Recovery? Jobless Claims Jump, Food Costs Surge!

RUSH LIMBAUGH January 13, 2011: "More people applied for unemployment benefits last week after retailers shed temporary holiday employees." No kidding. "The Labor Department said today that the number of people seeking benefits jumped by 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 445,000 for the week ending Jan. 8. It was the highest level since late October." Nowhere in this story is the word "unexpected" or "surprised," which is a first. "The increase comes after applications had fallen to their lowest levels in two years over the winter holidays. Applications usually rise in early January once the holiday season ends."

So we had all of these examples, "The job market's getting better! The job market's getting better!" Oh, am I being uncivil here reacting to this news? Need me to tone it down a little bit? Yeah, okay, tone it down. The last two months we were told the employment picture was brightening, that the number of claims was falling, good indication here that the job market was coming back. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, if you take out all the seasonal adjustments, that 445,000 number is around 700,000. It is nowhere near improving. "Wholesale prices in December posted their biggest increase in nearly a year, lifted by more expensive energy and food costs. But most other prices were largely well behaved, suggesting inflation isn't spreading through the economy." Okay, so food's up, and energy costs are up, but no big deal, there's no inflation -- no, no, no. Energy and food are up but other prices were well behaved. The other prices are really behaving themselves. Link to Reuters story.