WhiteHouse Rep said unemployment solved if more retire

[Captain Kawaii]

Listening to NPR this afternoon. Could not believe they had the nerve to say it.
Unemployment went down in August due to people giving up trying to find a job.

The Host at All Things Considered interviewed an astute asshat from the WH who actually said things would be much better if baby boomers would just retire for good. Then everything is fine.

Unfucking believable.

Your thoughts?

[Rochard]

I read a similar article this morning.

What I don't understand is that the way we determine the unemployment rate hasn't changed, but why suddenly are we trying to factor in retired people and people that have "given up looking". It seems strange to me. People don't "give up looking" - you either need a job or you don't, and if you need a job you CAN'T stop looking.

Why didn't we factor these people in before?

I understand what she meant, however. My mother in law is with us this weekend; She retired six months ago. She doesn't need to work; Her house is paid for, she has lots of money in the bank, and they have enough income not to work. However, it seems to me she's working more now that she is retired than when she was working full time. She's got a conference call Saturday morning - that's not retired.

[onwebcam]

Kinda hard to retire this day and age unless you work for the government. Other than the government what company can you depend on being there for the remainder of your years? Even if they are there how can you be sure they won't file BK and eliminate your retirement which is a rapidly growing trend?

[Captain Kawaii]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I read a similar article this morning.

What I don't understand is that the way we determine the unemployment rate hasn't changed, but why suddenly are we trying to factor in retired people and people that have "given up looking". It seems strange to me. People don't "give up looking" - you either need a job or you don't, and if you need a job you CAN'T stop looking.

Why didn't we factor these people in before?

I understand what she meant, however. My mother in law is with us this weekend; She retired six months ago. She doesn't need to work; Her house is paid for, she has lots of money in the bank, and they have enough income not to work. However, it seems to me she's working more now that she is retired than when she was working full time. She's got a conference call Saturday morning - that's not retired.

By people giving up they mean people trying and trying with no success I think. If you can't find mainstream work, welcome to porn or thieving or...? Anyone notice the scams on the net picking up thousand fold the past couple years? Hell, women are selling their urine and pregnancy test positives now.

Good for your mom in law. People should work as long as they want to. What I thought was shitty from the spokesperson is the complaining he was doing about it. Like he wished he could say they should just go die.

[Captain Kawaii]

Originally Posted by onwebcam

Kinda hard to retire this day and age unless you work for the government. Other than the government what company can you depend on being there for the remainder of your years? Even if they are there how can you be sure they won't file BK and eliminate your retirement which is a rapidly growing trend?

That's a trend started in the Reagan years. I worked in a "tower" in Boston and saw people who dedicated their lives to the company being tossed aside with zero thought.

For the past 15 years I am dedicated to family only. Companies can fend for themselves. They surely will.