The new exodus: 700,000 young people have left home looking for work abroad

NoBC4U Note: Coming soon to Ukraine too. Hell, it's probably coming soon to a country near you.

December 3, 2014
Santiago, Chile

When Francisco Pizarro returned to Spain from the New World in 1528, he told King Charles I of the vast material riches that were found in abundance on Peru’s shores.

He petitioned for permission to conquer the new lands in the name of the crown, and was granted governorship over a vast amount of territory as long as he succeeded in conquering it.

Hungry to get their hands on Incan gold, some 168 Spaniards joined him on the conquest.

In the first battle, the Incans lost 2,000 men while the Spanish lost only 5.

In subsequent battles against the Spaniards, Incan troops were massacred in horrific numbers due in large part to Spain’s technological superiority.

(It also didn’t hurt that the Incan empire was undergoing a civil war at the time.)

The Spaniards would go on to conquer the rest of Incan lands over the next 40 years, which included parts of modern day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

And over the next few centuries the Spanish empire would grow to encompass a significant portion of the Americas, some parts of Africa and the East Indies.

Spain was, in fact, the greatest power in Europe during a significant chunk of the renaissance, and she had her overseas dominions to prove it.

How times have changed. Today Spain is in financial straits, and most of her former colonies are in far better economic shape.

And as the gloomy economic landscape in Europe has dried up opportunities for young Spaniards, many have started to look to South America to start new careers.

Complete story at - The new exodus: 700,000 young people have left home looking for work abroad

12 Charts That Show The Permanent Damage That Has Been Done To The U.S. Economy

Most people that discuss the "economic collapse" focus on what is coming in the future. And without a doubt, we are on the verge of some incredibly hard times. But what often gets neglected is the immense permanent damage that has been done to the U.S. economy by the long-term economic collapse that we are already experiencing. In this article I am going to share with you 12 economic charts that show that we are in much, much worse shape than we were five or ten years ago. The long-term problems that are eating away at the foundations of our economy like cancer have not been fixed. In fact, many of them continue to get even worse year after year. But because unprecedented levels of government debt and reckless money printing by the Federal Reserve have bought us a very short window of relative stability, most Americans don't seem too concerned about our long-term problems. They seem to have faith that our "leaders" will be able to find a way to muddle through whatever challenges are ahead. Hopefully this article will be a wake up call. The last major wave of the economic collapse did a colossal amount of damage to our economic foundations, and now the next major wave of the economic collapse is rapidly approaching.

#1 Employment

The mainstream media is constantly telling us about the "employment recovery" that is happening in the United States, but the truth is that it is just an illusion. As the chart below demonstrates, just prior to the last recession about 63 percent of all working age Americans had a job. During the last wave of the economic collapse, that number dropped to below 59 percent and stayed there for a very long time. In the past few months we have finally seen the employment-population ratio tick back up to 59 percent, but we are still far, far below where we used to be. To call the tiny little bump at the end of this chart a "recovery" is really an insult to our intelligence...



#2 The Labor Force Participation Rate

The percentage of Americans that are either employed or currently looking for a job started to fall during the last recession and it has not stopped falling since then. The labor force participation rate has now fallen to a 36 year low, and this is a sign of a very, very sick economy...



Complete story at - 12 Charts That Show The Permanent Damage That Has Been Done To The U.S. Economy

The Contractionary Vortex Of The Lumpen Proletariat - The Automatic Earth

The world stock markets big see saw zig zags over the last few days seems to be a harbinger of more to come. Christine Lagarde has warned of a fresh pan-European recession and just this once she may actually have a point.

Not that the old continent ever left the ‘old’ crisis, but since so much time and money was inserted into the recovery hologram, and we’re in a generous mood, let’s pretend and play along: it’s a new recession! That or a triple dip. The terminology is not the main point here; it’s going to be too nasty to occupy ourselves with semantics.

As I was writing about the shame of putting millions of young Europeans into the dark hole of long-term unemployment yesterday in The Disgrace of Sacrificing a Generation, Europe’s leaders met to discuss that very theme. Only, they didn’t.

They went on and on again about wanting the freedom to spend more, either through support from Mario Draghi bond purchases or by simply violating EU budget limits. EU PM Renzi called those limits outdated: it’s new world out there!

What they did say about the jobs issue was that more money was not needed, since there’s an existing $82 billion fund for youth jobs, of which only 12% has been used … That crazy detail tells us two things: Brussels and the European capitals don’t care about their children, as the entire situation also makes clear enough.

Complete story at - The Contractionary Vortex Of The Lumpen Proletariat - The Automatic Earth

Statistics tell the tale: Irreplaceable losses for the Ukrainian economy | SLAVYANGRAD.org

Author: Olga SHELKOVA | 27.08.2014

Translated from Russian, by Maria Razdiak
Edited by Ken Griffith and S. Naylor
Original article: http://odnarodyna.com.ua/node/24311

[Olga Shelkova is an independent economic journalist, primarily analysing, the events of the CIS (The Commonwealth of Independent States).]

The published results by the Goskomstat (Federal Bureau of Statistics) of changes to the Ukrainian economy during the first half of 2014 can be shocking. But the most important figures in the situation at hand are not the fact that the GDP fell 4.5% , nor even that the gross domestic product is predicted to fall -7% by the end of the year, but the irreplaceable losses concealed by these frigid statistics—the losses that will destroy the actual possibility of a Ukrainian economic recovery in the future.

********

We are speaking primarily about the collapse of the industrial sector, which is accelerating. During the period from January to June, the volumes of industrial production shrank by 5.8%, while July alone brought that sector down by another 12%. The most profound damage was suffered by the coal sector (-28.7%), the automobile production (-23.8%), the chemical manufacture (-22.2%), the oil refining sector (-15.9%), the rubber industry (-13.8%), metallurgy (-12.3%), and furniture production (-12.5%). Clutched by war, the Lugansk and Donetsk regions have lost 56% and 28.5%, respectively, of their industrial potential. The crisis of the component supply from Donbass in turn led to the collapse of the industrial giant of Zaporozhie (ZAZ). This enterprise lowered its production volume by 98.9%, and by October will probably stop all manufacturing, leaving 21,000 workers out of the street.

The industrial potential was also dented by the fall in exports to Russia, which ranged from 25% to 70% over the different sectors. For example, automobile production lost 40% of all exports, metallurgy – 32.6%, agricultural – 37%.

It must be noted that these horrific statistical indicators include the period during which Ukraine had a legitimate government, and economic relationships with Russia were actively developed. With the complete severance of economic ties with the Russian Federation by the Kiev Junta, the pace of industrial collapse will only accelerate.

********

The state of the agricultural sector, for which Kiev has great hopes, is no better. The first quarter of 2014 showed a 3.9% decrease in the volume of agricultural productivity, while the amount of produce fell by 17.6%. The fall in plant production during the six months totaled 30.1%. Grain production (not including corn, as the marketing year for such starts and finishes in September) shrunk by 2.1 times (i.e. more than half), winter and spring wheat – 4.8 times, rye – 27.5 times, grain legumes – 2.3 times, rapeseed – by 36.5%, the collection of fruit and berries – 11.8%, cattle livestock – 3.2%.

Specialists predict an estimated a 10% fall in the gross output of grain, which will lower the export potential by 7%; while Ukrainian agriculture by the end of the year may shrink by 10-15%.

Complete story at - Statistics tell the tale: Irreplaceable losses for the Ukrainian economy | SLAVYANGRAD.org

Luxoft reducing share of programmers in Ukraine and Russia

Software developer Luxoft, which has Russian roots, in its presentation for April-June 2014 reported the intention to reduce the share of programmers in Ukraine and Russia.

According to the report, Ukraine now accounts for 47% of the company's developer staff, Russia - 28%, whereas three months earlier – the figures were 49% and 29% respectively, and at the beginning of this year - 48% and 32%.

At the same time, the absolute number of the company's programmers continues to grow rapidly. At the end of last year their number exceeded 7,200 in 20 offices, three months later – it was more than 7,500 in 21 offices, and at the end of the first half of 2014 - about 7,800 in 22 offices.

Taking the above-mentioned figures into account, in January-March the company's staff in Ukrainian offices, operating in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa, grew by about 200 people, but in April-June it fell by about ten people.

Complete story at - Luxoft reducing share of programmers in Ukraine and Russia

Lenta.ru: Economy: Gosekonomika: Unemployment in Russia has reached historic lows

NoBC4U Note: Translated from Russian using Google Translate.

Unemployment in Russia in May 2014 fell to 4.9 percent from 5.3 percent in April 2014. It is reported by ITAR-TASS , citing data from Rosstat. Thus, Russian unemployment reached historic lows.

According to preliminary results of a sample survey on employment, in May 2014, 3.7 million people, or 4.9 percent of the economically active population, were classified as unemployed (in accordance with the methodology of the International Labour Organization).

Former Russian record was set in August 2012, when the rate was 5.2 per cent of the economically active population. It was the minimum level of unemployment since 2001.

In public employment services as unemployed registered 0.9 million people, including 0.7 million people were receiving unemployment benefits.

According to Rosstat, as compared to May 2013 the number of unemployed fell by 5.2 percent from April 2014 - 7.1 percent.

According to preliminary results of a sample survey on employment, the number of economically active population in May 2014 was 75.3 million people, or more than 52 percent of the total population.

Over the past ten years the highest unemployment rate was registered in Russia in 2000 - 10.5 percent. In 2001, 2003 and 2009, unemployment exceeded 8 percent (8.9 percent, 8.2 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively). In other years the rate ranged from 7.8 percent to 6.5 percent.

Complete story at - Lenta.ru: Economy: Gosekonomika: Unemployment in Russia has reached historic lows

Sorry for this bit of goofiness below, but sometimes a little bit of goofiness goes a lot further than a whole lot of seriousness.  - NoBC4U

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