Lets make fun of Obama while he is still relevant.

[Warren Dew]

(12-08-2016, 12:04 AM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(12-07-2016, 10:30 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: To the contrary:  the unemployment rate is below 5%, which is pretty close to full employment levels.  It's a tight labor market and an ideal time to stimulate labor supply.

No it isn't.  That number is propaganda.  The real rate of unemployment is north of 20%.


We have loosey-goosey labor supply and thus we need to increase the supply of jobs which aren't party time shit-work like fastie foodie stuff.

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_dat...ent-charts

Supporting stat here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART

The 5% figure is relevant to the people in the labor market - that is, looking for jobs.  People who aren't looking for jobs are not part of the labor supply and bringing them back into the labor market is exactly what supply side policies are designed for.

Figures on job openings are extremely high, so the labor demand is there. It's just that the amount employers are willing to pay doesn't match the amount people are willing to work for. Supply side policies can help close that gap by removing extraneous costs that employers have to pay but employees don't consider to be worthwhile in terms of compensation. Reducing taxes would be part of that. Costs that act like taxes, such as the requirement for gold plated health care for fast food workers working more than 30 hours a week would be another part. A lot of workers would be happier working 40 hours a week, but getting the health care costs in the form of dollars of direct pay instead.