ONE OUT OF EVERY FIVE

UNEMPLOYED IN WASHINGTON STATE

In what can only be described as a DISASTER the latest unemployment numbers have hit the Department of Employment Security and the Department of Revenue in Olympia like a sledge hammer. I talked to two Washington State economists who both told me that the latest numbers were “extremely depressing”. Speaking to me on the condition of anonymity one gentleman said this: “We have a major underlying economic problem in the state and I believe it has to do with housing. Housing construction has been the driving force for employment here in Washington for more than 20 years and now it is gone!”

If you look at these numbers I wish to explain: what is normally titled as the “unemployment rate” is actually the U3 number or the percentage of the workforce collecting unemployment benefits. The U6 number is the actual number of folks that are unemployed. Now there are morons in the media who want to say that the U6 number also includes the UNDER EMPLOYED. That is a load of male bovine excrement something I am very familiar with: I clean it out of barn every morning!

OK, let’s look at the numbers. They actually look better in April than in March. Unfortunately the reason they look better is the fact the 44,170 folks left the workforce because THEY COULD NOT FIND A JOB. Hard hit was King County where 18,220 left the workforce and in Snohomish County the number came in at 7,180! Based on my analysis it is youth from 16 to 25 years old, African-Americans, other minorities and WOMEN who are primarily the largest percentage of this group!

What is even worse is that so far this year 34,817 homes have been foreclosed on in this state. King County and Seattle have been hit hard with 1,077 foreclosures in April, alone. My sources are telling me that about 65,000 homes are currently in default in Washington. That means the housing industry is a mess and not likely to recover anytime soon.

On top of all of this is the fact the nationally durable goods orders dropped in April at the biggest rate since 1932. In Washington State we were dramatically affected because of airplane production deliveries at Boeing: major downslide.

What impact does all of this have on you? Read the leftwing newspapers and view and listen to the BS on KING, KIRO, and KOMO about the state’s budget based on the state’s revenue! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR ALL OF THIS, FOLKS!

INFLATION FOOD SHOCKS ON THE WAY!

Obama Grocery Store Price Explosions!

Some of you may remember the Jimmy Carter inflation that damn near destroyed the USA. I remember going into the Safeway Store in the Kirkland Kingsgate neighborhood in 1975 and seeing a beef T-bone steak at $4.00 one day and the next day the same steak was $4.75. We had to drive up to a service station and spend an hour in line to buy gas! Folks stand by; the same inflation is about to happen in 2011.

What factors are involved?
1. Major flooding in Canada has impacted wheat production
2. Droughts in Northern China and Russia have destroyed their normal wheat production. Russia has now banned exportation of grains…Period! China’s corn crop is less than ½ of normal.
3. Recent flooding along the Mississippi River has had a catastrophic impact on Cotton, Corn, soybean and Rice production.
4. The FED is printing money at an all time record rate, QE2 ends in June and that will cause interest rates to rise for ALL lending.
5. Drought problems in Texas have led to major increases in Beef prices because of a high demand and low supply. Some herd sizes are down to 50% of normal.
6. High corn prices will have an impact for Poultry and Pork production and the prices for same including eggs. They are going up!
7. The Obama Administration has tried to ignore the above problems in order to get re-elected in 2012. Guess what? These morons are about to be moved back to Chicago.


Let’s review the coming catastrophe. Wheat from Canada is important to the planet and with these problems expect Pasta Prices to go ballistic. Here is the story.

Down south in Arkansas and the south flooding is causing major problems with the loss of more than 40% of the rice crop this year. It will take until the end of June to dry the fields and it will be too late to replant the rice which had to be in the ground (seedlings) by 5/1. Gas Refineries have had to shut down in Louisiana along the flooding Mississippi thus impacting the price and supply of gasoline.

Beef futures haven’t been this high in 45 years and if you eat beef you are in for some major shocks on the way. The lack of rainfall in Western Texas has cut available beef production by 50%. Read the bad news here!

One of the nation’s biggest problems is CORN! With massive subsidies on corn to produce ethanol for the commie environmental crack heads, the world will starve millions of people so the USA can pump that crap in your gas tank at the expense of YOU the tax payers. All Corn surpluses are gone and with the loss of 40,000,000+ bushels of Corn because of the flooding along the Mississippi River, don’t expect to buy corn flakes without taking out a 2nd mortgage on your home!

When Cotton prices spiked last fall, farmers all around the Mississippi River Delta planted millions of acres of cotton. Guess what? It has all been flooded and clothing prices will end up going thru the roof. Cotton is on its way to the highest prices per hundred weight in HISTORY.

Editor's note: Because of concerns about the Euro and the Dollar, commodity futures took a nose dive on 5/11 as options traders took profits. Don't expect these prices to last very long and you can expect major problems with higher food prices over the next 90 days to 6 months.

Breaking News: The Army Corps of Engineers is going to have to flood 3,000 Square Miles of farmland in order to save New Orleans. That means that rice corps this year is probably down to 30% of normal. That rice growing region is the 6th largest exporter of rice on this planet. You can imagine the problems in the east, Middle East, Latin America and other regions where the average wage for the vast poor is about $3 a day. They will have to revolt or starve to death!

DOUBLE DIP RECESSION IN WA STATE CONFIRMED!

Washington State Continues to Falter!

There was more national bad news from the US Department of Labor Friday Morning with the Obama U3 number going to 9% (that’s the percentage of the workforce collecting unemployment benefits) and the U6 number climbing to 17.8% (that’s the percentage of the workforce that is unemployed!). Even though hiring perked up some, the economy lost a net 190,000 jobs in April: NOT GOOD NEWS.

The latest numbers in Washington State has the U3 number at 9.7% or 340,330 and the U6 number at 599,963 which is the actual number of people unemployed in Washington State. Again a number of people left the workforce and gave up trying to find a job: 2,430. Snohomish County is still having a major problem with employment coming in at 10.1% for U3 and 18.4% for the U6 number. That means 70,157 people remain unemployed in SNO County.

Realtytrac’s March numbers were stunning with regard to State and County wide foreclosures. March foreclosures added 3,613 new defaults/foreclosures bringing the statewide total year to year to 35,049 foreclosures. King County led the foreclosure parade with 1,392 and Seattle was hit hard with another 490 foreclosures. For those of you who read the bogus, male bovine excrement story in Friday’s Seattle Times, I had a roll in the floor laugh at their expense: Link

Over the commercial real estate side of the fence the CBA or the Commercial Brokers Association in Washington State now has over 19,000 listings for rent, lease or sale: AN ALL TIME RECORD.

With regard to the billions in deficits that the State Legislature if fiddling around with in Olympia the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council has issued a report that is gloomy to say the least. Meaning: the state cannot count on sales tax revenue to fill up almost 6 Billion in deficits; instead they will have to cut more spending. With the idiot Democrats in control down in the SWAMP (Olympia) that does not sound like a very likely scenario.

Editor’s note: The State of Idaho business licensing department over at Coeur d'Alene has had to add more personnel to handle the increasing numbers of businesses in the Spokane area who are leaving the Evergreen State.

Seasonal Adjusted Numbers for those of you who read my blogs you know that these numbers that the Washington State Department of Employment Security and the US Department of Labor issue to the leftist press are nothing short of a manipulated LIE! The Seasonal adjusted numbers have no basis in reality