Craziest Monetary God Dam Design Ever!

The following chart shows construction and manufacturing payrolls as a fraction of nonfarm payrolls.


Click to enlarge.

That sure looks like a fish ladder to me. The only difference is that the fish aren't supposed to be heading downstream. Down 19% and temporarily holding!

Fish Ladder

The velocity of water falling over the steps has to be great enough to attract the fish to the ladder, but it cannot be so great that it washes fish back downstream or exhausts them to the point of inability to continue their journey upriver.

Oh oh. Sounds like a faulty dam. What went wrong?


Click to enlarge.

Craziest monetary god dam design ever! That's what! Who in their right mind would put the monetary floodgate below the fish ladder?



I said in the past that some posts are mostly for the puns. How could I pass up this post's title once it got stuck in my head? Hahaha! Sigh. I sigh because the data is ugly, especially over the long-term. Gallows humor can't fix that.

See Also:
The "Recovery"

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart
St. Louis Fed: Monetary Base