by Jack Lee
For many months government spokespeople have been assuring us inflation is well under control, however consumers don’t believe it. Many of them tightly manage their family budget and they’re running short of money at the end of the month and forced to make even more compromises. A non-government study showed food prices spiked 4% in May, one of the largest jumps on record. Energy prices shot up 3.3% in the same month and pump prices are nearly 25% higher than a year ago.
Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, insists these sharp rises will prove transitory and will not spiral into a broader price increases across the economy. Bernanke puts a spin on the bad numbers and said our core producer prices, which strip out food and energy, climbed just .2% in the month of May.
In other areas of our economy unemployment remains at dangerously high levels. No president has ever been re-elected when unemployment was above 7%. Unemployment was 9.1% in May. This does not reflect those millions who are under employed and forced to work in jobs for which they are overly qualified. It also does not reflect those who have dropped off the tracking charts because they have stopped looking for work.
Ever since the Kennedy administration when the spin doctors first arrived, government accountants have been trying to use formulary that will put numbers in the best possible light. Too many administrations had their people crunching the numbers in a feeble attempt to show the upside and this attempt at fooling the public has become their own end.
They have grown so disenfranchised from the reality we are suffering and frustration that these numbers represent, that they cannot or will not own up to what’s really happening. An important takeaway point here is that you can’t trust the “official” government numbers on unemployment, or inflation or almost anything within economic data. So, if you can’t figure out why things don’t seem to be looking that much better in spite of all the happy talk coming out of Washington, take some solace, it’s not you! The problem is so bad that the government is actually hiding from it, and that’s the reality of the Obama Administration that has had 30 months of continuous failure.
Recently President Obama told a number of half truths and outright lies to the autoworkers, but if his administration was on track he wouldn’t have to work so hard to make himself look good. He was shredded by the Washington Post for his deception and they’ve been one of his most ardent admirers up till now.
And finally some numbers you really should know before you vote for president next year:
The federal government’s financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA Today analysis shows.
The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings the total of financial promises not paid for to a record $61.6 trillion. This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Medicare alone took on $1.8 trillion in new liabilities, more than the record deficit, prompting heated debate between Congress and the White House over lifting the debt ceiling.
Social Security added $1.4 trillion in obligations, partly reflecting longer life expectancies.
The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $534,000 per household.
That’s more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt.
The government has also promised pension and health benefits worth more than $700,000 per retired civil servant. The pension fund’s key asset: federal IOUs.
USA Today calculated federal finances based on standard accounting rules since 2004 using data from the Medicare and Social Security annual reports and the little-known audited financial report of the federal government.
Source: Writer Dennis Cauchon, “U.S. Funding for Future Promises Lags by Trillions,” USA Today, June 7, 2011.
I am just about to cycle down to Safeway – last night they had whole chickens on sale for 99 cents a pound, but we didn’t have enough room in our bike basket. We like to cook them whole and we usually get a couple of meals and scraps for the dogs.
My father in law works for the government (contractor). He says we should start growing our own food – that kind of scared the crap out of me, my father in law has never been wrong in his predictions. And he’s always so calm and grim! So, this past winter I tried potatoes, just as an experiment, and hey, last night I dug up a nice little pile of potatoes! Next year I am going to try winter wheat – just need to level a patch in the yard, wheat does well in poor soil.
Hey Jack, thanks for the offer, I will hold you to it, as soon as I get some of these irons out of my fire.