patrick.net

bob2356 says

Reality says

The unemployment rate in North Korea is near-zero now!

Pretty cool, the only things you can come up with to support your arguments are Nazi Germany and Communist North Korea. Certainly countries with political and economic systems that perfectly comparable to the US.

Both illustrate a simple point: the official unemployment number go down to artificially low levels when the government is providing make-belief jobs on a vast scale. That's what FDR's jobs programs were about, and why the government unemployment data from 1933 through 1945 became meaningless.

bob2356 says

You keep saying stock indices not me, I am talking about gnp/gdp and umemployment. Try reading what people write.

You were the one who cited stock market bottoming in October 1932 as evidence of the bottom of Great Depression. The government GNP/GDP and unemployment statistics from 1933 to 1945 were not at all comparable in validity to the data series before (and after): the government was essentially printing money to hand out millions of make-belief jobs one way or another. The process produced far more waste than wealth. GNP/GDP methodology simply counted all that waste as wealth . . . if you assume GNP/GDP meant the size of the economy instead of debt service capacity.

bob2356 says

Reality says

Okay, I will refrain from getting personal and make fun of your rudimentary mistake. Recession and depression refer to sustained economic contraction. When things start to improve, it's called recovery.

Yet you keep using terms like bottom and end. Frequently interchangably.

Because they are interchangeable, in case you are still not getting what Recession/Depression vs. Recovery mean in economics.

bob2356 says

You can't have it both ways Either stick to technical definitions or popular usage.

Recession/Depression means the period when the economy is contracting; Recovery means when the economy is expanding. That's pretty damn simple. What "popular usage" are you talking about? Economists may debate how the economy is to be (approximately) measured, but Recession/Depression vs. Recovery/Growth is always about incremental change, never about absolute value. Full recovery to 1928-29 high probably was not accomplished until the mid to late 1950's for the US, and 1960's for the rest of the world.

I assume you are now saying the great depression ended in 1932 since that is when economic contraction stopped.

Your assumption is silly after reading what I have written. The real economy did not stop contracting in 1933 and beyond. GNP/GDP numbers do not reflect real economic conditions when the government is massively involved handing out money to cronies and make-belief jobs.

And Bob's response is:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cricket+sound&mid=D43F32B7E1DCF1A0E99AD43F32B7E1DCF1A0E99A&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1