The “New Normal,”  Is This “Progress”?

SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fouled Up).

Army saying, World War II

All progress is based upon the universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond  its income.

Samuel Butler (1835-1892), Notebooks

2013 Statistics Compared to 2008 Statistics

·         National debt - $17.6 trillion vs $10.5 trillion

·         National debt as % of GDP – 103% vs 70%

·         Unemployment rate – 7.6% vs 5.6% 

·         Number of uninsured – 50 million vs 46 million

·         % of Uninsured – 17% vs 16%

·         Number on food stamps – 49 million vs 31 million

·         GDP growth rate – 2.5% vs 3.5%

·         Number of workers participating in workforce- 63.3% vs 65.9%

As President Harry S Truman once said,

“When your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession,"

"When you lose your job, it’s a depression.”

It’s also said by others that unadorned  statistics,

Don’t tell the  full tale  of unemployment logistics,

At least that’s my well-nformed impression.