How can that be?
Because unemployment and GDP are not the best metric to determine the health of an economy - especially in a country with MASSIVE deficits - a better metric, IMHO, would be tax revenues/collections... and they don't look so good.
All of this is from the government department: "If we can't dazzle them with the truth, we'll baffle them with BULLSH*T".
7 comments:
G:
Excellent point. Tax collections are a data point that can't be fudged that much.. The dollars either come in or they don't.
States and Municipalities are in big trouble. NYC is offering a 3% discount to pay property taxes due in Dec 09 now. That works out to a 6% annualized yield. This speaks to a serious cash crunch. The implications are profound. So many S-storms. So little time.
Lenny D.
Gee, you like GOVERNMENT numbers better? You communist, you. :)
But I don't understand. Unemployement up, GDP contracting, and state tax revenues reduced. What's not to understand?
Bureaucrat,
The revenue numbers are SO much worse than the employment numbers, or the GDP numbers. That's what not to understand.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Ah, he didnt list numbers or percentages for everything. You can read between the lines. :)
State personal income tax revenues are down 28% in Massachusetts. Mass. pretty much a flat tax state. The rate is 5.3% probably soon to be 6.25%. It's pretty clear that the loss in income does not match the rise in unemployment. It's probably those small business owners taking it on the chin. The don't get counted in most of the statistics.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Those are amazing and scary statistics, though I guess I'm not completely surprised by them.
As a Massachusetts resident, it doesn't feel to me that economic activity (at least income) is down by THAT much yet (by basically a third), but what do I know?
Thanks.
Stephen B.
Stephen,
I agree. It doesn't look that bad. Traffic on I 95 is getting worse again, too. A sign of improving economy. But the building contractors, and the shop keepers, etc. are all way down. Look at the number of empty store fronts. More all the time.
Regards,
Coal Guy
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