* demonstrates how detached he is from the plight of the average worker

[paineinthearse]

In heralding the statistically obvious fact that "more Americans are working today than ever in our nation's history," - http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050516.html - * suggested the economy has never performed better for all Americans.

Yet a Gallup Poll reports that "fewer than 4 in 10 Americans (38%) say now is a good time to find a quality job, while the majority of adults nationwide, 59%, say it is a bad time." - http://www.gallup.com/poll/content/default.aspx?ci=15772

American Public Opinion About Unemployment and Jobs
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
by Joseph Carroll

Good or Bad Time to Find a Job? Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans (38%) say now is a good time to find a quality job, while the majority of adults nationwide, 59%, say it is a bad time, according to a May 2-5 Gallup Poll. The percentage of Americans saying it is a good time to find a quality job has shown little fluctuation over the past several months -- averaging 38% in February, 37% in March, and 38% in April -- but is slightly higher than Gallup found in January, when 33% said it was a good time to find a quality job. Over the past several years, perceptions about the job market have been more negative than Gallup's current findings. In 2001, across four polls conducted from August through December, 28% of Americans, on average, said it was a good time to find a quality job. The yearly average declined two points in 2002, to 26%, and fell even further, to 21%, in 2003. Last year, the average increased to 32%.

Unemployment as the Most Important Problem - The May 2-5 poll finds that without prompting, 8% of Americans mention unemployment or jobs as the most important problem facing the country today. The top problems this month, according to Americans, are the situation in Iraq (21%) and the general state of the economy (12%), followed by Social Security (9%), fuel prices (8%), unemployment, and healthcare (7%). The number of people mentioning unemployment or jobs in response to this "most important problem" question has remained steady for the past four months, but was slightly higher, at 11%, in January. In recent years, the average number of mentions of unemployment on a yearly basis was 6% in 2001, 7% in 2002, 12% in 2003, and 14% in 2004. The perception that unemployment or jobs are the nation's top problem has been considerably higher historically. In 1945, at the close of World War II, 77% of Americans mentioned unemployment or jobs as the most important problem. In the mid-1980s and again in the early 1990s, there were points when roughly one in four Americans mentioned unemployment or jobs.

Financial Worries- Gallup's annual survey on the economy and personal finance, conducted April 4-7, asked Americans to specify their level of worry about seven financial issues. The results show that Americans are most worried about not having enough money for retirement (30% very worried and 30% somewhat worried) and not being able to pay medical costs caused by a major illness or accident (30% very and 22% somewhat worried). Next on the list for Americans is not being able to pay medical costs for normal healthcare (23% very and 19% somewhat worried), not being able to maintain their own standard of living (14% very and 27% somewhat worried), not having enough money to pay normal monthly bills (13% very and 17% somewhat worried), and not being able to pay rent, mortgage, or housing costs (10% very and 13% somewhat worried). At the bottom of the list is not being able to make the minimum payments on credit cards (7% very and 9% somewhat worried).

[whistle]

1. Shrub's head is fully inserted up his ass

[Radio-Active]

2. wow.. so that's a checkout conveyor belt / scanner..?

amazing!

[Nikki Stone 1]

3. Demonstrates how easily neocons lie to create the reality they want

From everything I have read, this economic boom has been labeled a "jobless recovery."

[paineinthearse]

4. Bubba taught us, but we seem to have forgotten

Rethugs are all smoke and mirrors and lies and deceit and fluster and fear and did I say "lies".

Don't talk down to the people, give them the facts. They will choose the right path.

[Doctor_J]

5. We've turned the corner!

6 times, by my count. What a loathsome waste of protoplasm that steaming shit-pile is.

[paineinthearse]

6. Remember how that was a part of the *"stump" speech

Until JK called *'s bluff?

[Hidden Stillness]

7. Whatever They Say It Is, It Is Worse

This whole article reads like a case study of "How the Media Lies," and how, tragically, you can't even find a neutrally-written, objective report on a correctly-done study to quote anymore. I can't hope to find all the wrongly done things from the study or all the duplicitous, lying language used to "describe" it, but here are several. Oh by the way, unemployment rates are at Depression levels too, here in the Midwest and elsewhere.

First, the little maggot who pretends to be "President" claims that employment is fine because, "More Americans are working today than ever..." etc. There are more people working because the population is so much higher now--almost double what it was during the 1930s--and so the claim that there are more Americans doing any certain thing is no doubt true, because the whole number is larger, not because there is low unemployment! Joblessness is up, both from Bush's inadequacy at handling the Nation's problems, and from outsourcing, so, notice, they never directly refer to unemployment figures: 1) They are bad; 2) They don't give a rat's ass what the non-rich, non-stockholding classes are living like. The entire principle of Republican economic policy is greed; ripping up the laws, busting labor unions, destroying the Constitution and the branches of Government, slander and threat, and wars to cover up other wars--codified greed, this is all these people are.

The "study" is also strange, but we have come to expect it of the destroyed reputation of the Gallup organization. (Now all you think is "oversamples Republicans.") It claims that "Over the past several years, perceptions about the job market have been more negative than Gallup's current findings," yet its own figures show a steadily rising fear about jobs from the time Bush took office: 6% 2001, 7% 2002, 12% 2003, 14% 2004. What a "monthly" figure may be has nothing to do with the unbroken, steady climb over the years. The attempt to reduce the dismal economic numbers is compounded by the odd wording of the selections, a typical stunt. "Iraq" is grouped as one huge monolith, so pro-war, anti-war, economic concerns and anger about loss of life all blend together with opinions about Bush's imperialism, making it one generalized, inflated number. The economy, on the other hand, is broken all up to divide the numbers--"jobs" as opposed to "general state of the economy," whatever that means; "Social Security" (which many people consider their only retirement income--oh yes they do) separated from "fuel prices" and "health care" even though they are all fundamental economic questions and should be added together. They are not separate "issues," but are problems the same unemployed or underemployed person would face. A real poll would have called the whole group "the economy."
Then they throw in this very bizarre reference to the end of World War II to try to find some way of telling this to make Bush look good. Jobs were a huge concern because all the armed forces were coming home from the war, all at once, not because there was high unemployment, and it ranked so high because we had jusr won the war and so there was no other pressing issue of this type. Weird...but it shows you how strangely they will twist things, just to lie.

If you want a real impression of how widespread the crushing pressure on the poor and middle-class now is, read the part about "Financial Worries," with these huge numbers for everything (60% total who were worried they will not have enough money for retirement, and this is a "good economy"?), and the majority who know it is a bad time to get a good job. The whole "Financial Worries" section is a truer picture of what is going on in the country, as people try to hang on, and are actually losing everything.

We know, though, that neo-con Republicans do not even live in this world, they live in a cult of their own and all they want to do is subjugate the whole world--and they actually thought they were going to accomplish it, just by rewording things.

[fob]

8. Good times. Bad times. You know we've had our share.

Our Country's been sold by a dumb-brained man,
and no one seems to care...

[rniel]

9. I still remember a time way back when

They said that we would have more liesure time with all this technology making things easier for us to do our work.

That was a laugh...ha ha

Also remember the times when you could have one spouse working and support a family pretty well on that alone...