37.4% of Working-Age Americans Aren't Working

45.5% of the population supports the other 54.5% of the population

In my most recent post, Trading Jobs for Ropes, I quoted David John Marotta (a Wall Street advisor) who calculated that the actual unemployment rate of those not working is a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent as advertised by the Fed.

I wondered how he arrived at the number, because I got 37.4%.

317,454,372 Total U.S. population  (Google shows 313,900,000) 246,745,000 Civilian noninstitutional population, of those:         154,408,000 Civilian labor force, of those:                    144,423,000 Employed, of those:                        6,934,000 work more than one job, of those:                        3,550,000 works full time with part-time job                       9,984,000 Counted unemployed, of those:                       3,753,000 are long term unemployed and still counted 92,338,000 Not in labor force (not counted as unemployed), of those:                          86,406,000 Do NOT want a job now                            5,932,000 Want a job

92,338,000 not in the labor force is 37.4% of 246,745,000 on the civilian noninstitutional population.

144,423,000 employed (both part and full time) support 317,454,372 people (45.5% of the population supports 54.5% of the population)

In July of last year, Fox News reported that Only 47% of Adults Have Full-Time Job --- now 6 months later we have 44.4% of adults with full-time jobs. (more people are working part-time; maybe because employers are cutting hours to escape ObamaCare™)

246,745,000 Civilian noninstitutional population > minus 9,984,000 counted unemployed > minus 7,771,000 working part-time (but want a full-time jobs) = 109,563,000 working full-time (or 44.4% of the civilian noninstitutional population.

Republicans Just Won the Food Stamp War

Congress is set to approve $9 billion in cuts to the food stamp program even as a record number of Americans live in poverty. Prior to the current bill, House Republicans had drafted legislation slashing $40 billion from the food stamp program. That bill passed the House with Republican votes only. After months of negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate, which wanted much lower cuts of around $4 billion, the House finally passed a farm bill 251-166 Wednesday that contains a "compromise" $9 billion in reductions to the food stamp program. (That's after last November's cuts). Here's why the compromise level of cuts is a Republican win:

In addition to the $9 billion in food stamp cuts in this five-year farm bill, another $11 billion will be slashed over three years as stimulus funding for the program expires

With no jobs and no food, what's left to do --- hang ourselves?