(Melchizedek Communique, MC011110) People's Daily, China reiterates that "The American economy had been growing steadily every decade since World War II, but in 2000 it took a sudden turn for the worse." [1] This had been quietly reported by the Washington Post on January 2, 2010: "There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well." (Background: "Reich: Economy on Steroids", http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc010810.html)

So where is the big brass band of the American mass media on this "Lost Decade of the Aughts" news? If silly, unimportant news can be trumpeted, doesn't relevant news merit equal coverage? After all, the various mainstream commentators are quite intellectual, so you would think such a major story as zero net job creation in the past 10 years would awaken their powerful brains.

"America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels," headlines Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. December, it turns out, "was the worst month for US unemployment since the Great Recession began." Evans-Pritchard claims the MZM (Money with Zero Maturity) measure is shrinking at 3 percent annually and the M3 stats show evaporation of more than 5 percent. [2]

Back in 1992, during the second televised presidential debate, Ross Perot explained, "If you're paying $12, $13, $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory South of the border, pay a dollar an hour for labor, hire young -- let's assume you've been in business for a long time and you've got a mature work force -- pay a dollar an hour for your labor, have no health care -- that's the most expensive single element in making a car -- have no environmental controls, no pollution controls and no retirement, and you don't care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south."

Perot's prediction of "a giant sucking sound" is now verified by the unheralded news of zero net job creation since December 1999.

Perot had pleaded, "Not this NAFTA!" And now, NAFTA, according to a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper, "is blamed for job losses, for adding downward pressure on wages, particularly in manufacturing, and for contributing to a large US trade deficit." [3]

So of course they will be junking NAFTA, correct? WRONG. Get prepared for worse to come, because the Barack Obama administration wants to make "a new kind of trade agreement for the 21st century." [3]

The current "historic" bloviating was also on display in 1992. At the start of the second televised debate, the moderator exulted, "Tonight's program is unlike any other Presidential debate in history -- we're making history now and it's pretty exciting." The "historic" bloviations continue today, with most politicians convinced the future is in awe of their every word.

Well, this morning's historic Communique by yours truly is mighty propentious also. What did the Melchizedek Communique editor have to say at 1:23 a.m. on January 11, 2010? Of course, history must hang breathless over every word. (Really, this editor is not so egocentric as to believe that.)

But "history" must be watching one thing at least: How long can the American "news" media studiously avoid the significance of zero net job creation in the past 10 years? How long can the American "news" media fail to acknowledge that there did indeed occur "a giant sucking sound"?

My friends, history is watching.

------- Notes -------
[1] "American Economy and Employment Over the Past Ten Years", by Dong Qing. People's Daily, China, Jan. 3, 2010
http://watchingamerica.com/News/42007/american-economy-and-employment-over-the-past-ten-years/
[2] "America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels", by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. Telegraph (U.K.), Jan. 10, 2010
[3] "Fixing Nafta's flaws", by Kevin Gallagher and Timothy Wise. Guardian (U.K.), Jan. 7, 2010