NEW: California unemployment much higher than govt. admits

Dec. 30, 2012

By Stephen Frank

I love how the Democrats are crowing about the “California Recovery.” Specifically, they want you to believe that unemployment is slowly declining in the State.  Not so.

This is from the California Employment Development Department on December 26, 2012:

“Current Benefits Status

“Currently, there are more than 920,000 people certifying for benefits in California. The majority of these customers are collecting on a federal extension claim while the remainder are somewhere in the midst of a regular unemployment claim.

“Between regular and federal extension benefits, the EDD has paid a total of $17.1 billion in benefits for calendar year 2011 and $9.3 billion so far this year (as of August 16, 2012), and is currently paying about $284 million a week. These benefits provide critical sustenance to unemployed workers and their families, in addition to local businesses where much of the benefits are spent on basic needs.

“Customers Who Have Run Out of Maximum Benefits

“As of December 24, 2012, there have been close to 928,600 unemployed workers in California who have run out of all available benefits.” 

Funny numbers

In other words, if you counted all the California unemployed, that number is 1.846 million.  The rate is not 9.8 percent.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U-6 number, a broader measure of unemployment, is 19.6 percent — more than double what Obama and Brown want you to believe.

Brown claims that 2012-13 California budget deficit will be $1.9 billion when the fiscal year ends on June 30.  Yet, State Controller Chiang, a Democrat. says the cash deficit if $24.9 billion—and growing.  Oh, and expected revenues are down 10 percent.

You get $1.9 billion by “forgetting” the $12.5 billion owed the schools due to Proposition 98, the $10 billion owed the federal government for paying for the unemployment insurance checks, the $15 billion stolen from Trust Funds and $10 billion borrowed from Wall Street to cover the cash deficit.

Then you have to add the full-time workers forced, due to Obamacare, to part time work—that is tens of thousands more, starting Jan. 1.  Of course, we already have many working part time that want to work full time.

Yes, it is depressing to hear the truth and the Democrats want you to be happy.  As Ayn Rand said, “You can hide from reality but you can not evade the consequences of reality.”

Depression

California is in a Depression; the nation is in a Depression. In fact, economists are now saying we have been in a national recession since July.

We feel comfortable hearing the deficit will be lower and fewer will be unemployed. We do not ask if it is the full truth.  We do not want to be depressed.  No one wants to hear that we have already fallen over the economic cliff.  Regardless of the deal made in Congress on the “fiscal cliff,” spending by government will continue to rise and regulations will continue to kill jobs in the name of environmentalism.

Go to the grocery store on a consistent basis and note that the price of bacon, bread and milk has gone up.  The cost of hamburger is up.  Try naming a fruit or vegetable that is not more expensive this year than last.  Yes, the price of technology is down—but how many cell phone or iPads can you buy?  Take a family to McDonald’s for dinner and see how expensive that has become.

Forget the government “statistics.” Has your cost of living gone up or down? Do your friends trust the economy? Do you?  Trust you experiences.

Thanks to Obamacare,  a 70-year-old woman will probably not qualify for a hip replacement—but can immediately receive “free” contraception.  In California, thanks to “health exchanges” and the mandate for insurance companies to provide “free” services, the cost of private health insurance has gone up 25 percent in one year.  This has caused many employers to drop coverage for their employees.

The unemployment numbers headlined by government are just the tip of the iceberg.  We need the media to report on the complete numbers, not just those sent out by press release.  The Depression is getting worse. It is time we stopped evading reality.

Stephen Frank publishes California Political New & Views.