Here is an amazing display. It is a map with a play button that shows how unemployment has spread across the country over the last 2.5 years county by county. Things don't look too bad for most of the country at the start but as time passes most of the map progressively turns black indicating at least 10 percent unemployment. The central part of the nation is apparently faring fairly well and remains mostly out of the black but the rest of the nation starting on each coast and proceeds to cover the nation with the exception of the central corridor. Of course, how long it will be before the entire nation has unemployment rates at 10 percent or greater is anybody's guess. Unemployment county by county With all of the above in mind I've added a google spreadsheet to my google docs which you can access by clicking on my sig line below. It is interactive so you enter in your name, your age and the company you work for and it will give you a good idea of what you should be doing to enhance your retirement benefits.
The problem with unemployment rates is that they are really misleading. The don't account for those off of unemployment. The rates are higher than what the media states.
You are absolutely right, of course. Take me for instance. I haven't worked at a job for at least 1976. I think the last job I held was back about that time. So I've been unemployed for at least 35 years or more. Those who have retired or are long term public assistance recipients and the couple of million or more who are in various prisons are also not counted as being in those statistics. Business owners who haven't held jobs or salaried positions are also not counted. Lots of stay at home moms are also not counted as being unemployed. Even though most of the population is not counted in the ranks of the so called unemployed the map does give us an idea of what has happened to the economy over the last couple of years. It also provides us with other valuable insights. One of those insights is if the unemployment rate is so high and getting worse day by day how long can the government continue to provide benefits to retirees, VA medical and pension benefits and other government programs and benefits? We know that as the years pass a greater percentage of the work force is near or past the age of retirement with fewer and fewer younger workers coming into the work force to support the rest of the populace through taxation. Another downside is that as the economy worsens fewer couples produce children and that trend is particularly dangerous because with fewer children being born we reach a point when fewer child bearing women are present in our population to prevent our nation from simply dying of old age. It is a slippery slope from which we cannot escape by any normal means. Oh well, maybe some mad scientist will emerge and invent artificial wombs in which to incubate new babies and mass reproduce the population. Or maybe they will figure out how to clone us and mass produce new human beings in that way. Clip your finger and toe nails or cut your hair and the clippings get turned into newborn human beings. Of such wild ideas science fiction books and movies are made. (LOL) On the other hand, many things that were once only written about in Sci Fi books are now reality so one never knows what might come out of the laboratories next. Maybe little green men. (LOL)
You know, virtually everyone states that "when" the economy better they'll do A, B, and C. I've responded by stating, you know, "if" the economy gets better . . . I've never thought the economy was going to rebound. I still don't think it will. There are too many issues that people just don't realize and there isn't a WWII to bring us out of this funk. In fact, war now contributes to our demise. Alas, nothing in this world lasts forever.
