Truth or Consequences

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you
--Billy Joel

The Atlanta Fed head notes that the real US unemployment rate is higher than the reported number by more than 50%. The current 'official' value of about 9 1/2% omits discouraged and underemployed workers.

I've seen studies suggesting that if we measured unemployment like we did in the 1930s, then we'd have unemployment numbers at the 20% level that defined the Great Depression.

Of course, the article does not tackle what many inquiring minds would like to know: Why the heck don't we count all the unemployed in our unemployment stats?