We're in Depression Unemployment Rates

We're at the unemployment levels of the Great Depression.  Yes, you read that correctly.  According to the reporting methodology used in the 1930s, right now US unemployment is roughly 16%.



This is according to one website that everyone should check out is shadowstats.com, as its founder, John Williams--who you'll find here and there on CSPAN as well as the occasional news programs--has done heroic work as an experienced commercial economist uncovering the misinformation that government carefully and purposefully commits to cover its tracks. 

Here you'll find Mr.Williams succeeds in resurrecting government statistics that have been buried, tweaked, twisted, and abandoned to fit the current political will of the moment. From inflation to unemployment, Williams compiles reports using historical methodology to show analytical continuity with bygone eras.

So, in a sense, we can see what it would have looked like if the government hadn't just quit compiling M3 monetary aggregate statistics in 2006.  Or we can compare CPI inflation rates using the same rules as other times so that we actually get a good idea what is happening to the American economy.