New-Home Sales Fall to Record Low in July
Real Unemployment Rate 16.5%, 22%
single-family homes declined 12.4 percent
Senate Dems’ vote to let taxes increase
How is that Hope and Change Working For You!
New-Home Sales Fall to Record Low in July
August 25, 2010 - Sales of newly built, single-family homes declined 12.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 276,000 units in July, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. This was the lowest sales rate for new homes on record.
"Today's report, though not unexpected, is disappointing in view of the improvement in sales activity that we saw in June," said Bob Jones, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. "Potential home buyers have become very hesitant due to uncertainty about the economy and job market, and are putting off the decision to buy until they feel more confident."
"The slow pace of economic recovery and worries about job security are weighing heavily on the minds of potential home buyers right now," agreed NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "As a result, the housing market is clearly in a holding pattern. That said, NAHB does not project that a double-dip recession is in the cards, and we are looking for employment gains later this year to help bolster sales activity moving forward."
Sales of new homes fell across every region in July, with a 13.9 percent decline registered in the Northeast, an 8.3 percent decline in the Midwest, an 8.7 percent decline in the South and a 25.4 percent decline in the West.
http://www.nahb.com/news_details.aspx?newsID=11246
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More on Senate Dems’ vote to let taxes increase
By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
08/05/10 2:30 PM EDT
Dave already mentioned this, but here’s some more detail on what happened with the votes to let tax rates rise in the Senate today. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., put two amendments to a vote:
(1) a permanent extension of the current marginal income tax rates with instructions to offset as necessary through spending reduction
and
(2) a permanent extension of individual income tax rates for small businesses with instructions to offset as necessary through spending reductions.
Both amendments went down by a vote of 58-42 earlier today. A statement from DeMint’s office notes how significant these impending tax increases are:
By defeating DeMint’s amendments today, Democrats approved tax increases on all marginal tax brackets that will rise significantly on individuals, families, and small business to their pre-2001 levels, which were five tax rates of 15%, 28%, 31%, 36%, and 39.6%. According to analysis by the Wall Street Journal, an individual in South Carolina making $40,000 next year will pay about $400 more in federal income taxes. A South Carolina married couple earning a combined $80,000 will see their federal income tax rise by nearly $2,200. A married couple earning $160,000 next year could pay $5,500 more to Washington.
Also, the Obama tax hikes are set to significantly increase taxes on small businesses earning more than $200,000. The IRS has noted that most small businesses file taxes as individuals making more than $200,000 per year, with around 30 million tax returns reporting small business income in 2008. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ over half of the nation’s private sector workforce, more than 60 million Americans. 21.6 million of those jobs are provided by small businesses with less than 20 employees.
Also worth mentioning here: Democrats already voted to raise the capital gains tax and the death tax in June and July, respectively.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/senate-dems-reject-gop-amendment-to-prevent-tax-increases-100051199.html
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The Real Unemployment Rate is 18 percent
Psst. That's 23 percent when you add the underemployed
By Mike Gimbel, Chair, Local 375, AFSCME “Labor/Community Unity Committee
August 23, 2010 http://www.theskanner.com/article/view/id/13217
The 9.5 percent “Official Unemployment rate” has no credibility. It is classic “political spin” intended to fill worker’s heads with a non-existent hope that a recovery “is right around the corner”. Isn’t it about time that we proclaim “The Emperor has no Clothes” in regards to these phony figures?
Here are the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data for the period of April, 2010 to July, 2010:
Civilian Labor Force Employed Unemployed Not in the Labor Force Part-time
July 2010 153,560 138,960 14,599 84,330 8529
June 2010 153,741 139,119 14,623 83,949 8627
May, 2010 154,393 139,420 14,973 83,107 8809
April, 2010 154,715 139,455 15,260 82,614 9152
The real unemployment figure for July, 2010 is 18.43 percent. The 9.9 percent unemployment rate for April became a 9.5 percent figure for July by artificially shrinking the total workforce numbers (employed and unemployed) by 1,155,000 over these three months, from 154,715,000 in April to 153,560,000 in July. Did the U.S. population decline precipitously these past three months? Of course not! The BLS hid the unemployed in a category entitled “Not in the Labor Force”. Between April and July, 2010 the BLS added 1,716,000 individuals into this category, while decreasing the number of the officially unemployed by 661,000 in the same period. Only about 230,000 (this number includes retirees, for instance) should have been added to the “Not in the Labor Force” category during those three months. The phony 661,000 decrease in the official unemployed were simply discarded, as if they were garbage, into the “not in the Labor Force” column. They weren’t even counted as part of the civilian work force, either employed or unemployed.
As a result, the “Not in the Labor Force” category is the convenient way for “disappearing” the real unemployed so that the capitalist politicians can “spin” fairy tales of a soon to arrive economic recovery. Workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits or have become discouraged, as well as youth who have yet to find a job, are all dumped into this catch-all category as a way of hiding the truth of the extent of the job crisis from the workers.
An estimated 16,802,000 unemployed workers have been hidden in the “Not in the Labor Force” category since April, 2000, the peak of the last economic cycle. When added to the officially listed 14,599,000 current unemployed, the total becomes 31,401,000 actually unemployed. When you add in the 8,529,000 who are working part-time, but want full-time work, this incredible total becomes almost 40 million distressed workers!
If you look at the numbers listed above, another fact should jump out at you. The BLS data shows how many workers are working part-time but want full-time work. These part-time workers dropped from 9,152,000 in April to 8,529,000 in July. In other words, 623,000 of the 1,716,000 added to the “Not in the Labor Force” category came from the underemployed workers who work part-time but want full-time work. It is a remarkable and stunning crisis when even the part-time workers are getting laid-off, as has clearly happened over these last three months! The real unemployment + underemployment figure is 23.44 percent when you include part-time workers looking for full-time jobs...
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