Metro Atlanta unemployment reaches 10.7% [The end of ATL Traffic?]

Metro Atlanta unemployment reaches 10.7%

www.bizjournals.com

Metro Atlanta’s June unemployment rate rose to 10.7 percent, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The area’s unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in May. Atlanta lost 133,500 jobs in June, down 5.5 percent from June 2008.

As reported July 15, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 10.1 percent in June -- the highest rate ever recorded in Georgia. The jobless rate was up from a revised 9.6 percent in May.

Last month, 483,394 unemployed Georgians were looking for work -- an increase of 65 percent from June of 2008. Of that number, 160,249, or 33 per

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 26-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

It's pretty obvious as well.

So many business have closed, and even though I live in the wealthiest area around Atlanta, it's effected us as well.

I own my own business and work out of my house, so I don't commute anymore. However, the other day I had to get to the airport for a business trip during the normal morning rush hour taking 400 south from exit 10 to the airport.

THERE WAS NO TRAFFIC!

I was amazed! I'd never seen anything like it. It used to be that if you didn't leave by 7:30 you were out of luck until about 9:30

Now, it doesn't really matter what time you leave, because there really isn't any traffic... sure there are people on the road driving to work, but you would think it was the weekend the way the roads looked.

www.bizjournals.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is because of Big Government by Bush and now Obama.

This is happening in Ohio as well. What Obama is doing is putting in place socialist programs and not growing the economy.

When Washington spends and waste trillions, Americans can't pay this money back in a Global economy with cheap labor. Then you try to tax the wealth creators to death, this means they don't risk capital. So they don't start the small business or they don't invest in the next You Tube or Google and you don't get any job creation.

I think the stock market might go up and unemployment will continue to rise as people look for ways to hide their money from the hands of the Government.

We should cut the capital gains rate to zero and reduce the corporate tax. This will help everyone and money will flood into the United States.

People will say, you can't do this because Government will not have enough money and I say GOOD. They already have us in an 11 trillion plus dollar hole and they don't have enough money?

Everytime you look around they need a trillion bucks for something. So you will not see any economic growth under Obama. This is because we are in a global economy with cheap labor and everthing he's doing is designed to grow depenence on Government not grow the economy.

reply to post by Matrix Rising


Are you noticing traffic has decreased greatly during rush hour in Ohio as well?

Hunka - There is not nearly the traffic in Atlanta that there was a year ago. In fact, it doesn't surprise me at all that so many businesses have failed in metro-Atlanta.

The area's engine of wealth these past few years has been in multiple sectors, but especially in real estate development - especially residential development.

We now lead the country in bank failures - primarily due to home builders that have defaulted on real estate development loans. We're #1 in bank closures in the entire country.

Who does that affect? Mortgage officers, commercial lenders - anyone in business lending. Realtors, appraisers, inspectors, title attorneys - anyone tied to real estate. Construction - anyone tied to the trades, including builders, plumbers, electricians, etc.

Once the real estate market took a dive, Atlanta was hit hard. Atlanta is diverse enough, though, with Coca-Cola and several other large Fortune 500 companies with offices here, that it will rebound better than most other areas of the country when it does come back. It's not like the Rust Belt which is so tied to manufacturing, automotive, steel, etc.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Yes, traffic has slowed down and it's obvious the economy has slowed.

I saw a new Subway that opened up and I was shocked because I haven't seen a new Franchise around here in awhile. I used to see new stores and new franchises all the time, but not hardly as much as there used to be.

This is because when you tax the wealth creators to death, they don't risk capital.

Say someone has capital to risk in a new start up. That start up then becomes a billion dollar business. This means more jobs, more tax revenue, growth in the economy, donations to charities and non profits and more.

What's happening now means the economy will not grow, it will slow down.

reply to post by Matrix Rising


I think it's a bit more complex than that.

There are different taxation layers to the puzzle.

For example, how much of my federal income tax actually creates or sustains jobs in my local community?

Now how much of my state and local taxes create or sustain jobs in my local community? Probably a lot more.

Now granted there is corruption at all levels. Let's just call that the Standard Deviation.

So the wealthy of Atlanta are being taxed, but we have TONS of loopholes as well to take advantage of. For example our Homestead exemptions on homes. We actually pay a much lower rate than our appraisals are at, which is good. Plus there is tons of corruption which have actually went in favor of the wealthy with property taxes being "frozen" on large lots for years, until someone notices.

It's because of some of this corruption that the City of Altanta has lost a lot of money, and has been going through layoff after layoff.

Not to mention the special exemptions that major business get in Atlanta. The small business owner shoulders a lot of the tax brunt because the large ones get preferential treatment. I'm not complaining, just sayin.

As I mentioned, it's not as simple as "Their are overtaxing the wealth creators!"

At the end of the day, Atlanta as a center of commerce has been growing amazingly over the past decade even as the City was seeing deeper and deeper issues.

Now are taxes haven't gone up. And we are experiencing the drop in employment, not because of taxes, but because of the lack of business.

It's a domino effect. IBM lays off a ton of people because IBM decides to fund a different project "Smart Grid". Those people either don't find jobs, or find jobs elsewhere. They stop patronizing the restaurants in the area which depend on them, those restaurants go under. Now the staff which were employed by those restaurants are looking for jobs as well.

Not to mention the real estate market and it's effect.

I'm all for lowering my own tax burden. It won't cause me to hire someone else in Atlanta, however it will definitely bring my "eating out" habit back in full swing.

I now live in Johns Creek. We are losing restaurants here as well, although our city and schools are rather nicely funded by property tax. Then again, you have to understand that Johns Creek was founded in 2006 specifically so that those of us in North Fulton could pay the taxes where they would benefit us most. We opted to pay tax specifically to fund our own city services.

This is a county wide phenomenon which is slowly pulling more and more money away from the City of Atlanta.

Anyway.. as I mentioned, it's rather complex.


[edit on 26-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

I'm in Detroit and it's the same thing here. 4 or 5 pm and the roads used to be jammed now no traffic. It's more like the great depression here. There used to be so many auto related jobs I could quit one and have another the next day. I've been out of work 3 years. If I work it's at a job paying less then half of what I used to make. I have a large group of family and friends 3/4 of them are all in the same situation as me. Two of my cousins graduated a year ago and still can't find jobs. The fast food dumps wont even hire them.

reply to post by CookieMonster09


Cookie, Yep... I think you are right. I've always said Atlanta is probably one of the quickest to rebound.

Now I'm just going to wait on that rebound... to ... eventually... start... ;-)

Well, whatever you do, don't head north. Metro-Detroit is the worst right now. I think Atlanta still has a ways to go, though - There are more bank shake-ups on the way and most of the banks still aren't lending yet.

John's Creek is an interesting phenomenon. Very wealthy area, and I am sure that the city of Atlanta is feeling the effects of all that lost tax revenue now being concentrated in John's Creek.

My biggest concern - not just here in Atlanta - is that we appear to be creating a huge divide between the rich and poor, and the middle class is quickly dissipating. I know Obama is attempting to re-distribute and equalize these disparities, but his policies seem to be having a negative effect the more he tinkers with every little facet of our economic structure.

We need less taxes, not more. We need competent regulatory reform, but not over-regulation. We need to loosen the strangleholds on small business, and make owning a small business more accessible - not more burdensome. You talk to these business owners, and they are getting crushed by the weight of this recession.

We need to reverse the trends in unemployment as well, and get people working again. I think there are still a lot of people out there that actually want to work, but can't find work or have stopped looking altogether.

crap i notice it in tampa. Just now. i never thought about that as an indicator until now.

Originally posted by CookieMonster09
Well, whatever you do, don't head north. Metro-Detroit is the worst right now. I think Atlanta still has a ways to go, though - There are more bank shake-ups on the way and most of the banks still aren't lending yet.

John's Creek is an interesting phenomenon. Very wealthy area, and I am sure that the city of Atlanta is feeling the effects of all that lost tax revenue now being concentrated in John's Creek.

My biggest concern - not just here in Atlanta - is that we appear to be creating a huge divide between the rich and poor, and the middle class is quickly dissipating. I know Obama is attempting to re-distribute and equalize these disparities, but his policies seem to be having a negative effect the more he tinkers with every little facet of our economic structure.

We need less taxes, not more. We need competent regulatory reform, but not over-regulation. We need to loosen the strangleholds on small business, and make owning a small business more accessible - not more burdensome. You talk to these business owners, and they are getting crushed by the weight of this recession.

We need to reverse the trends in unemployment as well, and get people working again. I think there are still a lot of people out there that actually want to work, but can't find work or have stopped looking altogether.

We just need the government to stop telling us how to live our lives. What we can smoke. What sort of properties taxes we must pay. How many years our children go to school. We just need them to leave us the heck alone and just worry about the defense of our nation and its infrastructure.

The rest will fall into place

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Yes it is that simple.

This is because we are in a global economy with cheap labor. This will affect the states because there will be unfunded mandates. This is because as the Government grows in a global economy, consumption decreases.

You can't have a behemoth in Washington because the people can't pay for it. 60 years ago it was different. For instance, I know Corporations that used to be 80% in America and 20% overseas. Now there 80% overseas and 20% in America.

This is because we are in a Global economy with cheap labor. So we will move to a consumer based society from a producer based economy. This means there will be more peope in the service sector and you will also get more entrepreneurs.

You can't have a behemoth in Washington in a global economy. Obama wants us to be a union based 1960 economy and if we go back to that now, America will be a wasteland of cheap labor.

See, a consumer based economy works because other countries will hold our debt as long as we consume there goods. That means more credit, more entrepreneurs and people making money.

When the government grows, other countries will not hold our debt as consumption decreases. This will cause a credit crunch.

We have a 13 trillion dollar GDP and over 11 trillion in debt. This tells you the Government is out of control.

Again, the government had interest rates low and credit was cheap. They are the ones that reduced underwriting standards because Barney Frank and others wanted everyone to get loans.

I used to be a Mortgage Broker/Real Estate Investor. I would have people come in with 550 credit scores and I would tell them they would probably be rejected but the place I worked for still submitted the loans.

To my suprise, Countrywide or a place like IndyMac would accept the loan. This is because they didn't go by the credit score but the ability to pay.

So if a couple made 60 or 70,000 per year and had bad credit they would get the loan. I always said this was idiotic because even though they make good money they don't pay their bills.

Barney Frank and the crew in Washington wanted to give out more loans and when it blew up in their faces they blamed everyone else and asked for trillions of dollars.

This is what happens when Government tries to run the economy. There not elected to do these things. There not elected to run car companies, banks and control executive pay. They are elected to protect the God Given liberty of the individual not run the economy and peoples lives.

Like I said, alot of things are laid at the feet of Government. They just blame everyone else and sadly many people fall for it everytime.

[edit on 26-7-2009 by Matrix Rising]

In the area where I live (SoCal) it's the same thing: no traffic jams anymore. You can zip through just about any time frame now without worry. About the only time traffic slows down is when the students start leaving the University campuses. But no morning or evening jams due to workers.

One of the indicators I use is to watch for cars on the side of the road: in hard times you'll see more vehicles stopped. The reason is that some people try to stretch the gas and run out, and some can no longer afford simple maintenance and break down.

Make no mistake: the economy sucks hugely. There are some streets around here that have lost six or seven businesses in the space of two blocks. I haven't seen any new businesses open in months now, just closings of old and familiar stores.

Traffic is worse down here in coastal Georgia. With all the rebuilding and widening of the roads and the massive construstruction on the interstate traffic is horrible.

I was wondering why we were seeing so much construction of condos and town houses and now I'm beginning to think those darn northerners are filtering down south.

There are even help wanted signs in business windows.

I'm going to Atlanta Wednesday morning. It is a 5 hour drive from my house.

I will take pictures of the Atlanta traffic. Not that I don't believe anyone but it is hard to believe there is no traffic ( or decreased traffic) in Atlanta.

It's been about 14 months since I've been there. It would be a blessing if there was a decrease in traffic.

reply to post by dizziedame


Note that we still have "sports traffic", just not rush hour traffic on 400.

Originally posted by Matrix Rising
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

Yes it is that simple.

Nothing is ever that simple.

For example, if we would have had regulations on the housing market, we wouldn't be in the situation we are down here in Atlanta, like CookieMonster said.

There are alot of issues which are all contributing factors.

The human mind though wants to find a simple answer because it wants to feel like it can solve the problem.

[edit on 26-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by Matrix Rising
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

Yes it is that simple.

Nothing is ever that simple.

For example, if we would have had regulations on the housing market, we wouldn't be in the situation we are down here in Atlanta, like CookieMonster said.

There are alot of issues which are all contributing factors.

The human mind though wants to find a simple answer because it wants to feel like it can solve the problem.

[edit on 26-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Yes it is that simple.

Sometimes we make things complicated.

It's very simple, Government should not be a Behemoth and Government should not try to run the economy. When this happens, disaster follows.

It doesn't take a Theoretical Physicist to figure this out.

When Clinton and the Democrats along with many republicans pushed for Free Trade, a blind man could see this is what would happen.

In a Global economy with cheap labor, your going to lose jobs. This means you can't have a big government because there will not be enough taxes collected to sustain the government.

Obama said we can't sustain the debt and we are out of money yet he wants to spend a trillion everytime you look around.

Obama is putting in place his social agenda and he's using the downturn in the economy to do it and unemployment will just get worse.

This is just basic common sense.

The US government should have put high import taxes on foreign goods that were also manufactured in the united states. The US goods would've been cheaper to the US resident and the internal jobs could have been saved.

I heard Malaysia encourages people to buy the locally made Proton by imposing a 120% tax on imports and a 300% tax on imported sports cars. Most of the cars driven around Malaysia is the Proton. Maybe the US should impose that policy.

Malaysian Proton

Malaysia seems smarter than the US now.