The US Job situation is, as I predicted, dismal. As analysts touted the ADP numbers and the initial unemployment filings on Wednesday and Thursday, respectfully, few predicted that the non-farm payroll which came out earlier today would be so bad.

As the US administration reveled in the numbers earlier this week, even sparking a mention from President Obama on how things are looking up, the public was getting another whitewash from their government – a government that ran for office on the platform of transparency, a government that has been clouded by secrecy and misdirection since their inauguration.

Despite the 85,000 jobs lost in December, a number that surprised most professionals, the US was at it again attempting to defuse the poor showing by claiming a mini-victory meant to smokescreen the truth.

According to the Labor Department, the November payroll data, which had originally showed an 11,000 job drop was revised to show a 4,000 job gain. Still, with the December data the US lost about 1,000 more jobs than anyone had expected.

To me, the shock is not in the numbers as if you have been a loyal reader you would know my beliefs. What surprised me about this report was what the government did not tell you – with regard to both the November revision as well as the December data.

According to the data the US is now standing at a 10.1% unemployment rate and it seems as if the trend is actually worse. What I mean by “it seems” is actually a criticism of how the US calculates the unemployed.

Since the recession began, over 7 million Americans have lost their jobs and were receiving unemployment benefits.

However, according to US reporting standards, if an unemployed person takes on a part-time or even a per-diem job, one that is obviously not replacing their lost wages rather just supplementing their unemployment insurance income, the US no longer classifies them as unemployed – even though they are still seeking a full-time position.

To put this in context, if you were looking for work for 8 months and took a job as a part-time Santa Claus in a mall making minimum wage for the two weeks leading up to Christmas, you are not considered unemployed anymore even though you are now, after the New Year, once again looking for work.

I have written about this farce several times and it never ceases to amaze me how the government still gets away with it – and more so, how the trading public still believes it.

But again, this is not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the snow-job the US administration is doing, it gets worse.

 There is a classification of people called “under-employed” which relates to my example above with the exception that their work is more stable just not adequate enough to sustain their daily lives.

Picture a mechanical engineer who was making a decent living, paying his mortgage and school tuition and taxes on time suddenly losing his job.

After months of searching for a position in his area of expertise, he chooses to go to work anywhere, just so that he can bring in money.

He gets a job at McDonald’s as a manager, making less than one quarter of what he was before his layoff – he no longer can afford his mortgage or the tuition and rising taxes that are based on his previous years income are eating a huge hole into his meager salary.

This man is classified as “underemployed” which is not counted in these numbers – yet whose effect on society is, to a degree, more damaging.

There is also a new phenomenon of unemployed workers who just give up looking for work – effectively making them ineligible for insurance and therefore not counted among the numbers the Labor Department releases.

According to the most conservative of estimates, the number of these individuals, if counted in the overall data, would bring the US closer to a 10.4% rate which matches the highest level it has been since 1983.

Others estimate the number to be more significant, speculating that the rate is actually closer to 11% - but I will be kind and use the smallest that I could find as it is just as astonishing.

The policies of the US Administration are becoming increasingly unpopular and the citizenry that elected a man and his team on a promise of change and accountability has become more disillusioned.

The fight over Health Care reform which was, in Obama’s words, supposed to be “televised on C-SPAN” has been done in a closed door sessions with only the majority party present; the recent terror scare and fatal terror shootings on US soil has highlighted the Administrations laissez faire attitude towards the security precautions that they so criticized the previous administration for; and the withholding of crucial data that could paint a more realistic picture on the economic growth of the country has further tarnished the standing of the US in a world that was hoping for more leadership.

This is not the way to run a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

 The path the US is on is a throwback to the age of gas rationing, food pantry lines and the over-regulation of daily existence that was common on the streets of Moscow in the 1950’s.

I am not trying to be an alarmist – I ask you all to look at the situation yourself – investigate the information I write, the internet is a great resource tool for this – and come to your own conclusions.

As for me, thinking of the Forex market, I will not be placing my future or that of my children in the US Dollar anytime soon. I hope there will come a time when “it’s all about the Benjamins” means something again – but Ben Franklin is looking more like Carl Marx at this stage and I know something will have to give soon; whatever it is, it will not be pretty.