US government methods for calculating unemployment and inflation are ridiculous. No truth. (and I would guess other governments do the same)

Not to mention the obvious question any self-respecting person would ask - "how can you print money out of thin air and not have serious adverse effects? Who benefits from this and who gets hurt" Answer: you cant print without adverse effects...and re: who benefits...that's a tough one, hmmmm....?

Great point re: happy families. If you go back to the 1950's in US, typical family had Dad working 40 hours/week. Now Dad works 47 hours/week and Mom also works 47 hours/week. And the bottom line is they get the same life - home, car, food, some entertainment. Why?-real inflation caused by money printing. Again, who is hurt? The average person. Again, who benefits? Hmmm...who could that be...perhaps Goldman Sachs...maybe Morgan Stanley...big government contractors too...politicians as well...? I dont know really....maybe i'm just joking around. Good fun eh?!

Why?-real inflation caused by money printing.

Oh, please. Wages have been falling since 1970, as the "social contract" gets erased and unions are destroyed. CEOs used to earn a reasonable multiple of the average worker in the company. Now they earn orders of magnitude more -- in some cases, more in a single hour, then two middle-class people earn in a year.

More than 90% of the income gains since 2008 have gone to the richest people in America -- the top 1% and top .1%. Why have the upper income people done spectacularly well, and everybody else has done so badly, if it's the fault of inflation?

There's a much simpler explanation: it's redistribution of wealth on a massive national scale. The increase in corporate profits tracks exactly the fall in hourly wages. Nothing at all to do with inflation.

@jrd I'm in agreement with you re: redistribution of wealth.

But, for starters, there never has been a social contract...anywhere...ever...in the history of mankind. It's always been a world where money and power rule, with the big companies extracting as much from workers as possible.

But to the extent that CEOs and upper level executives are making more than before, your point holds. But I would guess that if you look at my example from the 50's vs now, that amount doesn't account for the bulk of the difference.

I'm in agreement on point of redistribution of wealth...and money printing is a part of that equation. Ill leave it up to whomever is doing the math to assess what factors contribute to what level. But the point/question can't be ignored by any self respecting thinker: why print money out of thin air? When I say inflation...I don't mean some benign after effect of the varied elements of "whatever happened this year to prices"...I'm referring to what has been known for centuries...that inflation is litrerally caused by money printing...and that is a form of wealth resistrubution because some benefit big time and others are hurt.

But I'll leave the various forms of monetary theft/power grabbing to those who want to live that life. ..I've got a movie to make dammit! So I drop my pen and pick back up my hacked GH2.

But, for starters, there never has been a social contract...anywhere...ever...in the history of mankind. It's always been a world where money and power rule, with the big companies extracting as much from workers as possible.

If you mean there's never been some sort of documentary evidence, a notarized contract in a vault somewhere, then yes. But the socalled "American Dream" is precisely a social contract long revered.

Also, many top economist feel this unemployment issue is the real problem with the US economy, not the debt crisis (tm).

Emphasis on "Was" right? :)

Yep. Now I live in your future :-)

@bwhitz

A business is a closed system: if the owners pay workers less because the owners want more of the pie, there's no way the workers can make up the difference, except by getting a second job. And that's exactly what's been happening over the last 30+ years -- except you can't keep up with a 2nd job either.

Similarly, the tax system, as rigged by the top 1%, allows for spectacular growth in wealth for those who earn most of their money passively, through capital gains, at the same time infrastructure investment, R&D and social services which benefit the poor and middle class are cut, to make up for the lost tax revenue, Again, another form of wealth re-distribution, because arranging our affairs way makes society as a whole, poorer, while a few individuals get much richer.

When you get business owners complaining to reporters that they can't find competent workers, despite high unemployment, you have a moment of sympathy. But only a moment, because then you find out they want to hire welders with high skills for $10 an hour -- and the thought of paying any more is positively Communistic. Time was, this would be a union job, and such outrages would not possible. Again, re-distribution of wealth.