WHY is the Media Obsessed with Hourly Wages???

When reporting on the economy, the media ALWAYS focuses on manufacturing employment and hourly wages. But have you ever asked yourself WHY?

Why don't they offer the public some other economic indicator, like say a quarterly report on CEO employment or executive wage growth? Or a quarterly report on the aggregate amount of interest collected from Americans by moneylenders?

What makes hourly laborers so deserving of such singularly lavish attention by the mainstream media?

Simple - because Labor does not control the media - MONEY does.

The Labor Department's report Friday offered plenty of grist for those who hold either of two views of the economy.

THE GOOD VIEW in which Capital prevails.

[G]rowth is coming in for a soft landing that will lead to steady expansion for the remainder of the year without rapidly rising prices.

[They mean prices excluding food and energy which matter most to working Americans, i.e., Labor.]

And THE GRIM VIEW in which Labor potentially gets ahead at which point it's smacked back down by Money (i.e., the FED).

[L]abor markets remain tight and wages are rising, which is good news for workers but potentially bad news for THOSE worried about inflation.

[i.e., THOSE who LEND MONEY or benefit most by exploiting LABOR]

You see, it all boils down to Labor vs. Capital.

And Capital does not like taking chances that Labor might get ahead.

"The data [Friday] is consistent with the forecast that the economy will slow through midyear. But there's also some firming of wages."

Employers created 138,000 jobs last month . . . and it takes about 150,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with U.S. population growth.

They actually WANT people to REMAIN unemployed. And they don't just wish for it, they take ACTIVE measures to MAKE SURE of it.

Have you ever been unemployed? If you have then you know how frightening and demoralizing it can be.

Now, think about it. They designed the system so that at any given time a good chunk of people REMAIN unemployed, and suffer the nasty consequences, all so that THEY can protect their bottomline. A 'loose labor market' keeps Americans anxious to work for less money because there are plenty of people competing for the same jobs. They're happy when we suffer.

Not everyone is so sure that Friday's job report means the economy is slowing enough to keep inflation under control, and the Fed happy.

[A] wide range of surveys and other indicators give little hint of a slump.

* * *

Moreover, skeptics say that job growth isn't the best measure of whether there is inflationary pressure in the economy, which is the Fed's foremost concern. . . .

"We've got wage inflation the highest it's been in five years," said Richard Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research. "That's the yellow caution flag the Fed is going to be concerned with."

And THAT is why they have an army of economists working around the clock to monitor even the slightest increase in wages and a dutiful media to report it.

Then, at the slightest sign of wage growth, the FED raises interest rates and tells us that they're doing it to "fight inflation."

A regular reader here at the blog says it best:

"[These] bastards have the [audacity] to publish wage increases of a mere nine cents 9 F*CKING PENNIES and they call this A WAGE INCREASE. mY F*CKING HEALTH INSURANCE for my family plan just went up to $250 [bi]-weekly..NINE CENTS!!!!!!!!...we are being raped at the well folks."

Precisely. Now, what are we going to do about it?