Best Reads of the Week: Unemployment Above 10% for First Time Since 1980s Edition

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The last time the unemployment rate was this high, I was seven years old. I don’t remember much about the 15% mortgage rates or people buying gold coins in mass out of fear of inflation, but I do remember the speeches that I heard about the benefits of working for the government during times of (economic) trouble. You don’t get the stock options or the big Christmas bonus, but you also don’t have to worry about your job being easily outsourced to a cheaper labor force or becoming expendable during the lean years.

But why discuss it when a cool graph is worth a thousand analyses.

Unemployment rate above 10 percent - chart of the day

Via Chart of the day

Being a glass half empty person, I’m curious why the administration didn’t come out and say that the real unemployment rate was 17.5 percent instead of going with the lower, more easy to tolerate number of 10.2 percent.

Other great reads…

Do We Teach Children Debt? Modern Tightwad brings up a valid point by ask if our parental monetary and budgeting policies are sending the wrong message to our kids. If a child wants a $25 item, but they only have $20, should the parent give them a $5 credit, or make them wait another week until they have the full amount?

Base Salary Isn’t Everything. There is more to a job than just a paycheck. I know a few out of work people that would work a crappy cubical job just to have access to health insurance. The concept of taking the job closer to home for the commute or because they offer more stock options just doesn’t seem to cut it these days.

20 Most Hilarious (Yet Unfortunate) Company Names On Earth. Other than a good name for a porn studio, why would you name your business “Doggy Style Designs“. Maybe it was down the street from the “Fuk Mi Sushi Bar” and was just too good to pass up.

Scientists claim junk food is as addictive as heroin. Scientists have produced additional data to suggest that “pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food.” In other words, if you want your food to taste better, eat less of it. Also a great explanation of why I now get a sugar rush from a “leaded” Coke or Pepsi after kicking my soda habit around 3 months ago.

Warren Buffett splits the pseudo pricey $3300+ per share Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares 50 to 1. This is a great deal for those savvy buy and hold investors who want to get an actively managed mutual fund for free, not to mention that Buffett can get negotiate business deals that no one else in the world can get (think Goldman Sachs preferred shares paying a 10% dividend during the crash).

Carnivals I participated in last week:

Money Hackers Carnival hosted by The Financial Blogger.

Festival of Stocks hosted by The Intelligent Speculator.