75 billion expansion of US nominal GDP, from $101 billion in 1940 to $175 billion by 1944. In other words, the war effort caused US GDP to increase close to 75% in just four years!

The War also wiped out the country’s chronic unemployment problems. In 1940, eleven years after the Crash, unemployment was still at a stubbornly high 8.1%. By 1944, the figure had dropped to less than 1%. The fresh influx of government spending and deployment of working-age men overseas drew women into the workforce in unprecedented numbers, thereby greatly expanding economic output. In addition, government spending on wartime technology produced a great many breakthroughs that impacted consumer goods production for decades.

So, why not have the United States declare a fake war on Russia (a grudge match that is, after all, long overdue)? Both countries could immediately order full employment and revitalize their respective manufacturing sectors. Instead of live munitions, we could build all varieties of paint guns, water balloons, and stink bombs. Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Government, Peter Schiff, Politics, U.S., Unemployment, War

This is the Greatest Depression.

The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.

People queue for a job fair in New York. The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Photo: EPA

“The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession,” said Robert Reich, former US labour secretary. “All the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing.”

“Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year. So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing,” he said.

California is tightening faster than Greece. State workers have seen a 14pc fall in earnings this year due to forced furloughs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting pay for 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to cover his $19bn (£15bn) deficit.

Can Illinois be far behind? The state has a deficit of $12bn and is $5bn in arrears to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, and prisons. “It is getting worse every single day,” said state comptroller Daniel Hynes. “We are not paying bills for absolutely essential services. That is obscene.”

Roughly a million Americans have dropped out of the jobs market altogether over the past two months. That is the only reason why the headline unemployment rate is not exploding to a post-war high.

Let us be honest. The US is still trapped in depression a full 18 months into zero interest rates, quantitative easing (QE), and fiscal stimulus that has pushed the budget deficit above 10pc of GDP.

The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June actually fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. This is the real stress indicator. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Eight million jobs have been lost.

The average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. Nothing like this has been seen before in the post-war era. Jeff Weninger, of Harris Private Bank, said this compares with a peak of 21.2 weeks in the Volcker recession of the early 1980s.

“Legions of individuals have been left with stale skills, and little prospect of finding meaningful work, and benefits that are being exhausted. By our math the crop of people who are unemployed but not receiving a check amounts to 9.2m.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill are filibustering a bill to extend the dole for up to 1.2m jobless facing an imminent cut-off. Dean Heller from Vermont called them “hobos”. This really is starting to feel like 1932.

Washington’s fiscal stimulus is draining away. It peaked in the first quarter, yet even then the economy eked out a growth rate of just 2.7pc. This compares with 5.1pc, 9.3pc, 8.1pc and 8.5pc in the four quarters coming off recession in the early 1980s.

The housing market is already crumbling as government props are pulled away. The expiry of homebuyers’ tax credit led to a 30pc fall in the number of buyers signing contracts in May. “It is cataclysmic,” said David Bloom from HSBC. Continue reading »

Tags: BIS, California, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, GDP, Global News, Government, Illinois, Politics, Quantitative Easing, Real Estate, Recession, Retailers, Society, U.S., Unemployment

More green shoots and strong recovery signs:

- Howard Davidowitz: Obama is ‘Mr. Mass Destruction’ - US Economy ‘Is a Complete Disaster’

- US: 1.2 Million Lose Unemployment Benefits Today

- US Economy Shed 125,000 Jobs in June

- RBS tells clients to ‘think the unthinkable’ and prepare for ‘monster’ money-printing by the Fed

- US: 46 States Face Greek-Style Debt Crises

- US: New Home Sales Plummet to Record Low

- US: New claims for jobless benefits rise sharply

This is the Greatest Depression.

(CNN Money) — The recession killed off 7.9 million jobs. It’s increasingly likely that many will never come back.

The government jobs report issued Friday shows that businesses have slowed their pace of hiring to a relative trickle.

“The job losses during the Great Recession were so off the chart, that even though we’ve gained about 600,000 private sector jobs back, we’ve got nearly 8 million jobs to go,” said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute.

Excluding temporary Census workers, the economy has added fewer than 100,000 jobs a month this year — a much faster and stronger jobs recovery than occurred following the last two recessions in 2001 and 1991. Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Global News, Recession, U.S., Unemployment

About 2 Million Could Lose Their Benefits By Mid-July

Miriam Cintron lost her job in late 2008 and has been receiving unemployment benefits since then.

(CNN) — With her unemployment benefits coming to a halt, Miriam Cintron is forced to make a difficult choice between health insurance and daily expenses.

Signing into her unemployment benefits account last week, the New Yorker was horrified to see she hadn’t received any money for three weeks, she says.

What would the four-year cancer survivor do if she couldn’t afford to pay her $650 monthly COBRA payment? Her health insurance helped pay for life-saving treatment before, so giving it up is not an option, she says.

When Cintron was laid off from her job as a case worker at a homeless shelter in late 2008, she never imagined she’d go on unemployment. But even with 17 years experience, she’s been unable to land a new job.

Cintron isn’t alone. Unemployment benefits are set to run dry for 1.2 million people nationwide Friday after the U.S. Senate decided not to extend a deadline to file for these benefits last week, according to the National Employment Law Project.

Come Saturday, the number of people cut from unemployment benefits will surge to 1.63 million, according to U.S. Department of Labor estimates. By mid-July, about 2 million unemployed Americans could lose their benefits. Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Politics, U.S., Unemployment

See also: The Scariest Job Chart Ever Just Got Even Scarier

The official unemployment rate, based on a complete BS accounting method, declined to 9.5 percent.

The reality is that this is the Greatest Depression.

Job seekers hand out resumes at the University of Phoenix’s table at a job fair sponsored by Houston Hires in Houston this week.

The United States added just 83,000 private-sector jobs in June, a dishearteningly low number that could add to the growing number of economists who warn that the economic recovery is stalling.

Over all, the nation lost 125,000 jobs, according to the monthly snapshot of the job market released by the Labor Department on Friday. Most of the lost jobs came as temporary workers hired by the federal government to help with the census exited their jobs.

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Tags: Economy, U.S., Unemployment

There is no recovery.

This is the ‘Greatest Depression.’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped last week after three straight declines, another sign that the pace of layoffs has not slowed.

Initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the highest level in a month and overshadowed a report that consumer prices remain essentially flat.

First-time jobless claims have hovered near 450,000 since the beginning of the year after falling steadily in the second half of 2009. That has raised concerns that hiring is lackluster and could slow the recovery. Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, U.S., Unemployment