While the knuckleheads in Washington continue to prattle on about health care, the economic picture continues to worsen and unemployment continues to grow. Until something real is done about jobs, the economy will continue to shrink and our troubles will only worsen. Some data from a recent Wall Street Journal Article that can be found here:
- Since the Great Recession began in 2007, some 8.6 million jobs have been lost, according to the bureau; and small businesses, the normal source for new jobs, are still shedding workers.
- Unemployment, in short, has graduated from being a difficulty, a worry. It is now a catastrophe, with some 15.3 million Americans out of work, according to the BLS.
- It could take as many as five years or even more to recover all of the eight-plus million jobs lost since March 2007. That’s because we would have to create an additional 1.7 million jobs annually beyond those for the 1.3 million new people who enter the work force every year.
- Economists may see the recession as being over, but the man on the street does not. Roughly 60% of the public believes the recession still has a way to go, a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll reported last October. Even those who have not suffered know someone””a friend, a neighbor, a family member””who is being hurt. Two in three say the rally in the stock market has not changed their views.
There are sound reasons for this gloom. Consumers have learned a bitter lesson. They understand that increased consumption””private and public””will have to come from income and not borrowing, and income will have to come from employment.
Hello People In Charge—-???? Do You Hear This?
