A Word of Caution................

The happy talk clowns in Washington are telling us that the recession is over because 1) 210,000 new jobs have been created, 2) the unemployment number has not gone up, and 3) new car sales are up.

But before you celebrate remember three facts.

1) We need 250,000 new jobs every month simply to absorb the new people entering the work force.

2) The primary reason unemployment has not increased is that a record number of people have stopped looking for work.  Participation in the work force is now at an all time low, just above 60%.  This is good news and bad news.  Some people have stopped looking for work and gone back to school so that is a good thing for the future.  The bad news is that a record number of people have become permanently unemployed and that is a very, very bad thing.

3)  Automobile owners are now holding their cars for a record 11.1 years, so the uptick in sales probably represents the maximum life of cars on the road.