Don't Drink the 'Fantasy Jobs' Punch

No one but a handful of strategically placed members of the U.S. government (and the omnipresent Wall Street "insiders") know the real answer to those questions.

Many continue to scoff at my unflinching dismissal of the "U.S. economic recovery" as nothing but a propaganda myth. The numbers strongly support my position. Ask the BLS itself where most of the jobs growth has come from during this supposed recovery, and without hesitation, the BLS will point to the "robust U.S. manufacturing sector" -- where it claims most of these fantasy-jobs have originated.

Here's the problem: Since the start of the U.S. "recovery," U.S. energy consumption and even electricity consumption has collapsed. So great has this collapse in energy consumption been that the Wall Street Journal recently trumpeted the news that the United States -- the world's great energy glutton of the past century -- was now a "net energy exporter."

Here's a question for the large, naïve flock within the mainstream media and the general public who have swallowed the myth of a U.S. recovery: What sort of "manufacturing" uses zero energy or electricity of any kind? Indeed, with the total collapse in U.S. energy consumption, this "new manufacturing" would have to use less-than-zero energy -- i.e., somehow adding reserve energy to the U.S. economy.

Note that the U.S. didn't become a "net energy exporter" during the original, official "recession." No. This collapse in U.S. energy consumption (and electricity consumption) has occurred during this farcical "recovery." More recently, terrible back-to-back U.S. "durable goods" reports suggests the U.S. manufacturing sector is now in free-fall.

The BLS also tells us there has been substantial gains in retail sector employment, where U.S. mall-vacancy rates remain near all-time highs. Just like the U.S. supposedly has a thriving manufacturing sector using no power, we're told the U.S. has a retail sector that is "growing" without stores.

What about on-line retailing? Yes, there is a growing volume of on-line retailing -- which uses no more than 1/3 the amount of labour of a normal retail outlet. Downsizing the retail sector from real store fronts to the virtual world of the Internet obviously cannot "add jobs" on a net basis -- especially with U.S. retailers selling less and less goods each month.