You spin me right round baby

From the Record:

Analysis: N.J. job stats in the best light

Employment statistics are a telling barometer of the health of the economy, and even small changes are scrutinized.

Monthly announcements, from Washington and each state, report the two key figures — jobs added or lost, and the unemployment rate — and the underlying statistics that shape them.

Yet New Jersey’s monthly jobs report under Governor Christie, who has made the recovery of the state economy a top priority, appears designed as much to boost the appearance of well-being as it is to convey the raw — and often unpleasant — economic facts on the ground as the economy continues to struggle.

Sometimes a key statistic is buried in the body of the press release, as other, less-timely figures are elevated to the headline or first paragraph. Long-term trends that put the state’s economy in a better light are emphasized, and sometimes contextual information — comparing the state’s unemployment rate to the nation’s better rate, for example — is omitted. And the release usually includes an upbeat quote from the Treasury Department’s chief economist, Charles Steindel, a Christie appointee.

In January, for example, the state reported a loss of 36,300 jobs in December, a massive decline that approached twice the biggest single month’s loss — 22,300 jobs lost in March 2009 — in the entire recession.

Yet the figure didn’t make it into the release headline, or even the first paragraph. Both focused on a drop in the jobless rate, from 7.8 to 7.3 percent, the second big drop in consecutive months. The release quoted Steindel saying: “Despite these preliminary estimates, we anticipate that the New Year will see resumption in New Jersey’s job growth.”

Neither that release, nor a previous one highlighting the decline in the jobless unemployment rate in November, mentioned that, as economists pointed out, the drop was driven almost entirely by people leaving the labor force — not by unemployed workers getting jobs.

James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said the Christie administration’s handling of the jobs release is no different from his predecessors.

“That’s always been the case. If it’s a bad jobs report for the month, they will take a different angle,” he said. “They will always try to put a positive spin on it. … So it’s really business as usual.”

But Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at the accounting firm CohnReznick, who watches the state job figures closely, says the tactic is more pronounced under Christie.

“What we see now, of late, is a selective reading of numbers through what appears to be a political prism, not an analytical prism,” said O’Keefe, who described elements of the most recent release as “trying to put some rouge on the pig, and the pig remains ugly.”

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73 Responses to You spin me right round baby

  1. Funnelcloud says:

    First today must have been a hell of a weekend

  2. Juice Box says:

    Soccer, swim lessons, birthday parties, yard work , shopping etc so who has time to read and post? Only time I get to read is when I am on the can. YIKES I HAVE TURNED INTO AL BUNDY!

  3. I’d do Peg in a heartbeat.

  4. anon (the good one) says:

    @RyanLizza: Current list of entities investigating Chris Christie:

    -SEC
    -Manhattan DA
    -US Attorney in NJ
    -US Attorney in NY
    -NJ legislature

  5. joyce says:

    death is only the beginning

  6. Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:

    [4] anon,

    and all under the control of . . . . wait for it . . . .

    The Democrats!!!

    I’ll see your Benghazi and raise you a Bridgegate.

  7. anon (the good one) says:

    @RyanLizza: “The SEC has joined Manhattan D.A.’s office to investigate possible misuse of Port Authority funds by Christie…” http://t.co/hlvnDzWSLR

  8. Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:

    I can’t put that on Christie and it is hardly a partisan issue. Governors have few tools available to them and little influence in the face of macroeconomic factors and in this case, you have a multigenerational decline and strong headwinds off the Potomac.

    Of course, since we are going to get partisan, it’s hard to get anything done when you have an albatross the size of the NJ Assembly around your neck. The only way The Rotund One gets any pro-growth legislation passed is if Clot makes good on his fantasies and sets off a bunch of improvised devices in the Assembly while they are in session.

  9. Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:

    [2] juice

    “YIKES I HAVE TURNED INTO AL BUNDY!”

    Yeah, it happens to all of us. Fortunately Mrs. Deplume isn’t a Peg Bundyesque vapid twit of a housewife.

  10. Fast Eddie says:

    Neither that release, nor a previous one highlighting the decline in the jobless unemployment rate in November, mentioned that, as economists pointed out, the drop was driven almost entirely by people leaving the labor force — not by unemployed workers getting jobs.

    And indirectly, let me tell you about a house on Arcadia lane in Woodcliff Lake. It was an open house yesterday, still for sale, as it was months ago. When I saw it then, it was listed in the upper 500s and you needed a hazmat suit to walk through it. Yesterday, it was completely empty and the “flippers” threw in a home depot kitchen and bath. The exterior was still a peeling wreck, the roof still green with decay, the sills under exterior doorways were still rotted away and the windows and doors were still 50 years old and wretched. Asking price? $689,000. But, the jobs are strong, salaries are increasing and we are in full recovery. Sarcasm off.

  11. Anon E. Moose says:

    Anon [4];

    @RyanLizza: Current list of entities investigating Chris Christie:

    -SEC [Really? How’d their investigation of Corzine turn out?]
    -Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. (Democrat)
    -US Attorney in NJ Nominated by BHO 2009, confirmed by the last Democratic Senate — “Fishman is a registered Democrat and resides in Montclair.”
    -US Attorney in NY Nominated by BHO 2009, confirmed by the last Democratic Senate — “Political party: Democratic”
    -NJ legislature “Currently, the Democrats are the majority party in both Houses.”

  12. Anon E. Moose says:

    Anon [4];

    @RyanLizza: Current list of entities investigating Chris Christie:

    -SEC [Really? How’d their investigation of Corzine turn out?]

  13. Anon E. Moose says:

    Anon [4];

    -Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. (Democrat)
    -US Attorney in NJ Nominated by BHO 2009, confirmed by the last Democratic Senate — “Fishman is a registered Democrat and resides in Montclair.”

  14. Libtard rotting away on NJ Transit says:

    The shitshow known as NJ Transit is at it again this morning. I’m sure it’s Amtrak’s fault too.

  15. Anon E. Moose says:

    Anon [4];

    -US Attorney in NY Nominated by BHO 2009, confirmed by the last Democratic Senate — “Political party: Democratic”
    -NJ legislature “Currently, the Democrats are the majority party in both Houses.”

  16. Fast Eddie says:

    I saw another one around the corner on Pinecrest Drive. It was a big split (4/2.5), fairly roomy and decent layout. It was sort of well-kept, a few things you could see needed to be done. Asking price was $679,000 which, like all the rest, is 15% over-priced. We’re still anywhere from 10% to 15% over-priced on just about everything listed.

    So, I had a discussion with the realtor whom was very nice. She said she sees young couple after young couple walk in totally bummed out because they can’t “afford” the house. She tells them to go to a “lesser” town. Why a first time buyer is looking at houses with a “6” handle is beyond me and she agreed.

    She said there’s no inventory and the garbage is sitting, which, I agree as I see the same listings week after week. Once a house like this one on Pinecrest is listed, it goes quickly as it has more positives than negatives. Although, in a normal market, again, this house would be in the mid to upper 500s. But, we’re not in a normal market. The hot water heater is 12 years old and leaking like a sieve and the furnace is original and rusting badly around the bottom. Still the house is 100 large over-priced. But when there’s nothing to buy, an eager beaver buyer is easily hooked.

  17. chicagofinance says:

    Dude…right there with you…..when you wake up you’ll be 60…..

    Juice Box says:
    April 28, 2014 at 7:04 am
    Soccer, swim lessons, birthday parties, yard work , shopping etc so who has time to read and post? Only time I get to read is when I am on the can. YIKES I HAVE TURNED INTO AL BUNDY!

  18. JJ says:

    B. of A. shares fall on capital-adjustment announcement
    MARKETWATCH — 15 MINUTES AGO
    NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Bank of America Corp. (Symbol : BAC

    announced Monday it will make a downward revision of its regulatory capital amounts and ratios, due to an incorrect adjustment. The adjustment is related to certain structured notes as part of the Merrill Lynch & Co. acquisition in 2009. The bank said a reduction in the regulatory capital requirement and ratios will not affect its financial statement or shareholder equity. At the Federal Reserve’s request, Bank of America ( will suspend previously announced 2014 capital actions, which include a $4 billion in common stock repurchase and the planned increased in the quarterly common stock dividend from $0.01 per share to $0.05 per share. The bank will involve a third-party to review its processes before resubmitting it’s 2014 capital plans to the Fed. It’s estimated Basel 3 Standardized transition common equity tier 1 capital ratio was revised to 11.8%, down 5 basis points. The estimated Tier 1 capital ratio was revised to 11.9%, down 21 basis points. The estimated total capital ratio was revised to 14.8%, down 21 basis points and the estimated Tier 1 leverage ratio was revised to 7.4%, down 12 basis points. Shares were down nearly 3% in premarket trading.

  19. anon (the good one) says:

    @TheBaxterBean: Family Guy #BridgeGate and Chris Christie http://t.co/yCvzZrr2lp http://t.co/3GTEc1Uojh

    New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s bridge problems have been poked, prodded, analyzed and satirized to death — or damn close. But, this latest one — part of a campaign to convince Emmy voters to choose “Family Guy” as the best animated program — may top everything that’s come before it.

  20. Juice Box says:

    re # 19 – JJ BOA so no more Repo 105 window dressing “mistakes”? Let’s find something new to cook how about that steaming pile of Merrill notes? The CFO his responsible staff as well as the “regulators” who missed this supposed math “error” should all be fired.

    More TBTF, TBTJ and now it seems just more TBTM as in too big to manage.

  21. grim says:

    FE – Neighbors house had at least 30 visits from Friday afternoon to Sunday (I know because the dogs flip out and I look over to see why, could be higher). You’ll love this part, I’ve got to give you credit, it’s totally pocket – no MLS listing at all. I suspect it’ll be gone this week, wondering what they’ll do with a listing.

  22. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    [22] LOL. In my area of Boston A.Prices have never been higher B. Inventory has never been lower C. It seems like buyers might be fewer still.

  23. Juice Box says:

    Lots of for sale signs now up here in Monmouth County, especially Albatross Mansions. I spent a good part of weekend cleaning out flower beds and pruning trees plus I just had just10 yrds of black mulch delivered and I only have a half acre lot. I will be at it with a wheel barrow all week until that pile of mulch is gone. I can image the amount of upkeep one of those mansions on a few acres is to keep the landscaping respectable never mind cleaning the interior a 5,000 sq ft home. No thanks I will keep my smaller home, no need to upgrade to an Albatross.

  24. Fast Eddie says:

    grim,

    it’s totally pocket – no MLS listing at all.

    Too many house guides, not enough stuff to sell; gotta grab that commission. Survival of the fittest. Anything decent is going to be a dogfight among buyers anyway.

  25. JJ says:

    I find is unusual that I have Countrywide bonds that are callable with a high coupon that has not been called.Unlike Merril and BAC technically Countrywide could declare BK on its own and not impact BAC or Merril. So they are willing to keep high coupon bonds on the books that are callable.

    21.Juice Box says:
    April 28, 2014 at 9:47 am
    re # 19 – JJ BOA so no more Repo 105 window dressing “mistakes”? Let’s find something new to cook how about that steaming pile of Merrill notes? The CFO his responsible staff as well as the “regulators” who missed this supposed math “error” should all be fired.

    More TBTF, TBTJ and now it seems just more TBTM as in too big to manage.

  26. Fast Eddie says:

    Where’s Boyaa Bob? We need some friskie eating commentary. Happy Days are here again. Anyone signing a contract today is now a proud member of the dead cat bounce club, chained to an over-priced asset and willing victim of a shell game.

  27. JJ says:

    Long Beach NY has 30×60 zoning. I cant even count how many single family homes could be built on your 1/2 acre with 30×60 lot sizes.

    1/2 acre is insanely huge. CEOs in Manhasset dont even have 1/2 acres

    24.Juice Box says:
    April 28, 2014 at 11:37 am
    Lots of for sale signs now up here in Monmouth County, especially Albatross Mansions. I spent a good part of weekend cleaning out flower beds and pruning trees plus I just had just10 yrds of black mulch delivered and I only have a half acre lot. I will be at it with a wheel barrow all week until that pile of mulch is gone. I can image the amount of upkeep one of those mansions on a few acres is to keep the landscaping respectable never mind cleaning the interior a 5,000 sq ft home. No thanks I will keep my smaller home, no need to upgrade to an Albatross.

  28. Michael says:

    10 yrds? Damn!!! Good luck!! You sure you really need that much?

    Juice Box says:
    April 28, 2014 at 11:37 am
    Lots of for sale signs now up here in Monmouth County, especially Albatross Mansions. I spent a good part of weekend cleaning out flower beds and pruning trees plus I just had just10 yrds of black mulch delivered and I only have a half acre lot. I will be at it with a wheel barrow all week until that pile of mulch is gone. I can image the amount of upkeep one of those mansions on a few acres is to keep the landscaping respectable never mind cleaning the interior a 5,000 sq ft home. No thanks I will keep my smaller home, no need to upgrade to an Albatross.

  29. Michael says:

    I stand by my market prediction. Houses are not going down. They will have slow 1 to 2% gains for the next 4 to 5 years, and then the sh!t show comes backs to town, in the early 2020’s.

    Fast Eddie says:
    April 28, 2014 at 11:50 am
    Where’s Boyaa Bob? We need some friskie eating commentary. Happy Days are here again. Anyone signing a contract today is now a proud member of the dead cat bounce club, chained to an over-priced asset and willing victim of a shell game.

  30. Street Justice says:

    Is Rising Wealth Concentration Really an Inexorable Trend?
    —By Kevin Drum| Sun Apr. 27, 2014 9:40 AM PDT
    209

    Jared Bernstein tries to explain today why Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century has become such a cultural phenomenon. The answer, he says, is a growing sense that “something is structurally wrong with both the economy and the practice of economics”:

    Between financial bubbles and busts, the macro-management seems inept and even once the economy starts growing again, the benefits accrue narrowly to the top. In part, it’s a sense that “the fix is in” when it comes to the distribution of growth.

    ….Against that backdrop, we get a long, carefully researched tome with literally centuries of data across numerous countries showing a pretty inexorable trend of income and wealth concentration and providing a cogent analysis of the mechanics behind those dynamics. At the same time, though Piketty clearly knows his economics, he is quick to dismiss a knee-jerk elevation of assumption-based economic analysis that has led so many policy makers astray in recent years. Moreover, he is not a known partisan who can quickly be compartmentalized and thus distractingly plugged into the existing debate that tends to generate more heat than light.

    This puzzles me, because it’s precisely what Piketty doesn’t show. Instead, what he shows is this:

    For 1800 years, returns on capital were far higher than growth rates, but wealth concentration didn’t budge over the long term.
    In the 19th century, an era marked by relative peace and the explosive growth of the Industrial Revolution, wealth concentration increased steadily, peaking in the Gilded Age.
    In the 20th century, following the devastation of the Great Depression and World War II, wealth concentration declined.
    Starting around 1980, wealth concentration started increasing again.
    Now, Piketty does present good evidence to suggest that the post-1980 trend of rising wealth concentration is likely to continue. With the increasing financialization of the global economy, he believes that returns to capital will stay high; that low inheritance taxes will allow great fortunes to perpetuate themselves; and that sluggish economic growth will limit middle-class earnings gains. This dynamic will take a while to play out fully, but a century from now the relentless forces of r > g will produce a super-rich class with a far, far greater share of global wealth than they have today.

    Now, Piketty may be right about this. I think the case he makes is a strong one. Nevertheless, the lesson I took from the book is that wealth concentration is highly variable. It bounces up and down over the centuries, increasing in certain places and eras, and then dissipating via war, famine, dissolute sons, lavish spending, expropriation, dispersion among heirs, disruptive technologies, and so forth. Right now, wealth concentration has been rising for a few decades, and that’s something worth grappling with for all the reasons Piketty lays out.

    And yet, I can’t help thinking that on the time scales Piketty writes about, a few decades is a historical blip. There’s simply no “inexorable trend” visible in his data. Instead, there’s a highly speculative projection that the short-term trend of the past 30 years will continue for another century.

    It might, but I wish more people would pay attention to just how speculative this is. Perhaps you think that war and expropriation and famine are no longer big threats to concentrated wealth. Perhaps dissolute sons all now have professional money managers and are less likely to squander huge family fortunes. Maybe middle-class wage growth is doomed to stagnate in a world dominated more and more by a highly-educated class managing complex technologies. Maybe disruptive technologies have gotten to the point where they benefit only the 1 percent, shifting wealth from one faction to another but never trickling down to the middle class. (I happen to find this scenario extremely likely, believing as I do that automation is likely to increase returns to capital and depress middle-class wage growth.)

    I understand that I’m playing devil’s advocate here, especially since growing income inequality is a topic I write about frequently and I personally find it likely that Piketty is basically right. But I also recognize that his projections—of growth, of returns to capital, and of the persistence of dynastic wealth—are highly speculative. The past 30 years are hardly unique in human history, and previous waves of wealth concentration have not, in fact, lasted forever. I guess I wish that more people would at least acknowledge this. I feel like we should all be spending more time extending and refining Piketty’s results instead of simply assuming that he’s made a slam dunk case for the future of the economy.

    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/rising-wealth-concentration-really-inexorable-trend

  31. anon (the good one) says:

    @NewsBreaker: FULL STATEMENT: from @StateFarm on relationship with the LA Clippers – @JGolden5 http://t.co/UfKpL5bhq4

  32. chicagofinance says:

    FWIW…..driving into work in Red Bank today…..drove past a school with a prominent HEAD START sign proudly displayed above the entranceway…..mom was dropping off kid and walking another back to the car parked in the street out in front…..the car was a BMW….I love the smell of napalm in the morning…smelled like victory….

  33. Anon E. Moose says:

    Michael [30];

    What do you predict real inflation is going to be against your 1-2% housing increases?

  34. Juice Box says:

    JJ – my pool and patio are 30 x 60. Lots of execs here have a much bigger place than mine in Long Island, Westchester and Jersey and a few with bungalows too waterfront etc.

  35. Juice Box says:

    Shuush Moose you might burst his world talking about real inflation.

  36. Grim says:

    31 – subsidize small business lending rates and significantly reduce the credit requirements to borrow.

    Lower cost of capital of megabusiness make it significantly more difficult for smaller businesses to compete. Give the little guy the upper hand.

    Level the playing field for small business and I suspect much of this may change.

    We won’t fix this through entitlements or taking from the “rich”.

  37. Street Justice says:

    37 – My guess is businesses already well established in industry would fight that tooth and nail and call it “regulation”. They like barriers to entry. Competition is bad for business.

  38. Libturd in the City says:

    Who ever thought a well established stock with a P/E of 650 could come crashing down so quickly. Way to go Amazon.

  39. grim says:

    38 – It would be lobbied straight into the trash can, even worse the lobbyists would draft the “Business Fairness and Integrity Act” for a republican, which would forever ban it. Would be passed on bi-partisan lines, since it would be relatively easy to dupe the democrats into believing that small business lending would make the rich richer.

  40. Fast Eddie says:

    Low wage industries account for 44% of employment growth over the past four years but only 22% of job losses during the recession. As a result of this imbalance, the take home pay for households has fallen, averaging $51,000 in 2012, or 8% less than the average $55,000 in 2007, adjusted for inflation, according to the NELP.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/corporate-profits-bigger-than-ever-so-companies-can-afford-to-raise-the-minimum-wage–henry-blodget-142907469.html

  41. Bystander.. says:

    Moose,

    It will be that benign 15% inflation per year that Mike thinks is coming. The govt. will lift all housing boats. The catch is that the country will have to survive rebellion during those years. As Eddie pointed out wages have been declining for years. I guess inflation will take care of that too. It has done such a great job to this point.

  42. Michael says:

    41- Fast eddie, i thought this quote from your article sums up the problem. Share some money with the people creating the value!!! It’s that simple.

    “I hate the idea that it has to be mandated,” Henry Blodget says about raising the minimum wage. “But until we can convince the owners of companies…to take some of that profit and share it with the folks who are creating that value … we need a higher minimum wage.”

  43. Michael says:

    I told you guys why inflation has not hit yet, even though we printed up lots of money. The money has gone to the 1%. How can there be inflation if all the gains in the economy are going to a few hands? In order to have inflation, the money must be in many hands as opposed to a few, otherwise inflation is impossible. You can print up 3 trillion dollars and add it to the currency, but if that money only touches a few hands, how can there be inflation.

    After this whole fight breaks out over inequality, you will see wage inflation come about, from there it might even get out of control, but who knows, that’s impossible to predict. This inflation will start rearing it’s head by the end of the decade as this money is transferred through wage increases. Yes, they will be coming, the min wage being raised is the first movement towards wage inflation for everyone else. This problem of inequality is officially going mainstream right now.

    I have been beating this drum since 2008, it is finally hitting main st.

    Anon E. Moose says:
    April 28, 2014 at 12:41 pm
    Michael [30];

    What do you predict real inflation is going to be against your 1-2% housing increases?

  44. Libturd in the City says:

    “This problem of inequality is officially going mainstream right now”

    I’ve been beating the same drum since the mid 90s. So what? Keep sending in your donation to the Democratic National Party. I’m sure they’ll fix it.

  45. Street Justice says:

    One solution is in post 37.

  46. Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:

    You can’t say you weren’t warned. Once again, NJRER readers have debated these very point long ago, and were told that this would trend.

    NJRER>CNBC

    http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000270706

  47. Xolepa says:

    The portion of the money printed has gone to pay off the ever increasing interest charges on our national debt (in an indirect way).

    Michael, Have you ever thought about rebating your tenants a part of their rent payments? I’m sure some of those printed dollars have come your way, too.

  48. joyce says:

    Plenty of inflation in healthcare, education, and the stock market… not so much in wages. Hmm, where have I heard that before, oh yeah we’ve been saying that for years.

  49. clotluva says:

    [46 Street Justice]

    One solution is in post 37…

    “subsidize small business lending rates and significantly reduce the credit requirements to borrow.”

    This would be great if there was some way to guarantee – without a public backstop -that small business owners (or whatever enablers sprouted up) wouldn’t either (a) intentionally game the system or (b) unintentionally get themselves into trouble.

    Most businesses fail not because of their cost of/access to capital, but because they don’t deserve to be in business. The thought of being obligated to publically subsidize every Joey-and-Sally’s nutty business venture is a tad disconcerting; the odds of the whole thing ending up like another Fannie/Freddie cesspool of bad debts seem pretty high.

  50. Anon E. Moose says:

    Joyce [49];

    Plenty of inflation in healthcare…

    1) I agree wholeheartedly.

    2) This is, to me, an unintended side-effect of BS laws like Obamacare. Insurance companies never would have dreamed of raising their rates to the extent they have since 2010 is they had not been forced to do so by the new laws. So, BHO and the Leftists Juice Box Mafia have given them a very clear data point of what the market will bear, one they never could have hoped to achieve absent the legal compulsion.

    Does anyone imagine that, after seeing when people are willing to pay, that the insurance companies would drop their prices back to pre-Obamacare rates if we ever actually succeed in making this monstrosity of a law go away? Not just no, but Hell, No!

  51. Anon E. Moose says:

    Close the tag. I actually write tags as a pair first, then put whatever I want to tag between them.

  52. Anon E. Moose says:

    OK, maybe

    that’s not the tag.

  53. Anon E. Moose says:

    One last time…

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  55. joyce says:

    Moose,
    Yes, it’s the result of bad laws, but not unintended. Bad for the average person, good for the special interest(s). However, there’s countless other laws pre-Obamacare that already jacked up prices… this is just another one in a very long line.

  56. anon (the good one) says:

    @CNBCSportsBiz: JUST IN: Mercedes-Benz USA ceases sponsorship of the Clippers effective immediately.

  57. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    [56] pain

    The administration is hell bent on blocking inversions and DoJ and/or FTC are gonna fight this one tooth and nail. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Exon-Florio issues raised and Pfizer get an adverse CFIUS ruling.

    Ironically, as the article points out, that will fuel a rush to the exits.

  58. Michael says:

    Yes, it has been building and wage inflation will follow. You can’t keep raising costs, and at the same time, leave out the wages. You can only do that for so long until wages rise or you hit deflation. Our govt would never allow for deflation, so it is inevitable that wages will soon start their climb.

    joyce says:
    April 28, 2014 at 3:26 pm
    Plenty of inflation in healthcare, education, and the stock market… not so much in wages. Hmm, where have I heard that before, oh yeah we’ve been saying that for years.

  59. Michael says:

    59- seriously, this whole process sucks. The guys that are sitting there saying, it’s not my fault, it’s legal, should be shot. If every worker sent their money overseas to avoid taxes, these corporate goons would be up in arms. Too bad the system is rigged vs the worker, the worker has no choice but to pay the taxes, they automatically take it out of the check. The worker doesn’t get the option of taking their profit overseas in the name of cheating the system, but it’s ok, it’s legal. Legal to whom?

  60. Michael says:

    61- Put it this way, if that tax law was put before the people and voted upon, you know it would be voted down. So how do we get stuck with so many laws that the avg American would not support? Oh that’s right, our country had a coup in which corporate goons hijacked the u.s. Govt for their own well being. Best part, they did it legally!!! Gotta love it

  61. Michael says:

    60- Plus, the u.s. Govt has a ton of debt it wants to erase through inflation. Remember, wage inflation means more tax money available to pay/erase the debt.

  62. Michael says:

    63- just like the govt wins every time someone wins the lottery, the govt also wins every time someone is given a raise. Ever think of the min wage law as a way for govt to increase tax revenue?

  63. Michael says:

    64- I was not meaning this in a positive way either.

  64. Ragnar says:

    I wonder how long the Nobel team waits to give Piketty his prize. He’s addressing the topic and giving the answer that the media and mainstream intellectuals crave. At this pace, they’ll break tradition and give it to him mid-year, as a sort of emergency award, even more accelerated than Obama’s. The New York times put out a piece on this guy, their intellectual dreamboat, this weekend.

    Anyway, the fastest way to reduce income inequality would be for the Fed to let the stock, bond, and real estate markets crash again. President wouldn’t even need Congress to help.

  65. joyce says:

    It’s going on almost two decades. Try again…

    10.Michael says:
    April 28, 2014 at 5:48 pm
    Yes, it has been building and wage inflation will follow. You can’t keep raising costs, and at the same time, leave out the wages. You can only do that for so long until wages rise or you hit deflation. Our govt would never allow for deflation, so it is inevitable that wages will soon start their climb.

    joyce says:
    April 28, 2014 at 3:26 pm
    Plenty of inflation in healthcare, education, and the stock market… not so much in wages. Hmm, where have I heard that before, oh yeah we’ve been saying that for years.

  66. joyce says:

    Every single tax is paid for by individuals.

    11.Michael says:
    April 28, 2014 at 5:58 pm
    59- seriously, this whole process sucks. The guys that are sitting there saying, it’s not my fault, it’s legal, should be shot. If every worker sent their money overseas to avoid taxes, these corporate goons would be up in arms. Too bad the system is rigged vs the worker, the worker has no choice but to pay the taxes, they automatically take it out of the check. The worker doesn’t get the option of taking their profit overseas in the name of cheating the system, but it’s ok, it’s legal. Legal to whom?

  67. joyce says:

    Why do we allow a group of individuals, ANY group, to control the lives of others?

    12.Michael says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:01 pm
    61- Put it this way, if that tax law was put before the people and voted upon, you know it would be voted down. So how do we get stuck with so many laws that the avg American would not support? Oh that’s right, our country had a coup in which corporate goons hijacked the u.s. Govt for their own well being. Best part, they did it legally!!! Gotta love it

  68. joyce says:

    But Ragnar, what would happen to Michael’s RE holdings?

    16.Ragnar says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:15 pm

    Anyway, the fastest way to reduce income inequality would be for the Fed to let the stock, bond, and real estate markets crash again. President wouldn’t even need Congress to help.

  69. Beginning to count on being able to come here every afternoon to witness Michael’s mental car crash.

  70. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    [71] clot

    And I thought I got him to relent. How naive of me!

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