Posted on 08/07/2004 3:48:28 PM PDT by The Wizard
Edited on 08/07/2004 4:02:08 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
real jobs are real jobs....
MAYBE DAVE S WILL READ YOUR VERY FINE POST AND GET THE MESSAGE
you are employed, but not counted
sw
Paul Krugman ignores the house hold numbers to lie about GWB
Optimism and acceptance of change combined with new improved business models resulting in successful enterprise with compensation to match are not very popular in some circles.
They prefer to just bitch and say it is not a real job unless you are on some sweating assembly line.
yes
My understanding is that they are jobs either with small companies or from self-started businesses.
With the Household Surven, the Bureau of Labor Dept. actually calls selected homes and interviews the people to see if people are employed or unemployed. It is much more accurate than the Payroll survey, which federal officials admit is based on an estimation.
Furthermore, I remember reading that a new job will not register under the Payroll category if it is obtained at a country with fewer than 100 employees.
Not sure if that "100" number is correct, but even if the number is "under 10 employees," the way we calculate and report employment data is seriously flawed and should be changed.
On the other hand, a person (like myself) who left a job at a big cable TV company and subsequently started a home-based business would not be counted for up to two years, according to BLS govt. web site.
My business lasted for six years and I made double what I made with the cable TV company.
I don't see why the reluctance to create a new more accurate formula to calculate employment, considering the huge move toward home based businesses over the past 10 years.
Besides, if a person is temporarily self-employed, I would think that would be relayed to the survey taker and the percentage adjusted accordingly.
Dave s. is having a confused night
That figures. I may as well not exist, save for the money the gub'mint squeezes out of me every tax day...
Well, you gotta admit, when you look at guys in suits walking around office cubicles all day, you wonder if they actually produce anything. Quite frankly, I have more respect for the guys who install kitchen cabinets than I do for paper-pushers.
On that note, remember when we used to build all kinds of stuff here? Televisions, cars, airplanes, kitchen appliances... ahh, the good old days.
Even if they dont offer an income?
Ah yes, and what is the Household Survey? It is just another Zogby type poll. How much confidence do you have in that? Its run by government bureauracrats. Do you know anyone that has ever participated in one of these Household Surveys?
Im not reluctant to do it. I just feel its counterproductive to attempt to do it several months before an election when your candidate looks better on your preferred measure than he does on the one that is normally followed by the media, investors, and the public. It squeels desparation. Bush has plenty of good things he can say about the economy. Attempting to sugar coat jobs by changing the definition at the 23rd hour is stupid.
Attempting to pressure Greenspan who is supposedly non-partisan is even dumber. Any attempt by the President or the Secretary of the Treasury to even attempt to pressure the Fed and the Chairman is likely to do the opposite just to prove his independence.
ping
The stuff with high overhead and low margins is leaving or gone.(I used to be in the steel business)
The stuff we build now, and will continue to build is tied to our higher level of skill and our work ethic and productivity. Even then it is a challenging and very competitive market.
The changes are acceptable and understood by most who know about a MFG's bottom line. Past employees of the types of businesses that are leaving, like textiles and plastics must understand that the business was not going to survive unless it could compete.
In the past few years on this forum I have witnessed comments like "we need more government intervention', and the like. Then they go on to Blame the Bush admin and parrot the lines from the DNC about "out sourcing" being out of control.
It isn't, they are not dems and I sometime wonder is they are really listening to what they say.
I understand they are hurting, but they need to translate the anger into action by retraining, relocating or accepting a lesser job as far as pay is concerned if they will not do what is necessary.
Things are always changing now, and frankly, I have needed to achieve skill level in many disciplines in order to keep the checks coming in.
I have recently retired temporarily due to the loss of use of my legs, (repairable but very costly), and I plan to pick up a new career when I can get some limited use back. I cannot go back to what I was doing.
I understand the grief and the financial and family challenges, but I cannot understand the crappy loser attitudes. It makes me angry and it comes out in my posts.
So, if I have sounded crass, I apologize. And I agree with you that skilled labor is a very honorable profession. I was a master electrician.
My motto's, are and have been that "You get in direct proportion to what you put in." And " A job not done well is not worth doing at all".
But I digress.
That would be common sense, and I agree with that.
I'll bet it happens eventually. Many of these data points are too old to be informative. I doubt Greenspan gives them too much attention. He understands where the emphasis should be.
This is a finacial media driven story and they knew the number would never match the expectations. I watched as they buit this up like a cheap novel so that they could create a major story.
That is politics. That is our crafty but dangerous media of today.
That's why I've gotten out of the timeclock-punching world and into a small business. I'm angling for either buying half of it, or eventually the whole thing if the owner wants out.
Cleaning carpet and upholstery isn't glamorous, and I'm not exactly living the life of Gates, but it's honest work, the physical part isn't bad, and people are happy when we get those stains out.
Too bad the government doesn't know my job exists... or is it?
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