The Dow lost 323 points (3.15%) today. Why? There are troubles in Europe for sure and the Euro is at an all-time low. China is making the usual strange noises that get everyone nervous. But the main culprit is the absolutely terrible employment report released today.
Economists had expected a 515,000 job increase and the numbers came in at a disappointing 431,000 but that's not the whole story. The private sector eked out a few new positions but the census bureau added 411,000 temporary workers which obviously accounts for nearly the entire 431,000 increase. At this rate, it will take more than 5 years to get back to normal unemployment levels around 5%, but we won't have another census for 10 years so we can't count on help from that quarter again soon.
So the employment data and its ramifications are bad enough already but what has me hopping mad is the PICUS's unfortunately predictable behavior. Earlier this week, Obama and his head henchman Biden were running around presaging Friday's report by saying things like "boy are these numbers going to look good." As late as today, the PICUS crowed about "job growth five months in a row" or some such drivel.
Does the PICUS believe that everyone else is an idiot? Wall Street saw through this charade and rewarded us with a precipitous market decline. Europe is laughing at us. China must be thinking that Americans are really bad at math. Sadly, our population isn't simply debunking all this lunacy, they are living the reality.
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