The Second Great Depression

After dropping for the past two years, global unemployment is on the rise again according to the International Labor Organization, a UN jobs watchdog. 2013 is expected to top 200 million unemployed for the first time with the epicenter in the advanced economies as 28 million jobs have been lost since the onset of the crisis. Critically, for the globalists, they unsurprisingly note that macro imbalances have been passed on to the labor market to a significant degree.

Peter Morici submits:The Commerce Department reported the April deficit on international trade in goods and services increased to $40.3 billion from $40.0 billion in March.The trade deficit, along with the credit and housing bubbles, were the principal causes of the Great Recession.

OTTAWA — Don’t count on North America getting its economic mojo back any time soon. In fact, the slow recovery in the U.S. from the “Great Recession” will continue to hamper renewed expansion in Canada as well, the Bank of Canada warned Thursday. The U.S. economy is likely to remain on a moderate growth path “for years to come,” the central bank said in its quarterly review of global economic issues. “Understanding the trajectory and characteristics of the U.S. recovery has important implications for the Canadian economy and, this, monetary policy.”

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released their report on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States in 2011. As we continue to fight back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage report released today provides further evidence of how critical it is that we implement policies that benefit and create security for struggling families and our middle class—and not just the wealthiest Americans.  Today’s report shows that while too many American families are still struggling, the nation’s poverty rate fell and the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage rose in 2011. It is clear that had President Obama not taken swift and aggressive action to grow our economy and create jobs, today’s report would have shown much higher poverty rates, lower incomes, and a greater share of the population without health insurance.  Though our poverty rate remains unacceptably high, this report shows that the poverty rate ticked down in 2011 after rising for several years in the wake of the Great Recession. Poverty fell for all age groups, including children, elderly, and non-elderly adults. A key reason for this decline was that 2.2 million more people had full-time jobs last year, in part because unemployment fell by 0.9 percentage points from December 2010 to December 2011. Government programs also continued to provide a vital safety net. 

By One Eyed Guide: Investors beware: If continued, the current trend in declining Federal expenditures will result in increased deficits, slower growth and a major stock market pullback.

In their latest blog series, U. Chicago's Gary Becker and Richard Posner explain the effect of American labor unions on the US economy, and boy is it ugly.  Be sure to read the both entries in full - they're well worth your time.  But here are a few of my favorite excerpts.  First up is Becker:

Dividend Inc. submits: As a stock market historian, the single best benchmark for all market analysis is the years from 1929 to 1954. This is the period when the Dow Jones Industrial Average peaked at 381.10 in 1929 and fell to the astoundingly low level of 41.20, a decrease of 89.19% in a period less than three years. 1954 was the year when the Dow Jones Industrial Average finally went above the 381.10 level and never looked back.