Friday, October 8, 2010

The worst kind of ignorance

There are those who don’t know and those who don’t know they don’t know.
John Kenneth Galbraith

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A wave of government layoffs in September outpaced weak hiring in the private sector, pushing down the nation's payrolls by a net total of 95,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent last month, the Labor Department said Friday. The jobless rate has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 straight months, the longest stretch since the 1930s.  http://finance.yahoo.com/

12:30 pm : The stock market remains near session highs into mid-day, which also represent multi-month highs for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. At current levels, the S&P 500 is up 1.5% on the week and up 4.3% year to date. http://finance.yahoo.com

This is awful news about unemployment.  The reported value is U3 and the real unemployment is close to 17% (U6).  U6 includes U3, plus discouraged workers,  who are those that work part time but want a full time position, plus marginally attached workers.

If we use the same approach to the ‘crisis’ as the 1930’s, why would we expect to get different results?  I am beginning to think that this is purposeful.

A typical Roosevelt day according to the {Democratic Republican} press. Cartoon by John Cook from Life, October 1935.

So today’s question is with bad news about unemployment, why the the markets rising?  The recent history shows a different impact of unemployment reports.  Maybe some intervention?

http://seekingalpha.com/

The worst kind of ignorance ain’t what ya don’t know, it’s what ya know that ain’t so.

Will Rogers

A prosperity windshield sticker that can easily be kept up to date. Cartoon from Life, July 1933.

2 comments:

  1. I would have to read most of my collection to be certain, but if I recall correctly, the first attribution for this aphorism is to Henry Wheeler Shaw (Josh Billings). 'Twould be a pity if Twain and Rogers plagiarized; perhaps their quotes were original?

    With respect to Ellison's post, the marine biologist Raymond Gilmore once said, "The suspension of judgment is the highest exercise in intellectual discipline."

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  2. Thank you for the input. A fellow admirer of quotations. Will check on Shaw attribution. . Amazing that a 5 year old post attracts attention.

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You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.

Harlan Ellison