Have you heard the latest "explanation" for unemployment??

[SoCalDem]

Swallow whatever you are drinking...


Washington Journal guest from the AEI just said.. (paraphrasing)

"Well of course there are fewer people in the labor force , becasue of the aging of America, and the fact that so many people have saved so much money and are so well prepared for retirement, that they have CHOSEN to leave the workforce, and take it easy "..


What color is the sky in their universe:)

[JuniorPlankton]

1. Plus, they are making

so much money on E-bay!

Fucking whores (or idiots)!

:mad:

[nickinSTL]

2. Right,

My 33 year old fiancee has CHOSEN not to work for the last 3 years because she's too OLD! :mad:

@ssholes!

[foreigncorrespondent]

3. God!!!

These people will say just about anything. My advice to them is to talk to my partner who has been unemployed since the dot com crash in 2000, and is now looking at going back to school to get qualified in a job that won't be outsourced!

Yeah she was prepared all right. That explains why we haven't the money to see each other a lot more often than we do. It has now been over a year since we last saw one another.

Thanks for posting this SoCal. :)

[calico1]

4. Wow, I didn't know that!

So now admit it! How many of you DU'ers are really multi millionaries? :eyes:

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Gotta Be 90 or 95%, Huh?

This is actually a backward argument. If people are leaving the workforce voluntarily, in any statistically significant proportion, the number of jobs opening would be greater than the number of people looking for a job. Therefore, this phenomenon would be MORE likely to drive unemployment DOWN!

This guy is obviously a koolaid drinker.
The Professor

[calico1]

11. Exactly. If that many people were

volunarily leaving the workforce it would create a demand for employees. Job hunters would be in positions to seek better jobs, higher pay, and probably choose between several good job offers. This is how it works when there is a labor shortage.

[JHB]

16. His Bio

More proof that today's "ivory tower pointy-heads" have parked their tailbones in "think" tanks, not academe.

http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.26/scholar.asp

Kevin A. Hassett is Director of Economic Policy Studies and Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Before joining AEI, Dr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. He was the chief economic advisor to John McCain during the 2000 primaries. He has also served as a policy consultant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury during both the former Bush and Clinton administrations. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Hassett is a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation's Dynamic Scoring Advisory Panel. He is the author, coauthor or editor of six books on economics and economic policy. He has published scholarly articles in the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Public Economics, and many other professional journals. His popular writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic Monthly, USA Today, the Washington Post, and numerous other outlets. His economic commentaries are regularly aired on radio and television including recent appearances on the Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Hardball, Moneyline and Power Lunch.

Professional Experience
-Senior economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1995-1997
-Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1992-1995
-Associate professor, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 1993-1994
-Assistant professor, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 1989-1993

Education
Ph.D., economics, University of Pennsylvania
B.A., with honors, economics, Swarthmore College

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Thanks, But Not Meaningful

If he has logic this distorted, his credentials and background just prove he really doesn't know much and has learned little except how to work the system to get more presitigious jobs than he deserves.

Look, any economist who takes a position at AEI is already manifesting an ignorance of how things really work in the macroeconomy. The statement he made amplifies that fully.

I don't care where he went to school or who he worked for. If he was McCain's economic advisor, then McCain chose poorly. If he worked for the Fed, then they chose poorly. And if U of P gave this guy a Ph.D., then THEY chose poorly.
The Professor

[SoCalDem]

18. Yeppers.. That's what makes guys like this so dangerous

They "appear" to be well-educated, well-groomed, well-spoken, yet they emit nothing but sewage whenever they speak..

They use their aura of intellectual acuity to twist thoughts and words, so that ordinary people just pick bits and pieces of what they say, and wrap it around what Rush and Sean tell them..and whaddayaknow, they think they have figured oout all our problems...The DemoncRATS are to blame:grr:

[enki23]

21. aren't those called "retirees?"

and don't they skip over those when calculating the unemployment figures?

EDIT: meant this one to be attached to the main thread. ah well.

[TahitiNut]

19. It's pretty awesome that such a claim ...

... could issue forth from the mouth of anyone with any kind of grounding in economics ... or logic, for that matter. In a rational world, I'd expect to see him led away in a verrrry long-sleeved garment after such a remark.

I guess it's just not possible to "insult the intelligence" of the public any more. :shrug:

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Astutely Observed

Once again.
The Professor

[SoCalDem]

24. You are right.. Their boldness is stunning...

They don't even TRY to couch their words.. I cannot imagine those words coming out of his mouth...with a straight face..

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yeah. Life is cushy for the bottom 98% in the good ol US of A

:eyes:

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. Wonder how long it took AEI to think that one up? That think tank must be

working over-time "thinking" up excuses! Geezuskrist! They're getting desperate. :eyes:

[rooboy]

7. That rivals the line from the Ayn Rand idiot lI heard last week...

who said it would be best if the remaining flu vaccine was priced according to demand, even if each dose ended up costing $100,000.

These people get a hard-on whenever their logic makes them seem hard-hearted. To them it's an indication that they have mastered thought over emotion.

[SoCalDem]

9. Kevin Hassett is the guy's name..

What an ASS...

I am surprised he hasn't screwed himself into the floor.. he's spinning like a top

[flobee1kenobi]

10. If anyone truly believes that

We are really in trouble!
The people that have been laid off or outsourced absolutely cannot take the cut in pay that comes from accepting ANY job just for an income. Therefor, additional income is needed on top of the job they got just to survive=2 jobs. This gives you a rise in employment rates, but that figure is not entirely truthful in regards to the income levels. Anyone who says the replacement of 20 tech and manufacturing jobs being replaced by 30 jobs at Wal-Mart as progress needs to have their head examined

[SoCalDem]

13. A caller just said that a lot of our problem is the fact that Heinz

is importing ALL THAT mustard from Mexico :eyes:..

I tell ya.. they have flipped ot completely

[oldlady]

12. yop!

but, it's not just e-bay. it's the state lotteries, reality and game shows. That education thing * was talking about...well, it really pays off on Jeopardy! Maybe, these people who make the reality we all study have plans that we'll all make millions starring on Survivor and home-makeover shows with laborers coming from Mexico to re-do our cribs. yeah, that's the plan!

[Strawman]

14. So that's it

I was just talking to a friend the other day who has been out of work in the IT field for 18 out of the last 21 months. Maybe he also chose to dig trenches out in the cold for little pay and no benefits. I can hear it now: "Many full-time middle wage workers have chosen alternative work environments, like working outdoors, or at Walmart or Home Depot. They are tired of the button downed world of corporate America. They like the flexibility of uncertain work hours or a part-time schedule, even for significantly less pay. Many with smaller incomes have been able to further maximize their earnings by choosing to opt out rather than pay for expensive medical benefits some employers make available for employees and their families. Others have chosen to sell off their homes, preferring more liquidity in their assets, which they don't mind seeing shrink. It's a fair trade off for all the new freedoms and choices they find in today's workplace. Indeed we're seeing a whole new array of choices available to your average working person in America."

I think every one of these AEI/Heritage/Cato bow-tie wearing RW think tank assholes should be FORCED to do what Barbara Ehrenreich did in Nickel and Dimed. Get a real job and see what it's like for the working poor.

[undergroundpanther]

20. I wish

I wish as a REQUIREMENT for running for any position in public office from president to mayor that the people running for office be forced to live only on welfare for 2 years,after that a minimum wage shit job for 3 years without ANY help or wealth helping out from any other sources parents etc,let them be even barred from getting food or help with bills from relatives/friends let them "stand on their own two feet and live like the other half lives for real"...Than maybe I'd notice changes in their"analysis"of the economy after that.

In my opinion no one has the right to become so obscenely rich they can afford to isolate in a think tank,lose empathy for the poor.Either we strive twords equality and fairness or we go the other way with delusions of elitism feudalism and oligarchy.
We have to limit some people's financial power.It sadly has become taboo in our culture to think of financial fairness and generosity is seen as "weakness" As long as people insist caring for the poor,treating workers well,no consolidating power as weak,well we will be oppressed by the powerful until we stop letting them think they deserve power at our expense.
The choice for this country is really that stark.The wealthy won't stop taking advantage of the desperation of poor/working/middle class people(cheap labor)until we stop letting them feel 'entitled' stop letting them live isolated from reality by wealth,disconnected from the realities of the hardship that exists for 97% or so of the people on Earth.Why do we suffer so these few rich pigs can buy everything and everyone they want..Bite the hand that feeds make it bleed than maybe we will get health care,our rights back,and the government will serve the people instead of money.

[doc03]

15. Here's one I heard from a Freeper on the radio last week about Iraq

We knew since we drove Bin Laden out of Afghanistan that Iraq would open their boarders to the terrorists. So, we had to go in to prevent a another Taliban style regime in Iraq.

[chefgirl]

26. My favorite on C-Span

This was about a week ago also.
Some mouthbreather actually said we need to lower our wages in this country or we will never be able to be competitive in a global market!! :wow:

Kind of makes a person re-think the idea of people being required to take a test before being permitted to vote. Sheesh!

-chef-

[camero]

23. Another "lucky ducky" comment

since they say we don't pay taxes either. Idiots.

[Jacobin]

25. So, let me get this straight:

So many people have retired as millionaires (and then SIGNED UP FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS) that there are fewer jobs and fewer jobs are needed?

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!