Now i might just be the crazied one here, but does anybody else feel like the goverment is lying about how bad it really is?

I don't think they're lying... possibly omitting. I'm not sure what you expect them to say or what good such a statement would do. I mean, even a blind man can look around and see that the country is in rough shape... it doesn't take a government saying it to make it so.

When the British government announced a while back that they were definitely in a recession and they had no clue when they would pull out of it, everything crashed. They had a complete economic breakdown. The market bottomed out and the British Pound was almost 1:1 even with the US Dollar (which sucked for us since my husband gets paid in GPB). It wasn't until the banks announced that they thought some other country was in worse shape (Japan crashed, I think) that the economy turned around and now the GBP is *almost* back to where it was against the USD. I believe today's rate is 1.65:1 (still not the 2:1 that it was a year ago).

If the US government comes out and flat out says "We're in a complete recession and we don't know when we'll come out of it." things will be just as bad, if not worse. I can't think of a country economically comparable to ours that could possibly be deemed to be in worse shape. The market is finally starting to recover a bit. I'd hate to see the government screw it up and throw us into a complete, unrecoverable depression by saying what we already know.

I guess i should have given an example. They have said straight out that we are in a recession, i more feel they are lying about the whole jobless claims and it might just be my state right now, come on when over eight hundred people try out for a single job then something is wrong. When i go into an interview for a simple job that pays 8.00 an hour and they have done interviews and for three days and there is at least fifty people and more showing up when i was done, then something about their national amount just seems odd to me.
I know the president has a lot on his plate and came into a recession so i really dont' blame him. I just find in a way they are lying to themselves and or just saying it is recession to keep the fear level low. Which is sad when you think about people can't stand the truth. I would rather have the truth, by saying we are in a depression and go with that.
Like i said it could just be me.

Maybe I'm out of the loop... but what jobless claims? No one has denied that unemployment is the highest it's been in years. But at the same time, there's been a lot of companies that are trying to create jobs, as best as they can. I know, here in my town, a corporation is building a new solar panel factory that's going to create some 500 jobs. It's not much but it's 500 more than what we have now.

Sure, the job market is horrible right now but technically we aren't in a depression. According to most economists, a depression is defined as a period of time when the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has a decline of more than 10% compared to previous years. As of the first quarter of 2009, the GDP is only down 5.7% (actually better than last year's decline of 6.3%). In other words, there's no need for the government to announce that we're in a depression when we are, in fact, in a recession (any economic downturn of any rate).

I don't why they are reporting on the unemployment claims when most have run out of money.That has what has happen to most of my neighbors, friends, and family. Seems where to hear things are getting better when you look around your neighborhood and see things getting worse. I guess just my state was slow to get hit.
Wonder how everybody else is doing during this time? Common people rant it out.

We're definitely in a depression, at least that's what a lot of economists have said...especially those of prominent and national stature. I'm sure we just call it a recession the same reason that lobbyists have politicians call terrorism "sectarian violence": it just doesn't sound as bad. In a time of great stress, the last thing that politicians would want is for the people to panic because then things would exacerbate to the point that recovery might not be plausible.

Best keep things to a down low, if you know what I mean.

quote:

Originally posted by AishaFox:
I don't why they are reporting on the unemployment claims when most have run out of money.That has what has happen to most of my neighbors, friends, and family. Seems where to hear things are getting better when you look around your neighborhood and see things getting worse. I guess just my state was slow to get hit.
Wonder how everybody else is doing during this time? Common people rant it out.

Unemployment is paid by employers. It's not free government money like a lot of people think it is. When you go to work for someone, they not only pay you but also pay your unemployment insurance in case you lose your job. How much you can draw during your time of unemployment depends on how much you make in a certain amount of work quarters (as determined by your unemployment office). At that point, you're allotted a max amount of unemployment payments. When you hit that cap, you don't get paid. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that when you lose your job you can sit and draw unemployment forever and this isn't the case. When the checks stop coming, it's because the person has hit their cap, not that the agencies have run out of money.

quote:

Originally posted by Nihilis:
We're definitely in a depression, at least that's what a lot of economists have said...especially those of prominent and national stature.

Sources please. If you're going to state fact, please have a source to back it up. My numbers came from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. We were headed toward a depression last year, however, as I stated before, our numbers are up from last year. We weren't in a depression last year and we're not in one this year. RECESSION, yes. DEPRESSION, no.

quote:

Originally posted by Bam:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by AishaFox:
I don't why they are reporting on the unemployment claims when most have run out of money.That has what has happen to most of my neighbors, friends, and family. Seems where to hear things are getting better when you look around your neighborhood and see things getting worse. I guess just my state was slow to get hit.
Wonder how everybody else is doing during this time? Common people rant it out.

Unemployment is paid by employers. It's not free government money like a lot of people think it is. When you go to work for someone, they not only pay you but also pay your unemployment insurance in case you lose your job. How much you can draw during your time of unemployment depends on how much you make in a certain amount of work quarters (as determined by your unemployment office). At that point, you're allotted a max amount of unemployment payments. When you hit that cap, you don't get paid. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that when you lose your job you can sit and draw unemployment forever and this isn't the case. When the checks stop coming, it's because the person has hit their cap, not that the agencies have run out of money.

No, i know that. I mean they claim the number of those getting unemployment has come down and at least in this state it is because many have hit that limit and can't find work to put back into the system. That is what has happened to most i know at the moment, so they still are out of work. I mean some might have actually found work and that is great. Thankfully some have worked for years and never touched the money and therefore they are fine and have enough to pay the bills and try and find work. But even they know sooner or later they are going to hit the limit whether they find work or not.
SO in other words i think they should just stop report it. Unless they have all the variables covered which they dont.

The unemployment measurements aren't based on the number of people drawing unemployment but on the number of people that are unemployed and willing/able to work as gathered by monthly surveys done in each state and by the Census Bureau.

In other words, your unemployed friends running out of their unemployment insurance has no factor on the unemployment rate. They are still unemployed and still counted as so. If it's being reported that unemployment is going down slightly then they are going off of the Census Bureau and these monthly surveys and not the amount of people actually drawing unemployment.

quote:

Originally posted by AishaFox:
No, i know that. I mean they claim the number of those getting unemployment has come down and at least in this state it is because many have hit that limit and can't find work to put back into the system. That is what has happened to most i know at the moment, so they still are out of work. I mean some might have actually found work and that is great. Thankfully some have worked for years and never touched the money and therefore they are fine and have enough to pay the bills and try and find work. But even they know sooner or later they are going to hit the limit whether they find work or not.
SO in other words i think they should just stop report it. Unless they have all the variables covered which they dont.

I agree with you. They also have stated so many jobs have been created, but yet there is no absolute way to even gather that information, let alone state it as fact.

Technically I do not think that there is any way to know just how many people are looking for jobs. I went to a temp agency a few weeks ago and there was a woman there who had not worked in years, but was out there now due to needing money. Technically she would not be classified as umemployed, but she is part of the competition for jobs right now. Then take temp workers. I have been with an agency for about a year. I just got another assignment which should last 4-6 weeks. It took me 2 months just to find that. I couldn't even find something part time. Technically I was unemployed for 2 months. Statistically I was employed by the agency during that time. I couldn't collect unemployment obviously, but none the less I am behind on everything now. And really, if I could have a permanent full time job I would have. But I haven't been able to yet.

My point is I doubt the stats are right. But there are some indicators things might be turning around a bit. Employment is the last factor that is affected. So it will probably still be awhile before jobs are created.

To help clear any further confusion on how government calculates unemployment rates:

http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm

Like any surveying method this one has its pitfalls, so it's not a gospel and has little to do with truth about unemployment. It merely offers a representative sample of the real situation. Use it at your own risk as it's not the whole picture. There is not enough resources in the country to give you a true, up to date whole picture of anything.

On the recession vs. depression, I too would love to see the names of notable economists who say that the country is in depression. They don't have to be popular or mainstream, but they must bear the authority.

And Aisha, if the president or someone else up there would tell you that things are really, really bad, that the country is still going down and no one knows where exactly the bottom is, what would you gain from it? It's not like real help for small people would follow such (or any other) statement.

quote:

Originally posted by CoffeeOwl:


And Aisha, if the president or someone else up there would tell you that things are really, really bad, that the country is still going down and no one knows where exactly the bottom is, what would you gain from it? It's not like real help for small people would follow such (or any other) statement.

Closure. Either way there is no help for small people, but at least there is the truth to a degree. Better than them every day changing their minds on when it is will get better.

quote:

Originally posted by AishaFox:
Closure. Either way there is no help for small people, but at least there is the truth to a degree. Better than them every day changing their minds on when it is will get better.

How are they are supposed to tell you truth if they don't know themselves, if their advisers don't know either? It's everyone's best half-educated guess, and as imperfect statistics changes, so do the predictions.

I believe you guys asked me for references for economists who said we're in a depression, correct? I got that information from a **** ton of people who work in economics and made an appearance on the Bill Maher Show. There was also a lady on there, I forgot her name, but she is the head hauncho in charge of watching the progress of the banks and she made the claim that we 'may' or 'may not be' in a depression.

According to that one chick, there's really no way of determining what exactly is going on in terms of the economy; everything is thrown into complete chaos.

And douche bag billionaires like Donald Trump have also claimed that we're in an economic depression.

Donald Trump is not an economist and "that chick on Bill Maher" isn't a reliable source. A reliable source is a reputable website link, news article or video giving statements from reputable economists and experts.