(by Half Dollar) The Weekly Unemployment Insurance Claims Report has just been released from the Department of Labor.
Almost 2 million more people filed initial unemployment claims over the last week:
In the week ending May 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,877,000, a decrease of
249,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 3,000 from 2,123,000 to
2,126,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,284,000, a decrease of 324,750 from the previous week’s revised average.
The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 2,608,000 to 2,608,750.
An “initial” claim means filing for unemployment benefits for the very first time.
Initial unemployment claims have been in the millions every week since the second half of March:
What does this mean?
It means the economy is still in the process of crashing, that’s what it means.
In other words, as has been the case for the last three months, millions upon millions have been losing their jobs each and every week throughout the United States.
But wait, there’s more!
That’s right.
Because I keep seeing stories and headlines about people getting paid more to simply sit at home binge watching re-runs on Netflix, chowing down on Domino’s Pizza and drinking Busch Beer.
And while that might be true in some circumstances, there are still millions upon millions of people, all over the country, who have still not received a dime, even though they applied MONTHS ago.
For example, check out the first seven results with the Google search term “people still waiting on unemployment benefits”, with a filter of “last 24 hours” applied to show only very current articles:
That’s significant.
Why?
The civil unrest, protests and riots may have started for one reason, and there may be a gazillion different motives at play now, but if one thing is clear, there are millions of people who are running out of cash, fast, and in my opinion, those people are about to become very desperate very quickly.
And we all know that desperate people do irrational things.
Furthermore, what about the people in the gig economy who can’t apply for unemployment insurance because they work odd jobs for cash only?
You know, like the homeless dishwasher in the five-star, upscale restaurant who washes dishes for fifty bucks a night and all the unfinished customer booze he can drink between 11 and 12 pm?
Or like the guy who walks downtown, from business to business washing windows, sweeping around the front, and cleaning around the back, all for ten bucks an hour, cash money?
Or what about the people who have been denied unemployment for one reason or another, whether it is their own fault, or the fault of someone or something else?
Here’s the thing: The “analysts”, “experts”, “pundits”, and the mainstream shills keep talking about the recovery, but it is very clear that the economy of the United States isn’t even done collapsing.
And in a way, I’m reminded of the best homeless man beggar sign I’ve ever seen in my life: It was in El Paso, actually coming out of the same Walmart Parking lot as that shooting a year or two back, and the sign said, “thought I’d ask before I steal”.
I say it is “the best” sign because, above all, at least for that one individual, it spoke to reality.
So here’s a reality check for all of us: Let’s not get our hopes up that the economy will recover around us any time soon, on its own, but rather, let’s adapt to the reality of the new economy and make something out of it.
The May Employment Situation Report comes out tomorrow.
Developing…