Feeling Depressed?

Your dollars have turned to doughnuts

© Bryan Zepp Jamieson
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com/Sociology/depression07.htm
7/11/07

I spotted a news story today that former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona had accused the administration of trying “to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.” I passed the story along with the notation, “Oh, now THERE’S a shocker!” This administration’s delight in making all functions of government subordinate to the political imperatives of the Republican Party is no longer disputed by any impartial observer.

The story of the admin changing, burying, or flat-out lying about everything from global warming to evolution is well known. Likewise their attempts to politicize the courts, the military, and the media.

But in politics, pocketbook issues are paramount. People vote with their wallets. So if you think this admin tries to control science and justice, just imagine what they do about information concerning the state of the American economy!

Well, it doesn’t take much imagination. Put in a nutshell, they lie their heads off about nearly every facet of the American economy. I’ve detailed in several columns how the unemployment numbers are cooked (the REAL indicator is that of the percentage of Americans eligible for the labor force who are actually working, and that suggests that the true unemployment number is close to 11%).

The other big lie is that about inflation. Supposedly, the consumer price index, the benchmark of the cost of living, is up a modest 22% since January 1, 2000, representing an annualized gain of about 2.8%. Even as outfits like CNN and CNBC, sad remnants of America’s free press, trumpet the triumph of capitalism, a Dow Jones that is at 13,500 (up about 16% since the start of 2000, which means that in real dollars it has lost about 6% over seven years), they are carefully quiet about the changes in commodities that affect the daily lives of nearly everyone in America, and soft pedal the vast slump the dollar has taken in relation to other currencies.

When the Euro was introduced in 1999 as an actual currency, it was worth about 85 cents US. As late as January 2002 it was still only worth 87½ cents. Now it trades for $1.375, an increase of 62%. Put another way, even without factoring in inflation, the dollar has dropped against the Euro by over 40%. The British Pound has shown similar increases (from $1.35 to $2.02) along with the Canadian Loonie (65 cents to 95 cents). And now, the dollar appears to be in a near-state of free fall on the open market as investors back away from what the Times of London recently called “those American crazies”.

A annualized inflation rate of 5.5% (which is the amount the actual value of the dollar is dropping) is considered unhealthy, and when combined with an 11% unemployment rate, is known by the technical term of “recession.” When it continues for seven years, even though the annual symptoms are mild compared to a depression, it’s considered a depression just because of its persistence.

Folks, America has been in a Depression basically since the day Putsch stole office. Does that explain why you haven’t felt too good about your job and your income lately?

I came across a website that had carefully sussed out the prices of various commodities, using January 2000 as a base line and taking us up to April 30th of this year. The editorial and table were provided by Mark J. Lundeen who, while something of a Gold Bug, is meticulous about his research.

So: the Consumer Price Index is up 22%, and the international value of the dollar is down 40%. (The low CPI can be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that consumers don’t have much money to spend, and when nobody can afford to buy, that keeps prices down. Unfortunately, it kinda defeats the purpose of having an economy).

Lundeen lists the price changes of various other items. He lists items that haven’t kept up with the consumer price index, such as the Dow Jones, Transportation stocks, NASDAQ, coffee and cotton. It’s a relatively short list.

Beef, in the form of cattle, is up 34%. Live pork is up 36.1%. OJ is up 74.3%. Corn is up 82.8%. Wheat has more than doubled, up 106.5%, and cocoa is up 117.7%. If you’re wondering why your grocery bill has jumped so much, that explains it in part.

Not surprisingly, consumer debt is up 75.5% over that same period, and the table doesn’t measure the impact of the huge increase in interest rates that have occurred as a result of deregulation. Tony Soprano would be embarrassed to charge the type of vig the major credit card companies demand, and those check-cashing places often hit 500% APR on their loans. Nice work if you can get it. All it requires is unlimited greed and the morals of a snake.

Housing has more than doubled in fake dollar value, although of course it’s on its way back down from being nearly triple what it was in 2000. But in the wake of the housing bubble, millions are caught in adjustable rate mortgages that have seen monthly payments double over a period of months, causing many to lose their homes. At least three million have lost their homes, another sort of stat often associated with economic depression.

You’ve probably noticed the price of gasoline. It’s one thing to say that oil has increased in cost by 163% since the turn of the century, but gasoline has increased a staggering 234%. Someone’s getting rich, and here’s a hint: it ain’t us. Fuel oil is up a modest 181% in the same period, so it only costs double to heat your home, but no worries because the bank foreclosed last week!

Metals and precious metals are often considered barometers of a economic system. Going by that standard, we’re in even worse trouble: steel is up 282%, copper is up 309%, gold is up 133%, and silver is up 146%. If you are a gold bug, then you might consider the rate of inflation to be only about 18% per year! Happy days are here again!

It’s one thing to say the cost of living has gone up only 22%, but it’s a bit hard to swallow when nearly anything you are likely to buy any time soon has increased by at least four times that, and sometimes more than ten times that.

So next time some smarmy son of a bitch from the administration comes on the news shows of our weak and bought-out media, and tells you how good you’ve got it in the economic miracle of capitalism, write him, and write the station he appeared on, and cc your congressional reps, and tell him, “You fucking liar.”

And pass along the list from http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/lundeen050807.html

Let ‘em know you know the truth, and you aren’t buying their lies any more.