Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression

Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression

www.cbsnews.com

They're saying there are more jobs. I'm just wondering where those jobs are," Lambrecht said.
About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression.
The bigger the gap on someone's resume, the more questions employers have.
"(Employers) think: 'Oh, well, there must be something really wrong with them because they haven't gotten a job in 6 months, a year, 2 years.'

(visit the link for the full news article)

It really irritates me that politicians continue to call this a "recession" and even worse a "double dip recession". Double dip would mean that we came out of it at some point. When did that happen? I see dozens of families living in their cars. I see more people adopting an RV lifestyle as they call it, when actually they can no longer afford rent so they buy an OLD rv and live in Wal-Mart parking lots. Jobs are few and far between. Good jobs are almost non-existent(slight hyperbole, but not much). If we cannot even admit we have a problem, how can we begin to solve it?
Owebowmao's policies are an abject failure. His tax policies, his environmental policies and his war on the middle class are all bearing their bitter fruits. Yes I know he is a puppet, but if he had a pair he could stand and say no more. However he is a willing participant in the deconstruction of America. What does he do? He sends his family on vacations. He plays golf, he talks about March Madness. "Let Them Eat Cake", that is his policy towards Americans my friends. When do we do something about it?

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

I think if we as a whole fully acknowledged how bad things are, the economy would just fall apart. I find it odd that China hasn't fully called us out on it yet. Eventually it will all catch up to us, and we'll probably be worse off that way, than if we just owned up to it from the get go IMO.

reply to post by sonofliberty1776


I personally advocate revolution, but our pansy assed society is too afraid of losing American Idol to seriously do anything about it. We need organized, concentrated activists who are not afraid to start the movements. You want to know how to do it? Get a group started and recruit these people. Educate them about "their" government. All we need is a spark, and it won't take long for the fires of freedom to consume those who oppose and abuse it.

reply to post by AnatomicWeezle
Thanks for the reply. I agree with you. If we just bite the bullet and admit our problem we could actually start addressing the basic issues. Until we do, until we admit that free trade does not work when competing against slave labor economies. Until we admit that the costs our businesses have heaped upon them by OSHA and the EPA among others raises the cost of doing business in America. We cannot do anything to fix the baseline issues. For example. We could add tariffs on imports from nations that use slave labor, or that have government support of "private" business, or that do not embrace the same worker safety laws we do etc... We need to level the playing field or good, middle class jobs will continue to fly overseas.

reply to post by haarvik


Its similar in the UK, people here are too attached to their luxuries and would rather bury their head in the sand to the point of selling out their friends and families, than do something about it. So the way I see it, what is happening is deserved. The people here are not worth saving.

Originally posted by haarvik
reply to post by sonofliberty1776

 

I personally advocate revolution, but our pansy assed society is too afraid of losing American Idol to seriously do anything about it. We need organized, concentrated activists who are not afraid to start the movements. You want to know how to do it? Get a group started and recruit these people. Educate them about "their" government. All we need is a spark, and it won't take long for the fires of freedom to consume those who oppose and abuse it.

Thanks for the reply.
I used to hold out hope that we could change without violent revolution. However with our government adopting and using police state tactics against the citizenry, I have lost that hope.

Originally posted by Firefly_
reply to post by haarvik

 

Its similar in the UK, people here are too attached to their luxuries and would rather bury their head in the sand to the point of selling out their friends and families, than do something about it. So the way I see it, what is happening is deserved. The people here are not worth saving.

Absolutely. They do not realize that they are undermining themselves by acting in such a manner. I almost wonder if we could do away with TV if that would be enough to wake people up?

we are trying to force the old WWII era workforce paradigm on this digital era economy landscape.


this will be a ? 5 year ? transition period...
Specialize ! become an independent contractor or entruepenur... relying on attaching oneself to a large corporation for a career was once a viable work strategy... but that passed too in the 1960s

if you have a costly degree in sociolology or basket weaving...tough luck... retrain yourself


full employment used to mean that between 4-5% of chronic unemployed were just set aside


in this new paradigm, it may well be that 9-10% unemployed is considered full employment...
until the time that the unproductive, unhirable, are weeded out of the system...
a 'system' that operated on the premis that employing everyone that could fog a mirror was OK
because they would become consumers and borrowers of credit to keep the house-of-cards
economy rolling along.

those days are gone

Originally posted by St Udio
in this new paradigm, it may well be that 9-10% unemployed is considered full employment...
until the time that the unproductive, unhirable, are weeded out of the system...
a 'system' that operated on the premis that employing everyone that could fog a mirror was OK
because they would become consumers and borrowers of credit to keep the house-of-cards
economy rolling along.

those days are gone

Thanks for the reply.
There some truth to your assertion, but must we really accept it? Why can't we level the playing field and bring jobs back to the US? I cannot believe that 10% of Americans are truly that lazy. 5%, sure I can buy that. We need to seriously deincentivize outsourcing of American jobs. The fair tax would go a long way towards doing that. Punishing companies and business owners with stiff fines and jail time for hiring illegals would also help. But, ending the failed free trade policies would help tremendously. America can be self sufficient. We have the vast majority of the resources we need, and a large labor pool. We have the talent. We need to get government the hell out of the way, and put them in the role of supporting businesses; especially small businesses. We need to end the fed and break up the larger banks into smaller banks with a more regional outlook. There is a lot we can do, but will we?

reply to post by sonofliberty1776


I read a lot of threads, and everyone is saying the same thing. However I don't think most people move beyond their keyboard. It's easy to complain and speak out when you are anonymous. It's much harder to actually do something real to effect the change.

reply to post by St Udio


My husband lost his job in 2008 (had a severe car accident). So he DID turn "Independent Contractor". Do you have ANY idea the amount of taxes are then levied against you???? You are no longer under the FICA , you switch to SECA, a whole other ball of wax (in America). Not to mention trying to get someone to PAY without going to court or putting a lein on their property? What good does that do? Certainly not money IN our pocket. And thats if anyone can actually afford to have anything done! His bids on the jobs have had to go so low that it barely covers transportation - much less labor.

I could understand if he did a shoddy job or something (and this is not his wife talking this is a paraphrase from a client) he will stay as long as it takes to make sure it is done right AND insist they have an inspector come in and look at the job, even if it didnt require it.

So its so easy to say just start your own business or retrain in another. You have to have RESOURCES first to be able to!

He does GOOD work, just no one has the money to have the job done!

Perhaps chronic unemployment is worse now than during the Great Depression. It is certainly worse than is reported. One major difference I see is the lack of support for the unemployed in this new depression. Sure we have unemployment benefits for many, unless, like me, you are seasonally employed and receive no benefits what so ever (never got any Obama stimulus either). No one has the means to support "soup lines" or any other charity that helps the unemployed like they used to. The "dog eat dog", along with the "poor get what they deserve" attitudes are more common these days. No one seems to willing to help their neighbors as much because they are having trouble helping themselves. Charity begins and ends at home. Policies don't help people who try to feed the homeless either, they would rather punish instead. Businesses that throw out edible foods put locks on dumpsters to keep people out. I doubt they'd even let you distribute information to the homeless on how to gather and prepare pigeons, rats and common edible weeds to survive on. It is survival of the richest rather than survival of the fittest.

America has lost innovation, manufacturing, businesses and jobs... Most of it is and has been relocating to China, India and other foreign nations.

America is no longer a good place to do business, and until or if that changes, this cycle will only continue.

The only bright side to this is that the continuous loss in revenues and increase in dependence on governments means that they will eventually fail.

Freedom and liberty built this nation and economy, and for the past several decades that freedom and liberty has been eroded through bad policies, legislation, new taxes, regulations and restrictions.

If we could get government out of the way, and return to innovation, and a much more business friendly environment this would all change, but as long as government has a death grip on the american people and will not let go of its control and regulation of nearly everything that cannot happen.

All we can do is watch as this continues to worsen.

Enjoy the fall.

Originally posted by MichiganSwampBuck
Perhaps chronic unemployment is worse now than during the Great Depression. It is certainly worse than is reported. One major difference I see is the lack of support for the unemployed in this new depression. Sure we have unemployment benefits for many, unless, like me, you are seasonally employed and receive no benefits what so ever (never got any Obama stimulus either). No one has the means to support "soup lines" or any other charity that helps the unemployed like they used to. The "dog eat dog", along with the "poor get what they deserve" attitudes are more common these days. No one seems to willing to help their neighbors as much because they are having trouble helping themselves. Charity begins and ends at home. Policies don't help people who try to feed the homeless either, they would rather punish instead. Businesses that throw out edible foods put locks on dumpsters to keep people out. I doubt they'd even let you distribute information to the homeless on how to gather and prepare pigeons, rats and common edible weeds to survive on. It is survival of the richest rather than survival of the fittest.

I just want to say that seasonable unemployed workers do qualify for unemployment. Not sure where you are coming from with that. Unless of course you mean that you have been unemployed for many seasons.

I just want to say that seasonable unemployed workers do qualify for unemployment. Not sure where you are coming from with that. Unless of course you mean that you have been unemployed for many seasons.

I'm afraid that is not true here in Michigan with my unemployment. They actually even take it out of my paycheck in taxes. I've disputed it and I showed by the math I qualify but the unemployment agency here says I don't. Something about "seasonal employment" doesn't qualify. There was a rumor where I work, that if you applied for unemployment they wouldn't hire you the following year. They did rehire me but emphasized I don't get unemployment. Of course you can forget medical, dental or optical, LOL! I do a good job and work hard, but for a little over minimum wage, this year I'm putting in about half the effort. I'm becoming more corrupt too. I'm not supposed to accept gratuities, but I won't say no this year.

If I was President I'd come up with a massive public works project to create jobs.


All these granite tombstones across America serving no purpose.......

I'd make a speech to the American people that we need jobs...and propose to build something. We've got all these tombstones showing WHO WE WERE that won't benefit any future generation. Let's use them to leave something tangible for the future generation. We'd need all 50 State Governors to agree with the project.

Now what could we build with all of that granite? Chop it up into same size blocks and make a frekin pyramid that would dwarf Egypts? I don't know. But America should be making something besides turds.

Originally posted by Pervius
If I was President I'd come up with a massive public works project to create jobs.

And you would have to raise taxes to pay those workers. Add in the cost of the necessary bureaucracy, and is is an absolute net loss to the economy. Let's just return to Constitutional governance instead.

Originally posted by St Udio
we are trying to force the old WWII era workforce paradigm on this digital era economy landscape.


this will be a ? 5 year ? transition period...
Specialize ! become an independent contractor or entruepenur... relying on attaching oneself to a large corporation for a career was once a viable work strategy... but that passed too in the 1960s

if you have a costly degree in sociolology or basket weaving...tough luck... retrain yourself


full employment used to mean that between 4-5% of chronic unemployed were just set aside


in this new paradigm, it may well be that 9-10% unemployed is considered full employment...
until the time that the unproductive, unhirable, are weeded out of the system...
a 'system' that operated on the premis that employing everyone that could fog a mirror was OK
because they would become consumers and borrowers of credit to keep the house-of-cards
economy rolling along.

those days are gone

Yes, this is the truth that only a few are waking up to now, but we all will have to at some point