Quote of the day – from those morons at Time

What economists know very well, but most of the rest of us do not is that the unemployment rate never hits 0%. Well duh! What a stupid statement! Of course it will never hit 0%. It never even gets close. It never even gets close? Read on: In fact, even in good times, the unemployment rate has been creeping up over time. During the 1960s, the unemployment rate was below 4% for nearly four years, going as low as 3.5%. During the amazing late-1990s-early-2000s economic boom, though, never got as low as that. The unemployment rate touched 4%, dipping below that only briefly for just a few months. I think that 3.5 or 4% or even 5% is pretty damned close to what we’d all like to see. Close enough for me, compared to almost 10% now, although many believe that number is much higher. In 2008, (still during the Bush administration) the rate dropped to around 4.5% and that was the best it got. The best it got??? How many Americans would like to see an unemployment rate like that right now? In fact, for most of the time during the housing market and credit boom that was the late 2000s, the unemployment rate stood at 5%-7%. Even this is better than what we are seeing now. Good Lord! How stupid do these people at Time think we are?

Read more: http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/09/03/unemployment-rises-hurray/#ixzz0yUOIzuGz