Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 1 June 2012 [View all]Tansy_Gold
(17,873 posts)And we have been since the housing crisis of the late 1970s, when mortgage rates soared to 18%, which I consider one of the beginning points of the far right's war on the middle class. Home ownership has ALWAYS been a hallmark of the middle class, and when people were effectively blocked out of the market, that's when the slide began.
Consider, too, that the statistics used to arrive at an "unemployment rate" have been manipulated out of all recognition. What if the "unemployment rate" recognized not only those who are out of work through lack of work but those who are working FTE hours but are not above the poverty line?
Troughs and peaks are always relative anyway. Just look at the charts at the beginning of this thread: alter the numbers on the axes and you exaggerate or ameliorate the highs and lows.
Personally, I think 5% is far too high a rate; anything over 2% strikes me as indicative of "recession." And certainly the decline of the middle class is an even stronger measure.