Unemployed Burn As Fed Fiddles In Debate Over Natural Rate: Jobs

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-23/unemployed-burn-as-fed-fiddles-in-debate-over-natural-rate-jobs.html

Federal Reserve officials and economic advisers are debating far-reaching differences on whether to accept a jobless rate that doesn’t fall much below 6.5 percent or act more aggressively to reduce it to 5 percent or less.

David Horowitz says he’s “not enough of an economist” to know who’s right. He just wants a full-time job again.

Horowitz, 47, says he lost his health policy analyst job in Washington a month before the U.S. recession began in December 2007. He has met his expenses with temporary jobs in his field and work as a swim teacher, along with loans and savings.

As for the policy makers’ debate on joblessness, “if they’re declaring that it’s a permanent situation, then that does make me angry,” he said. An approach that doesn’t put job creation first “puts a lot of people out of work and makes our educations worthless, and doesn’t give much optimism about working hard and moving up.”

[Earth_First]

1. The nee norm. Welcome to it. n/t

[Gman]

2. The recurring variable normal

The low unemployment in the Clinton years turned normal on it's ear.

[FarCenter]

4. It was only low in the second term during the internet bubble

[FarCenter]

3. Average unemployment 1948-2011 was 5.77%