517K New Jobs added. Unemployment at 50 year low. Economy is humming along.

@Graylight look at shelves, Look at prices, look at potential employers, look at everything around you. Step away from politics for a second and open your eyes. We are seriously close to being in a really bad shape.

@Notanymore And why is that? Hard to tell when Corporate America has seen record earnings during this particularly difficult inflation. Corporate profits in the nonfinancial sector hit a record high of $2.08 trillion in the third quarter even as 40-year-high inflation continues to squeeze American consumers.

Just a smattering of the worst offender?
Natural gas company EQT Corp.
Merck
Biogen
Hess
Pioneer Natural Resources
AutoZone
Hostess

This list is legion. Prices are rising due to Good Ol' American Greed. There are other reasons, too, but this is a main one. Employment's doing just fine, with unemployment dropping steadily. If you want to stop the downward spiral of America, then Americans need to stop treating the US Capitol like a monkey house and install responsible, seasoned and decent humans.

@Graylight underemployment is fast on the rise with far more "minimum wage" jobs being taken by people that want to support a family flipping burgers and manufacturing being dominated by unfair trade with multiple hostile nations.

@Notanymore Potential employers added 517,000 jobs in January. I assume this is a good thing even in your world? And the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since 1969. Do you think that is a good thing, or a bad thing? It is lower than anything Trump accomplished, and he was worshiped by his base for it. Do you think Biden and the Democrats deserve even a smidgeon of praise?

@windinhishair okay. Let's you and I not discuss Trump. He isn't president and hasn't been president in years. I'm not political, so don't come at me with your donkey elephant shit. Now tell me friend, what's the difference in unemployment and underemployment?

@Notanymore much of our workforce is fat, lazy and stupid. These are the main reasons corporations moved jobs away from the USA. With the renewal of jobs here, they are literally carving out positions for these technically lacking lazy individuals. Sweep the floor, stand in front of a machine.

@BackyardShaman free money for the lazy is a great way for the government to keep people like that

@Notanymore look at profit margins of all those companies, that have shrunken their products and raised their pricing.
Add to that a shrunken work force, much of which has a poor work ethic, and all the national disasters that have piled up in the places that grow our food...higher prices are inevitable.

@Notanymore As you know, underemployment is people employed in jobs below their skill set, or for fewer hours than they wish. Do you have a point?

@windinhishair yes. If the majority of "new" jobs that you speak of is at Walmart, McDonald's or something in the service industry, it's not going to be enough to sustain a family, without government assistance. Either way, it isn't enough to stabilize a failing economy.

@Notanymore propaganda, many are in industrial settings, however if people are untrainable, they won’t make tons of money.

@Notanymore Please provide your "data" showing that the majority of new jobs are in the service industry and are low-paying jobs that aren't enough to sustain a family.

What lazy people are getting free money, while the unemployment rate goes down and more people are employed?

Wouldn't more jobs mean more choice of jobs?

So in your eyes, more people employed and the lowest unemployment rate in decades means the economy is failing?

@Notanymore [quote]The leisure and hospitality sector led January's payroll gains, adding 128,000 jobs, followed by professional and business services with 82,000 and health care with 79,000. The payroll gains were padded by a large gain in government jobs, partly due to an end to a strike at the University of California that had seen 48,000 walk off the job.[/quote]

Do professional and health care job gains show a tanking economy?

@windinhishair wait and see....

@Notanymore So in other words, you have no facts or data. Just a feeling. Got it.

@Notanymore look at propaganda and panic 🤡

@Notanymore 😂😂 sorry even though I disagree something about your response is hilarious.

@windinhishair @BackyardShaman to my original statement. Look around. It's quite obvious if you cut your political umbilical blinders. As far as panic, nah. Whatever comes I'm prepared more than most. I really honestly hope that things will get better. I really do. But I'm not seeing it.

@BackyardShaman I openly welcome disagreements.

@Notanymore There are definitely problem areas, inflation being the big one. But low unemployment is a big deal and should be appreciated. More people in the work force is a good thing, particularly so coming out of a global pandemic.

I'm always prepared for what might happen.

@windinhishair I'm very happy that you're prepared and I'm very hopeful, if extremely pessimistic, for a way out of our clusterfuck of an economy. Hopefully we can keep our discord to verbally fighting over idiot politicians and not fist fights over rice and beans.

@Notanymore Counting jobs is misleading. In Norway we count årsverk (literally year's work), generally reckoned to be about 1750 hours per year. That way it is a bit easier to compare without considering how many such jobs are part time and how many full time.

My point is that 517 000 jobs could be 517 000 årsverk or if they were all only ten hours a week then just 51 700 årsverk.

Edit: Idiot, its 517 000 * (10 / 37.5) = 138 000 not 517 000 / 10 = 51 700. But think everyone could get the point anyway.

@ninalanyon interesting comparison.

@Notanymore Preparation for me includes growing most of my fruit and vegetables, harvesting firewood sustainably and using a low-emission Norwegian woodstove for most of my heat, using very little fossil fuel, keeping financial resources in multiple areas, and learning as much as possible to do things myself. I'm competent with plumbing, electrical, masonry, roofing, woodworking, etc. so I can do most things myself as issues come up.

@windinhishair that's awesome. We aren't that much different. I've had a hell of a time trying to garden, but I've learned a ton over the years about wild edibles and Eden gardening. I also force myself to learn and practice harvesting fish and game, but my primary focus is always having food handy, either procured or purchased. I also have stockpile caches at random spots and maintain my spot of woods to grow primarily firewood (right now I'm struggling in a fight with sycamores, but have a few available firewood spots with good locust and walnut, which are sustainable.). I do my own maintenance, as that's how I was raised. Always looking for tips and tricks though. Feel free to share.