Economy Hemorrhaging Jobs. The nation's unemployment rate climbed above 8 percent last month and the economy shed 651,000 jobs, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's the highest rate in 25 years, with 12.5 million unemployed. [WaPo]
Post a comment
Comments:
Once we raise taxes on businesses and the rich, more jobs will open up.
:)
@Bladefist: There you go again, speaking common sense. Didn't you get the memo that we can all hope again?
@Bladefist: The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. -M. Thatcher
We don't need jobs, the government is going to nationalize the banks, the auto industry AND housing! That means free money, free cars and free houses (well, not for the evil top 5%).
So, just go out there and party, everything's under control.
@Bladefist: Silly, the rich and the businesses, will always find ways to weasel their way out of paying their fair share regardless.
Thats funny i own a small business and i get bent over every year... wicked pissa
Hope! Change! Poverty! Yippie!
@everfade... you do realize that the "rich" pay almost ALL the taxes in America, right? No really, they do. Look it up.
@rpm773: And thanks to capitalism, American-style, you never ever run out of money to give to the banks that pissed theirs all away! Hooray capitalism!
@Erich: Understood. But I would implore you to look up whats going on with UBS.
Read your history books people. This is not unheard of and we have seen all of this before. Do not get fooled into being scared.
U.S. Unemployment Rates Month-by-Month for the Period 1978-1984
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
1978 6.4 6.3 6.3 6.1 6.0 5.9 6.2 5.9 6.0 5.8 5.9 6.0
1979 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.7 6.0 5.9 6.0 5.9 6.0
1980 6.3 6.3 6.3 6.9 7.5 7.6 7.8 7.7 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.2
1981 7.5 7.4 7.4 7.2 7.5 7.5 7.2 7.4 7.6 7.9 8.3 8.5
1982 8.6 8.9 9.0 9.3 9.4 9.6 9.8 9.8 10.1 10.4 10.8 10.8
1983 10.4 10.4 10.3 10.2 10.1 10.1 9.4 9.5 9.2 8.8 8.5 8.3
1984 8.0 7.8 7.8 7.7 7.4 7.2 7.5 7.5 7.3 7.4 7.2 7.3
@everfade: Why is their share bigger? My definition of fair is "equitable" or "equal," and as far as I can see, taxes aren't equal. Despite that, I am working my butt off to get into the 35% tax bracket.
Do you realize that the top 1% of America's rich enjoy 33% of our nation's wealth. Extend that out to the top 20% of americans and its 80% of the wealth. So yeah, the rich pay almost all the taxes because they are the one's with almost all of the money. You can't ask someone who has no money to pay taxes.
I am very, very glad that my company is pretty much recession proof and indeed, I'm getting a raise this year. It's small, but I'm getting one!
@Xerloq: Because the portion of your income you have to pay to live ALSO isn't equal. If it costs $20,000/year to feed yourself (let us say), they guy making $25,000/year is spending 4/5 of his money on food while the guy making $100,000/year is only spending 1/5 of his money on food.
If you're honestly and sincerely making such a simplistic statement against a progressive tax system, you seriously need to educate yourself.
@The_Red_Monkey: One of the big problems is that the bls has been manipulating the numbers for years.
You should also know ( from your history books ) that America is now almost completely dependent to consumer spending. In the previous recessions we laid off factory workers temporary, now we have very few factories. America also has far more "1099" workers than ever before and those are not counted in the official numbers. U6 is up to 16% ( 1 in 6.25 adults ).
Greenspan's policies have been a disaster, taking away risks from banks, kicking recessions down the road at huge expense, allowing this huge asset bubble, and unregulated securities to blossom. Most people can't even fathom how screwed the whole system is.
@Bladefist: Brilliant! Wealthy consumers with less purchasing power and corporations with less money to pay the labor force is the best formula for job creation!
Wait.
According to the IRS reports, the top 1% of income earners pay 40% of all taxes collected by the IRS. The top 10% of earners pay 90% of all taxes. I am not in the top 10%, but I am still very embarrassed that they pay 90% of all taxes. The top 10% are carrying a massive amount of water for the rest.
@The_Red_Monkey: Sounds like Battlestar Galactica.
This has all happened before and will all happen again....
Massive government spending and higher taxes are not solving the problem? The economic policies that have never worked before aren't working now?
Gee, I wonder why not.
I pay taxes on my phone bill, water bill, electric bill, cable bill, internet bill, gas bill, insurance bill, payroll income, property.....I pay a lot of taxes all over the place. I pay enough and I'm tired of people saying the rich pay all the taxes....It was said above and it was a good point, they also have all the money!
I know the best way to address this problem: Bicker and snark about politics along the usual partisan lines on the internet! It's solved everything else so far!
@kwsventures: Why? The top 10% make almost 80% of the money. Paying more taxes sounds about right to me.
@Bladefist: Get over yourself. Leadership is the ability to be flexible, not to stubbornly cut off your nose to spite your face. But you wouldn't know, would you?
The tax cuts are working. GWB kept saying that, at least for awhile. Didn't Clinton do the same thing? And what happened after that? Deficit wiped out, expanding economy, etc. Bush being the complete and total idiot goes to war in two countries and cuts taxes. Yea, that was a formula for success.
And why can't one reply with the new version of Firefox? Did you not test this Consumerist?
@Erich Rosenberger: You do realize that the lower class, working poor, and some lower middle class folks have no discretionary income, and no savings, right? They can't pay more taxes.
You do realize that most large corporations don't even pay income taxes, right? no really, they DON'T.
@papahoth:
Oh so that's what's going on with commenting from my office computer. (new Firefox) Don't know why I didn't think of that. Annoying, but I'm sure Consumerist will find a fix soon.
@kwsventures: If you would like to pay more, I'm sure the IRS will take it if you offer >;p. There's even a check box for that.
The top 10% make many times over what I do. They have proportionately even higher % of discretionary income. I don't feel bad for them one bit.
@snowmoon
You mean that banks have never cheated and failed? I remember something about some savings and loans going bad. Again people are freaking out over something that is cyclical. Sure the numbers are manipulated but they always have been. The numbers are valid and people are freaking out over a repeat of the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and the .Com boom.
Also the reply problem is the same in IE.
@kwsventures: Percentage wise, the rich pay less than 20% of their income to taxes. Capital gains are taxed at a much lower rate than payroll income.
I think alot of us middle class folk would love to only pay 20% of our income to taxes.
@Xerloq: Econ 101 - marginal utility.
My earning another dollar does me more good than Bill Gates earning another dollar.
Similarly, a dollar paid in taxes will hurt me more than it will Bill Gates.
How long to 10% unemployment rate? I give it 6 months :(
Thankfully I was just offered a job today with slightly better pay than the one I left 2 months ago. The nice thing about having a science degree is it's fairly resilient, especially since such few Americans have one.
@varro: You misunderstand. Marginal utility =/= fair, or equitable.
You also encounter difficulty in finding a universal definition for utility, and failed to understand that utility is dependent on individual prioritization and preference. You perceive greater marginal utility in the dollar for yourself, and less for Bill, but he may not perceive it to be so.
Besides, who is to to say that the goods or services Bill might use his dollar for have are less useful than yours? The measurement of marginal utility is useful between individuals when the same goods and services are available to them. I posit that Bill has access to goods and services that are 'better' than the ones available to you and that he can do more 'good' with that dollar than you.
All this for the sake of argument, of course.
@Bladefist: Fact, 1 average rich executive pays 200 people worth of taxes. Some rich people are self-made and hard working. If you struggle to make a business work and achieve success would you want to pay for 200 people's taxes? In fact the rich already support much of the country and pay for the majority of welfare. The less taxes the rich pay, the more jobs we have. Who do you think gives you those jobs? Poor people? Yes banks are evil and bank execs are horrible people making way too much money. They aren't the only rich people though, so don't generalize.
it's headlines like this that make me avoid the news. it's anxiety producing enough in my head, but becomes even more reinforced when i see it in print or on tv.