Thanks to Mish Shedlock for his thoughts and Trim Tabs for their insights. The feeling from me is mutual. We must look past the Governments statistics and see what is right there in front of us, if we only parse the data and look from a different viewpoint. I point out that the numbers you see are not, in the truest sense of the word, TRUE! And you have to parse the data, read between the lines, cut the chaff(you get the idea) and see the world , not through rose colored glasses, but for what it is, A MESS.





Trim Tabs writes ... "At its peak in February 2010, the federal government’s emergency and extended unemployment benefits programs provided assistance to 6.0 million people. Since then, the number of people receiving benefits has steadily declined, and they totaled only 3.4 million as of the week ended January 6. Since only 2.2 million jobs have been created since the recession started in December 2007—fewer than the number of people no longer receiving benefits—it is likely that 1.0 million or more people now lack both benefits and jobs."
Trim Tabs writes "According to the BEA, the loss of income from extended and emergency unemployment insurance benefits has amounted to $57 billion since January 2010. In the past twelve months, the loss of income amounted to $23 billion, which is equal to about 13.4% of the estimated $188 billion increase in wages and salaries in 2011. In 2012, we estimate that expiring benefits will reduce incomes by approximately $25 to $50 billion.".
For someone with a mortgage and underwater on their house with rising food and energy costs, the presumption is not likely to be correct and/or savings are not likely to be sufficient.
The obvious result is a "forced lifestyle change" and less spending.
This boomer drag on GDP trends is enormous, yet few see it.
Moreover, interests rates of 0% on CDs does not help any.