Jobapalooza

Jobbity job numbers are out, 539k jobs lost. Better than 600k for sure, but it's still more than half a million jobs lost every month for the last seven months, folks. Wall Street was betting on under 500k, so we'll see what that means. U-1 number up to 8.9% as expected.

If there's a smidge of real good news here, it's that the U-6 number rose only two tenths of a percent to 15.8%, and that's actually a decent sign if the rise of the U-6 rate is slowing.

The bad news? The jobs picture continues on its paradigm shift to temp jobs. Companies are hiring, but they are much more likely to only be hiring temp workers these days with little to no benefits, no health care, and no 401k. For purposes of spending and stabilizing the housing market, they might as well be unemployed.

Temp workers don't buy houses, folks. More and more people are being converted from permanent to temporary workers after a long layoff drains their savings. They have to rent. They don't purchase big ticket items that require manufacturing. They don't gain equity to use down the road. In short, we're going to be in real economic trouble for years.

Welcome to the new normal.