Another Phony Employment Report

Paul Craig Roberts

'The New Economy' was just another hoax, like 'Iraqi weapons of mass destruction' and 'Iranian nukes.'

October 5. Today’s employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 114,000 new jobs in September and a drop in the rate of unemployment from 8.1% to 7.8%. As 114,000 new jobs are not sufficient to stay even with population growth, the drop in the unemployment rate is the result of not counting discouraged workers who are defined away as “not in the labor force.”

According to the BLS, “In September, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force.” These individuals “wanted and were available for work,” but “they were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.” In other words, 2.5 million unemployed Americans were not counted as unemployed.

The stock market rose on the phony good news. Bloomberg’s headline: “U.S. Stocks Rise as Unemployment Rate Unexpectedly Drops.”

A truer picture of the dire employment situation is provided by the 600,000 rise over the previous month in involuntary part-time workers. According to the BLS, “These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.”


YOU HAVE GOT TO STOP VOTING!

Mark E. Smith

Boycotting elections alone will not oust the oligarchy, but it is the only proven non-violent way to delegitimize a government.

“In Cuba, when Fidel Castro’s small, ragged, tired band were in the mountains, the dictator Batista held an election (at the suggestion of the US, by the way). Only 10% of the population voted. Realizing that he had lost the support of 90% of the country, Batista fled. Castro then, knowing that he had the support of 90% of the country, proceeded to bring about a true revolution.”

The most common activist strategies, such as street demonstrations, protests, etc., rarely seem to bring about any change in government. There is only one nonviolent tactic that has been proven to work. Recently I asked the new president of a local activist group that had banned me from speaking, if I would be allowed to speak under the new leadership. I explained that I’m an election boycott advocate. The reply I got was:

“So my question is – how does NOT voting change anything? I can see actually writing in someone you believe in – but not voting simply is giving up.”

I decided to answer the question as thoroughly as I could. Here’s what I wrote.


America's Sham Electoral Process

Stephen Lendman

The entire system is corrupt and dysfunctional. It has no legitimacy whatever.

It's bad enough to make some despots blush. It doesn't rise to the level of good fiction. No respectable film producer would accept a script explaining it. Who'd believe a democratic system so implausible. It's more fanciful than real.

Longstanding electoral fraud alone subverts democracy in America. The entire process lacks legitimacy. Most democracies have proportionally representative (PR) governance. America's winner-take-all system lacks credibility. It's borderline lawless.

PR represents all voters and all political parties or groups proportionally to their electoral strength. Thus, if candidates from one party win 30% of the votes, they get 30% of legislative seats. Not in America. Here, 50.1% takes all.

The Electoral College constitutes another systemic flaw. It's fundamentally undemocratic. Bush v. Gore stands out. Winning the popular vote doesn't matter. Gore, of course, also won an Electoral College majority. Final determination came months too late to matter. Gore won but never contested. Perhaps his candidacy just went along for the ride.

At the same time, it likely made no difference who won. Both candidates represented two sides of the same coin. Duopoly power runs America. Big Money owns it. Independent opposition has no chance. Voters have no say.


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