The good economic news just keeps coming. The latest tidbit about which to rejoice? Unemployment didn’t go up in February. It remained at 9.7 percent last month.
Hot diggity! Just 36,000 more jobs were lost. Who could complain about that?
And these sterling numbers came in dispute some heavy snow in certain parts of the country. Something no one could have expected, and therefore something that provided a handy explanation for why employment got worse instead of better. I mean, who could expect it to snow more than usual in some parts of the country? Not me.
Of course, the same economists and Washington types who herald this good news were predicting in late 2009 that jobs would actually start to be created again rather than lost this January. They weren’t. Nor in February. But I heard on NPR today that the thinking now is that job creation will definitely begin this summer. A time of year when more jobs are always created. Hallelujah! Those economist guys are sharp.
Still another reason the market is soaring today is that the Greek financial crisis seems to have past. The government of that country has agreed to terms to satisfy lenders that will reduce the already modest standard of living of its people substantially. Chalk up another one for markets at the expense of the rabble. Who could have guessed just a year ago that this sort of wonderful thing would still be possible?
Well, gotta get back to the old investing game board. Which government to bring down next? Portugal? Nah. I’m thinking Spain. Big bucks to be made if Spain’s credit tanks and one helps that along.
As for employment in this country? Let ’em eat food stamps. The Dow’s the thing that’s really important…