June Unemployment Data: Cloudy with a Chance of Depressing
As if June's dismal weather wasn't bad* enough, the Labor Department today released unemployment data for the month.
Is there such a thing as an umbrella that can shield us from sadness?
The American economy shed 467,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent, its highest level in 26 years, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
And the kicker, the four-foot gutter puddle, if you will:
The median time people go without a job has increased to more than four months, from slightly more than two months at the outset of the recession in December 2007.
“We have never seen a duration of that magnitude,” Lynn Reaser, vice president for the National Association for Business Economics, said. “There are a lot of ramifications. A lot of these people become discouraged, and they drop out of the work force. It affects their spending, their whole psychological frame of mind.”
And you know what we call that phenomenon, don't you?
That's right. A mental recession.
*At least it was bad on the East Coast. If you live someplace that's been dry and sunny, do me a favor and don't talk about it.
RSS
It's weird being in a recession in sunny So Cal. You keep expecting black and white sepia. Yet sunshine, palm trees and pools continue.
I've gone mentally limp.
The misguided "stimulus" legislation has already crapped out: these figures are far worse than the ones the White House warned us about if we DIDN'T pass the bill- but itwas passed, and unemployment soars?
Instead of creating jobs, interest rates were bumped up, the dollar slid… and it didn't help anybody get any work. Much of this is due to the fact that Obama's agenda has mortified almost every machine of job-and-growth creation in the country.
The One couldn't deliver the type of "temporary, targeted, and timely" bill that he promised for weeks. Irregardless of his beautified image in the press, Obama lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid… who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.
But the lack of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically… this legislation now looks to be a huge gamble. And when all this pork-n-welfare fails to generate any real economic gains… the Democrats could face a bloodbath in 2010.
One could make the argument that Obama knows his legacy will be in tatters by 2012.. and is ramming through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mere mention of his name… sure seems like it.
The misguided "stimulus" legislation has already crapped out: these figures are far worse than the ones the White House warned us about if we DIDN'T pass the bill- but itwas passed, and unemployment soars?
Instead of creating jobs, interest rates were bumped up, the dollar slid… and it didn't help anybody get any work. Much of this is due to the fact that Obama's agenda has mortified almost every machine of job-and-growth creation in the country.
The One couldn't deliver the type of "temporary, targeted, and timely" bill that he promised for weeks. Irregardless of his beautified image in the press, Obama lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid… who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.
But the lack of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically… this legislation now looks to be a huge gamble. And when all this pork-n-welfare fails to generate any real economic gains… the Democrats could face a bloodbath in 2010.
One could make the argument that Obama knows his legacy will be in tatters by 2012.. and is ramming through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mere mention of his name… sure seems like it.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com
——————————————————————————————————–
The foolish $700B+ "stimulus" legislation has already crapped out: these figures are far worse than the ones the White House warned us about if we DIDN'T pass the bill- but it was passed, and still unemployment soars?
Instead of creating jobs, interest rates were bumped up, the dollar slid… with few actual economic benefits.
Much of this is due to the fact that Obama's anti-business agenda has mortified almost every machine of job-and-growth creation in the country.
The Democrats just HAD to insist on tax-n-spend, rather than a tax holiday for, say, six months… can you imagine how things would be doing with a $700B tax cut instead?
And the One couldn't deliver the type of "temporary, targeted, and timely" bill that he promised for weeks, either. Irregardless of his beautified image, in reality Obama lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid… who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.
The lack of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically… this legislation now looks to be a HUGE gamble. And when all this pork-n-welfare fails to generate any real economic gains… the Democrats could face a bloodbath in 2010.
One could make the argument that Obama knows his legacy will be in tatters by 2012, and could care less how much damage his radical programs do to the economy. He's therefore ramming-through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mere mention of his name-
Sure seems like it.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com