I imagine everyone here knows numerous people who have lost their jobs.
The next big fiasco just around the corner is an expected second big hit against banks as loan defaults continue to soar.

Unemployment rate hits 5-year high of 6.1% - Sep. 5, 2008

Wow this is one thing that is highly unusual for this decade and the last few years of the last century, even going back to the mid 90's maybe, that unemployment has always remained very low. This is a sharp rise, and unexpected.

We have the really weird situation that the US economy is growing, but the jobless rate is increasing. Over here some regions are now in recession, and growth is basically flat, but it doesn't seem to effect the unemployment which is still historically low. Does anyone have an explanation for that? Is it just that we can't trust monetary numbers any more now that the financial system is so much bigger than the real economy?

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society

My explanation is efficiency. Do more with less. Businesses are cutting the slackers and everyone else is working harder. Which is actually a great thing for businesses. Sucks for those who lose their jobs, but I guess they werent that valuable. Nevertheless, things go up and down. Im used to it.

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http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

Golly, this was totally unexpected. Much like it was totally unexpected when minors and returning college students couldn't find jobs this summer.

First person who can guess the causes of these events wins the prize. (I'll give you a hint: expect the same thing to happen next year around this time.)

perhaps you didn't notice the part that this has been going of for 8 months?

Nope, I've noticed it. Did you happen to notice that the acceleration over the last month is what seems to be shocking everyone?

No, I would notice that the slow death of employment has eroded to a 5 year low...which is not the end of the world...but a not so insignificant mark.
Not so much that this many people are unemployed - that is not the real issue...the real issue is the debt they will default on.

Unemployment went from 5% to 5.5% in May, flat in June, up another .2% in July, and now another .4% for August. In December of last year we were at 4.8%. So, we've gone from 4.8% to 6.1% - a change of 1.3 points in 8 months. 1.1 points, the overwhelming majority of the past 8 month's increase, came in just four months - May through August. Seems like something must have happened somewhere around there.

ahh...sorry my misconception...I thought you were saying this was no big deal.
I didn't think there could be more than one jviehe super optimist...

I was waiting for the rest of the fallout of the min wage rise and the end of summer purge in the entertainment industry is as normal as nitrogen.

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Hope is the opposite of audacity. It's passive, an excuse for inaction.

Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

“What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?”

“One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and let's be honest, pretty sexy piece of eye-candy.

“The other kills her own food.”

DING! DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! Johnny, tell 'em what he's won!

please let it be Rice-a-Roni the San Francisco treat !

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Hope is the opposite of audacity. It's passive, an excuse for inaction.

Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

“What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?”

“One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and let's be honest, pretty sexy piece of eye-candy.

“The other kills her own food.”

Used to be that most workers were unskilled, so were easily laid off when the economy slowed down. These days most companies have a considerable training investment in their workers and skilled people are hard to replace when things pick up again, so they are much more reluctant to lay off people. They will hang on to them as long as possible, hoping the economy will turn around.The recent increase in unemployment is probably due to businesses being forced to recognize that things aren't going to turn around anytime soon.

On the other side of things, much of the employment increase in the booming economy of the last decade or so was the self-employed, who aren't counted by the government as unemployed as they can't collect unemployment insurance. However, they still don't have jobs if their business failed, as so many are doing recently, so the real unemployment rate is probably far higher than government figures show.

Businesses have become more efficient, but I haven't noticed them "cutting the slackers" (most management would be fired) or "everyone else working harder". Most of the layoffs are due to declining sales.

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Member in good standing: Rednecks for Jesus.

Anyone ever think of saying it like this?

Employment at 5 year low of 94.9%. Doesnt sound so bad anymore does it?

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.