If We Don't Believe EPA on Climate Change, Why Do We Believe DOL on Unemployment Rate?

[TomCADem]

Ford Motor company has announced that it will no longer make cars. Despite Trump's promises, coal jobs are not coming back. Also, Trump's policy reversals have put a chill on growth in clean energy industries. Brick and mortar retail stores are closing due to pressure from online sales, which should mean a loss of jobs even as sales volume remains steady.

By several measures, it seems like the market is overpriced, and all of the Trump's administration's self-congratulatory praise of the economy is unjustified. So, why exactly are government pronouncements about the low unemployment rate taken as gospel when other non-governmental measures seem to suggest an overpriced economy that is not benefitting America's workers?

http://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe/

http://www.multpl.com/us-retail-sales-growth

http://www.multpl.com/s-p-500-price-to-book

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-retail/u-s-retail-sales-falter-inflation-creeping-higher-idUSKCN1GQ1N2

U.S. retail sales falter; inflation creeping higher

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales fell for a third straight month in February as households cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, prompting analysts to downgrade their first-quarter economic growth forecasts.

Despite signs of cooling in consumer spending, inflation pressures are steadily building, which should allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next week. Other data on Wednesday showed underlying producer prices rose solidly in February, driven by strong gains in the cost of services such as hotel accommodation, airline fares and hospital inpatient care.

The sustained decline in retail sales is surprising as consumer confidence is at a more than 17-year high in the wake of a $15 trillion income tax cut package and a labor market that continues to churn out jobs. Economists said consumers boosted spending in the fourth quarter in anticipation of the lower taxes.

“Looking at consumer fundamentals there appears to be nothing sinister going on among America’s households,” said Ellen Zentner, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. “We posit that the anticipation of the widely publicized tax cuts pulled forward spending into the fourth quarter of 2017.”

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Those numbers are meaningless until its YOU

Then it's 100% unemployment.

As it is the numbers are revised every time and the revisions get 2 seconds on NPR at 7 am. They are used to boost whatever the fuck they want either way.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. On a tangental note,

I've long wondered why there's a nightly news report, but no nightly labor report.

[Cicada]

3. More workers gave up looking for work, lowers unemployment rate

The decline in the unemployment rate this time was due more to a reduction in the number seeking work than in more people working. So the discrepancy you saw is real, but unemployment rate lower is also real. If every unemployed worker gave up looking for work the unemployment rate would be zero.

[safeinOhio]

4. We need the numbers on how many

of those jobs do not pay a living wage.