Article Review #6: Newsflash From The December ‘Jobs’ Report—–The US Economy Is Dead In The Water

Similar to the recent chapter’s ideas of seasonal adjustments to account for the quarterly GPA, Stockman’s articles criticizes the use of “seasonal adjustments” in the creation of jobs during the month of December. Stockman exposes the BLS for using almost random numbers to make the economy seem to be in a stronger state than it really is. Creating a fake positive image for the current state of the economy is a worrisome tactic, and I feel like it would be better if information was not blown up to be made pretty. I feel like Stockman is a bit biased at this point. The man is always criticizing Keynesian economists, and seems to hold something negative against them. It’s helpful to see the current situation from Stockman’s point of view, but it would be better if there was an included different side of the argument. As of December 2015, the economy is resting on the top of the business cycle; the country is due for another recession. Fake statistics will not change this, especially due to a lack of breadwinner jobs. Currently, jobs produce less money than they did years ago; supposedly, the income from approximately 2.5 jobs now is worth 1 job from the 1960s when adjusted for inflation and continuous technological advancement. Business sales as well as business shipments are decreasing at an alarming rate.