What Inflation?
As the Dowbrigade has been noting for some time now, it is clear that the Federal Office of Management and Budget has been cooking the nation’s books for years.
We noted almost four years ago that prices at the pumps, checkout counters, showrooms and e-Sites have been going up a lot faster than the officially recognized 3-4% per year. We wrote then,
Although we don’t have an advanced degree in economics, it is obvious to any fool with half a brain and less than a million dollars to spend that prices in the US are rising faster than the officially reported 1.1%. Gasoline is almost two dollars a gallon, the T just went up 25%, we spend more at the supermarket every week (when did milk get so expensive?) and the hidden surcharges and stealth fees in our bills are gutting our budget every month. (Dowbrigade, March 2004)
Now, although we still don’t have an advanced degree in economics, we DID take courses in the field as an undergrad AND as a grad student, as we have long been convinced that no one can really hope to understand what’s going on in the modern world without a sound understanding of basic economic principles.
Despite that fact, and the intuitive certainty that some statistical prestidigitation was taking place, we didn’t have a clue as to the actual mechanisms being employed until we read Kevin Phillips article Hard Numbers: The Economy is Worse than you Think, from the current issue of Harper’s Magazine. He explains, in language anyone with a sound understanding of basic economic principles can understand, the different statistical scams that successive administrations have instituted to downplay inflation and unemployment, both of which, according to a number of neutral economists, are actually hovering between 8 and 10%.
Ever since the 1960s, Washington has gulled its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics, the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured.
The effect has been to create a false sense of economic achievement and rectitude, allowing us to maintain artificially low interest rates, massive government borrowing, and a dangerous reliance on mortgage and financial debt even as real economic growth has been slower than claimed.
The scams range from computing the value of homes by asking homeowners to estimate how much rent they could charge rather than taking real estate market rates (rents rose half as fast as house prices over the past decade) to leaving people who had “given up looking for work” from the unemployment statistics.
Meanwhile, the current elephant in the living room is credit card debt. As Americans absorb the increases at the gas station and in the supermarkets, they are not adjusting their spending accordingly – they are accumulating the resulting monthly deficits on their credit cards. The limits on these cards, lifted regularly during the boom times, will eventually be reached, and the resultant insolvencies will be a devastating one-two punch to ordinary citizens already reeling from depreciation and or loss of homes and investment portfolios.
Most of those affected are still in denial, or hoping that the empty bank accounts at the end of the months are temporary abberrations soon to disappear. But they have a nagging feeling bogging down their brains which is reflected in the historically low consumer confidence numbers being reported in the past few weeks. What happens when millions of cards start popping back out of ATM’s or being refused at Wal-Mart or Piggly Wiggly is anybody’s guess, but it isn’t going to be pretty.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
In the novel Deadly Unna written by Phillip Gwynne explores the two sides of a white and Aboriginal community split down the centre and put in their own towns with racism a huge issue. There are always two sides of a story and this essay will go through both starting with the town of Port.
Port, a small town with a small population. The community is white and the residences go about their business everyday like everybody ells. Except in this town racism has unfortunately dominated and has become accustomed throughout the town. The issues that the aboriginals have to put up with are thanks to the town as a hole, so here are just a few views expressed by the residences of Port
Gary Black, the novel’s main character respects and defends the Aboriginal community even when that means he will be disliked by his friends and family. He is known to be on good speaking terms with a few of the aboriginals in the community.
Conversely, Gary’s father Bob is usually drunk and occasionally a violent man, he has a family and spends most his time in the pub. He is known to be violent and discriminative towards the Aboriginal community, something that no one has a problem with.
A good football coach Arks has a team made up of mostly Aboriginals and without them their would be no team. But despite this he does not want anything to do with them and is just like the rest of the community.
Cathy a tourist from the city, she is not informed about the Aboriginal status in the community and stays her distance. She and her fellow campers have a misguided opinion of them. As an example she asks weather the Aboriginals are aloud to jump of the light house, but if they where white she wouldn’t have cared.
A little known person in port Darcy has nothing to do with the Aboriginals. He just sells maggots ( gents ) and assumes that the aboriginals have STI’s.
A good example of a racist teenager in port. Jeff is all for words and is a slob. He will be the first to shout out and abuse an Aboriginal but wont stand up for his actions.
Victor MacRae is the towns pub owner he has always been racist towards aboriginals forcing them to drink and sit in a different area from the white people. Victor shoots 3 Aboriginals and kills 2 of them.
Aboriginals as stated before a portrayed as stupid, dirty, filthy and lazy “boongs” . The way they live is told as a broken and destroyed town with no proper layout. But they actually have a normal town just like the port. They are treated as second class citizens and are forced to live in a life of racism. The rumours of the town are spread to everybody who visits or passes through. Unfortunately this view of the Aboriginals is now a way of life. Generally the towns only connection to the Aboriginals is football but they are not recognised as part of the team and there only their to fill up the places. As the Aboriginals are looked down upon any relationships formed between an aboriginal and a white person they are forced to leave the town on their own accord due to the unacceptance of their relationship.
The interaction of both the Aboriginals and white people is that of an uncomfortable one and it shows what the effect of racism has had on the community. More importantly the character of Blacky has had a previous relationship with an Aboriginal called Lovely. It shows that when she walks buy him on the beach when he is with his friends and Cathy it is expected of him to ignore and be racist to her. He hopes that she will not notice him and that proves that he is feeling like he has to do what everybody ells is doing and as said before act as if she doesn’t exist.
Nobody can speak for the Aboriginals about there circumstances
or how they view themselves because nobody but them have experienced it. But they have been pushed to breaking point and this issue needs to be solved and that just doesn’t mean port.
In conclusion I found that Phillip Gwynne is ether writing about what he sees is happening in the aboriginal and white communities. Or is just the way he views how they are treated. I get the impression that he is writing about past experiences and this book is to bring awareness to the plight of the aboriginal communities.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Thanks for the great article. The graph illustrates what some people to be ‘unemployment’ perfectly. I wonder where they got there figures for the ‘discouraged’ workers though?