Another week and another dreadful initial claims number. For the week ending 2 May 2020, another 3.169 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance. This takes the previous seven weeks to a total of 33.5 million Americans. Furthermore, it must be understood that given some of the “stimulus” programs implemented by the government, that many American remain on payroll, while some of these very businesses may be shut down or limited in their capacity. So the numbers are somewhat skewed for this reason – meaning there are actually even more Americans not currently working. We must also take into consideration those who were unemployed prior to COVID19 and these health and economic restrictions. And then lastly, there are also those who are designated as “discouraged workers” who have given up looking for work altogether and if they have been discouraged for over one year, then the government does not even include them in the official unemployment statistics. So, for all intents and purposes as the jobs report comes out tomorrow, the headline, U-3, unemployment rate could well be near 20% +/- a couple points. This would take us well into depression level numbers, which have not been seen since the 1930’s when unemployment peaked around 24.9%. And despite these numbers, the stock market continues its rally. Do we even have a market? Or is this all now just a perpetual money-making machine? Remember, banana republics love the printing press.
On another historic note, the US national debt has eclipsed $25T and has a current national deficit of around $2.6T. Per various estimates, for the FY2020, the deficit is set to hit $4T, thus implying that the national debt will be around $27T by the end of September of 2020. And this number could also be well eclipsed if Washington, DC continues with further bailouts and “stimulus” packages. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Depression #Inflation #Deflation #Recession #USA #Gold