Are Unemployment Numbers Giving Us the Real Story?

The unemployment rate in the United States was last reported at 9.1 percent in August of 2011. From 1948 to 2010, the United States Unemployment rate average was 5.7%. The highest it's ever been was back in November of 1982 when it reached an historical 10.8% and the lowest was 2.5% back in May of 1953, the year I was born. Wow, to have an unemployment rate of just 2.5%...how would our economy respond to numbers like that today?

Much is put into these numbers, but are unemployment numbers giving us the real story? What do these numbers actually mean?

It means that people who have been looking for employment, and willing to accept it, are getting jobs. It doesn't mean that they are getting back the jobs they lost, or improving themselves and getting better jobs then they had.

It doesn't mean that they are getting employment in the areas that they are best qualified for, they are not getting jobs that they went to school and received a degree for, you know the ones that the're still paying back the student loans for. They have exhausted all their resources and are having to settle for jobs that they are over qualified for, if they can get them. Greeters at Walmart stores don't pay the same as accountants and engineers.

It does not mean that they are earning enough than they were, to compensate for inflation and the increased cost of goods, when they were working before. It does not even mean that they are earning as much as they were, at all.

Yes they maybe getting the jobs, but there is no extra spendable income coming in that they can use to go on vacations, or go out to eat, or even catch a movie with the kids. There is just nothing left at the end of the month for anything like that.

It does not mean that even if there was any spendable income left over, that people would be willing to spend and invest that money back into an economy that is shaky, and that they just don't trust anymore.

The same goes for small businesses and large corporations, which is the driving force behind the jobs that we need to keep this machine moving. They don't have anymore faith in our system nor the people who are running the show.

I think our country and the world is creeping ever so close to a monumental economic collapse. Our government officials are just passing the buck and continue to kick the can down the road. The time has come to quit the blame game and start to put our heads together and right the ship before we all go down, like the Titanic.

I'm so tried of all the politics and the pointing fingers, if our current administration, congress, and the senate, can't do the job then let's get some leaders in there that can.

This mess doesn't just have one place that you can go to and fix the whole thing. I think that there is a conglomerate of fixes that need to take place to get things moving in the right direction.

Just like a family who has allowed itself to get into debt, we need to quit spending, cut our costs where we can, and increase our income, without burdening the already weak consumer. Now that's a real big picture with a lot of details that would make my head spin, but this is where we need real leaders to step up and be willing to take the reins.

We need to remember that we are all Americans and we are all in the same ship. Black, yellow, red or white, rich or poor, if the ship sinks, we all go down.

If any of you have never watched the HBO series, "John Adams", watch it. You will see real people with much to lose, take the forefront and lay it all down for what they believed in...a free America where everyone is created equal, " that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We need real leaders, such as these men were, to rally around, and then we, each and everyone one of us, needs to stand and be willing to lay it on the line for our families, our freedom, and our country.

Enough of the pointing fingers and all the blame that's going around, stand up and speak if you have a worthwhile answer that can contribute to a solution. This is what we need in this country today, more men like the 56 who signed that document over 200 years ago. They gave it all so that you and I can stand here today...free.

What do you think? Share your thoughts and your answers to getting our economy back on the right rack again.