If you followed the news you have heard the economy has been improving.  The "evidence" has been the stock market surge in recent months, with the DOW averages hovering around 13000 coupled with an unemployment rate now approx. 8.5% rather then the 10% it had been.

Although both these figures are comforting we should consider WHY.

First, the DOW increase cannot be attributed to traditional growth which should average 3% over a lengthy time frame, not the 2% or less which we month to month for several years.  The market surge is all about higher profits thanks to greater productivity, outsourcing, and not increasing payrolls. In an improving economy, revenue growth occurs with increased profits, something this current economy is missing.

Second, while 8.5% sounds better than 10%, consider the Labor Dept. measuring stick, which does not provide a hard number of unemployed, sitting above 14 million, a number which does not include agricultural workers who have suffered as much as the number reported.

I offer the following which rarely reported, not to put a damper on your parade, but suggest you do carry an umbrella:

●  If the economy is getting better, then why did new home sales in the United States hit a brand new all-time record low during
    2011?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why are there 6 million less jobs in America today than there were before the recession
    started?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why is the average duration of unemployment in this country close to an all-time record
    high?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of homeless female veterans more than doubled?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of Americans on food stamps increased by 3 million since this time
    last year and by more than 14 million over the last three years?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of children living in poverty in America risen for four years in a row?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why is the percentage of Americans living in "extreme poverty" at an all-time high?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why is the Federal Housing Administration on the verge of a financial collapse?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why do only 23 percent of American companies plan to hire more employees in 2012?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of self-employed Americans fallen by more than 2 million since 2006?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why did an all-time record low percentage of U.S. teens have a job last summer?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why does median household income keep declining?  Overall, median household income in
    the United States has declined by a total of 6.8% since December 2007 once you account for inflation.

●  If the economy is getting better, then why has the number of Americans living below the poverty line increased by 10 million
    since 2006?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why is the average age of a vehicle in America now sitting at an all-time high?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why are 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida currently sitting vacant?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why are 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 living with their
    parents?

●  If the economy is getting better, then why does the number of "long-term unemployed workers" stay so high? In January, 2009
    the number of "long-term unemployed workers" in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting
    at 5.6 million.



Tony Bruno