Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

Ah, Zachary, the folly of youth!  Zachary explains why he doesn't need Social Security or Medicare:

"Getting rid of it seems like a perfect fix to me. I can take care of myself better than the government can, clearly. I mean look, all this money I am paying into Social Security and Medicare ... I would absolutely get MUCH more if I invested it myself. 

Some people are stupid, I understand that. If you don't trust yourself to prepare for your own future then by all means, give your money to the government and hope that they will take care of you.

But I'm not stupid, and I should have the CHOICE of investing my own money in my own future... it is called liberty! 

I took him on.  I started:  

Zachary, it is clear that you are young and don't understand what may yet befall you.

The rest of my reply is here:  Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

 

I wrote the original of the article Let's Get Rid of Medicare; Zachary Won't Need It! back in 2012 during the Presidential primaries.  It was my response to people debating the future of our social safety net.  Perhaps it could be a response today to people who think that Gary Johnson and the Libertarians might have the answers they want.  

Let's be clear:  The Republicans STILL Want to Dismantle Medicare, Privatize Social Security, etc.

So I had to write a bit about why we still need the social safety net; why we can't elect Trump and other Republicans to shut these programs down.  (Updated September 26, 2016):

Cold Old People Found Here

The social safety net will certainly be at risk if Trump is elected and Republicans hold onto the Senate and the House.  The misery that this would bring to millions of people is hard to even fathom.. What is harder to fathom right now is that this election is so close. 

So, before you vote, think..

What was the unemployment rate when Obama took office and Bush left office? (Updated for August 2016)

What was the unemployment rate when Bush left office and Obama was inaugurated?  7.8%

Note:  This report was not updated for September due to personal reasons.  But the October updates will be released starting this weekend, November 4. 

What was unemployment when Obama took office?  How many people were unemployed?  Read below

What was the unemployment rate after Obama's first full month in office (February 2009)?  8.3%

What was the unemployment rate at peak?  10.0%

What is today's (August 2016's) unemployment rate?   4.9%  

All Latest Jobs and Unemployment Reports HERE

How many people were looking for work when Obama was inaugurated; how many were working?  And how many people are looking for work and how many are employed now?

• Read below the graph.

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  The following chart shows the unemployment rate in three month intervals plus month-by-month for the latest months:

 

No, Trump, Black People Are Not Worse Off Than Ever, Ever, Ever!

At least not when it comes to unemployment:

Donald Trump, the republican candidate for President, claims that the situation of African-Americans in this country is the "worst ever"-- even worse than when most African-Americans were enslaved?  But let's just stick to unemployment.

African-American woman waiting at a job fair in 2014.

.....
African Americans are always hit harder by economic downturns; it always takes longer for the unemployment rate of black people to come back down, and the "normal" unemployment rate of African-Americans has always been much higher than that of whites. But.. the unemployment rate among black people is NOT now the "worst ever", no matter what that Trump says.
During the Republican Reagan Recession of 1983, black unemployment hit 21.2%. THAT was the "worst ever" during the years for which we have data on unemployment by race.

Initial Unemployment Claims Are Low; Very, Very Low.

First time claims for unemployment benefits continue to be the lowest they have been in decades,as reported by the Department of Labor this morning, Thursday, September 22, 2016:

In the week ending September 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 252,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 260,000. The 4-week moving average was 258,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 260,750. There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims. 

This marks 81 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970. 

Please click for a better view of this graph.

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The Economic Recovery Continues

The percentage of insured workers (meaning workers whose wages are subject to unemployment compensation) who are actually collecting unemployment after a layoff has also fallen to its lowest level since the Clinton years.  

The number of initial claims first crossed the 300,000 threshold back in April 1970, back when the number of jobs was less than half of what it is today.  We have not had a streak of 81 weeks during which the number of initial claims was below 300,000 since that time.. despite the fact that we have doubled the number of jobs during those 46 years!

25% fewer people collecting benefits than 3 years ago, but fewer people exhausting all of their state benefits.

State by state, there are 13 states in which the number of people filing for continuing benefits is higher than a year ago. However, over a period of 3 years, the total number of people collecting benefits is down 25% from mid-September 2013.  The percent of people collecting benefits who exhaust their state benefits, meaning they collect all available weeks of unemployment insurance, is now only 37.3%. meaning that about 63% of unemployment recipients go back to work before they exhaust their benefits.  That number peaked at 56% in early 2010 (meaning that less than half of people collecting benefits found work before they collected their available state benefits) and has been steadily declining.

This means that, in late 2009 into early 2010, about 600,000 to 800,000 people a month were exhausting their state benefits without finding work.  (There were federal extension programs available back then.)  Now, in mid 2016, about 200,000 people a month are exhausting their state benefits without finding a job.  These are about the same numbers as in late 2006 into early 2007, just before the housing bubble burst.  To find lower numbers, we have to go back into the late Clinton years, from 1998 until early 2001.     

How Many Jobs Has Obama Created or Lost? (August 2016 update)

How many NET jobs created or lost under Obama* as of August 2016? How many private sector jobs have been lost or added during Obama's presidency?

Note:  This report was not updated for September due to personal reasons.  But the October updates will be released starting this weekend, November 4. 

How many new jobs in the last 7 1/2 years since Obama was inaugurated?  How many Americans were working or employed when Obama took office... compared to now?

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August 2016 numbers were released Friday morning, September 2nd.  AUGUST reports and info HERE.

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Continue below...

August 2016 Unemployment Rate, Jobs

The August 2016 Jobs Report was released by the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday morning, September 2.  It showed steady though unspectacular jobs and employment growth.

November 2016 Jobs Reports HERE

This report is outdated.  Current numbers (for November 2016) can be found at the link above.

August 2016 Highlights:   

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  The economy added 151,000 jobs, an average number of new jobs, and the unemployment rate was stable at 4.9%.
• Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 232,000 per month.  Since the beginning of the year, job gains have averaged 182,000 per month.
• The number of employed people went up by 97,000. The number of unemployed people went up by 79,000 as 176,000 people joined the labor force, meaning that they started working or started looking for work. That is a NET number.
• 409,000 MORE people are working full-time and 388,000 FEWER  people are working part-time in August.
• There are 2.6 million MORE people working than a year ago, with 2.3 million MORE people working full-time and about 250,000 MORE people working part-time than a year ago.  There are about 700,000 MORE people working part-time VOLUNTARILY than a year ago and about 430,000 FEWER people working part-time INVOLUNTARILY than a year ago.
• There were 126,000 MORE private sector jobs, and 25,000 MORE government jobs in August.  
• The alternate unemployment rate (U-6) has been stable at 9.7% this month and it has averaged 9.7% during the year of 2016.  This is down0.6% from a year ago.
• Government jobs include jobs at the federal, state, and local levels, including public school teachers.  It does not include military jobs, though it does include civilian Defense workers who are employed directly by the government.  Local government accounted for 24,000 of the 25,000 increase in government jobs.
• Employment in mining, construction, and durable goods manufacturing was down slightly in August, with employment in service sectors, including retail trade, transportation, financial activities, professional services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality all showing moderate increases.
• Year-to-date in 2016, 1,630,000 people (net) have entered the labor force with 1,685,000 more people employed, and 1,698,000 MORE people employed full-time.  That means that people are entering the labor market AND finding full-time jobs. 
• The Labor Force participation rate has been VERY stable since 2014, varying between 62.42% and 63.02%.  It was 62.82%in August.
• Remember that there is NO ideal labor force size, and most of the overall decrease in the labor force participation RATE over the last few years has been due to Baby Boomers retiring in great numbers.

From the BLS report: 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down from +292,000 to +271,000, and the change for July was revised up from +255,000 to +275,000. With these revisions, employment gains in June and July combined were 1,000 less than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 232,000 per month. 

(For the record, 8 years ago, in August 2008, we lost 266,000 jobs as the country continued its slide into the worst recession in 80 years.)

August 2016 reports: (Notation on the links will be changed to "UPDATED for August" when the updated reports become available later today or over the weekend.  Not all reports are updated every month.)

• What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office (compared to today)?  Updated for August
• How Many Jobs Created or Lost Under Obama? - Full-time vs. Part-time? -  Updated for August
• Democrats rock at full-time job creation! - Updated for August
• How Many Jobs Were Created in 2016? - Updated for August 
• Jobs Lost/Gained Year by Year Since 1999 - Not yet updated.
• 93 Million People Not in the Labor Force? Who are those people?  Latest update is for April 2015

More highlights and reports will continue to be posted here over the coming days and weeks.  Please check back!

Expectations and the ADP Report:

The pundits were expecting job growth in the vicinity of 180,000 new jobs.  The ADP report, which was released Wednesday, August 31st, showed an increase of 177,000 private sector jobs.  Over time, the numbers in the ADP report tend to follow those in the BLS government report very closely.  In the ADP report, Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said:  

The American job machine continues to hum along. Job creation remains strong, with most industries and companies of all sizes adding solidly to their payrolls. The U.S. economy will soon be at full employment.