QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED

Today I heard a Republican pundit say that unemployment is at a low at 5.5%. Many questions immediately came to mind. How are the statistics arrived at since the government takes years to properly process the national census? As I examine that question I am at loss to find the refinement that would point out that payrolls make a distinction whether someone is employed at the rate previously earned or has just taken a subsistence job.

The employment situation of veterans seems to be up to date only as of 2007. Are the disabled counted out of the employment pool because they are no longer eligible for jobs? What makes up the employment pool current in the census statistics since they can't even count the number of illegal aliens here. Are they counting them?

A statistic I would like to have is how many people are employed by national and local governments. One-third of employed veterans with a service-connected disability worked in the public sector; 16 percent were employed by the federal government. We are told: THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JUNE 2008 Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in June (-62,000), while the unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, and employment services, while health care and mining added jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month. Another question is how many people have gone into dangerous jobs like mining because it was the only job they could get that would cover their bills, regardless of what it may do to their life and health?

The Middle East (and probably most of the rest of the world) has given up any major negotitation with the United States until George Bush is out of office. Our infrastructure is on hold, our breath is on hold, waiting to find out our fate in November.

When Laurence Peters wrote the Peter Principle, it read that people got promoted to their level of incompetence. It does not mention that, with the help of Rove and Cheney, one could keep getting promoted to greater and greater levels of incompetency! Nor was the price of that incompetency measured for the cost to human life and suffering. George Bush will retire to Crawford, Texas to live a protected, wealthy life while the rest of us will try to survive picking up the pieces of the devastation he leaves behind and asking questions that will be unanswered forever.