And thanks. I'm really happy with my job as well. I got it a few months before things went bad as well. I make more money than I used to in less hours. So that's really nice.

You can normally comment at work, can't you? Are they on to you?

All this time I thought a Zombie Dom was the ultimate master of kinky necrophilia. Run of the mill vampires have nothing on leather-clad Zombie Doms...

It appears that the radius of the circle (R) is proportional to the job loss number, and the area of the circle (pi*R*R) is proportional to the *square* of the job loss number. A doubled job loss results in a circle *four* times as large. That makes the visuals exaggerated and misleading.

On a serious note, I do agree that the unemployment numbers that are being reported in the main stream media are much lower than what the real unemployment numbers actually are. The statistics don't reflect people who's unemployment has run out or ones who have completely given up on finding jobs.

I was lucky enough to snag this job right before things went apeshit, and have kept it since then. No pay raise, or anything in 18 months, but it is a decent pay, and I'm a single guy with simple needs, so do not need much.

Though sometimes (often) I feel like I wouldn't mind some struggle, if I had someone to share the struggle with. Well, each one has their own problems, don't they ;)

Deep breath, and fingers crossed for things getting better soon.

[Also, it feels SO good to be able to comment. For some reason I could not log into Consumerist from work. It sucked.]

But Bernanke said the recessions over and we're doing great.

I still think people should go back to school to become plumbers and electricians...I can't remember my reasoning but I'm sure it was pretty sound.

Not that anyone can expect anything else from Dayton, OH. We've been on the downswing for more years than that. I'm hoping to ride out the worst of it at school.

@Oranges w/ Cheese needs guidance: Thanks. We're slowly pulling back out of the whole funk of it all.. My husband teaches piano lessons, and that is where the bulk of our income comes from. Durring the year following the hurricane, his students quit taking lessons, by a bit more than half at the worst of it. (Little Muffy's piano lessons are the first thing to go when mom and dad cut back due to the economy.)

Thankfully, we're on the upswing now because he just started working at a different studio, and he's back up to about where he used to be before the downturn.

Things are lookin up : )

@henrygates: That is really sad. How updated is that thing anyway? I am really trying to figure out this whole economy tailspin? I really wish, sometimes, we worked in an ideal world, with ideal jobs, with low (possibly none) unemployment. But, that's for the 'words for the birds' right?

How about seeing your name in a consumerist article(specially when you're sneaking a peek at work) to make you jump just a bit! Always creeped me out watching that movie and hearing that idiot saying "they're coming to get you Barbara!"

Also, at the very end, there are some tiny dots of green in Baton Rouge and El Paso. Maybe we should all move there.

In short, "No Fun Allowed."

@GitEmSteveDave_Worked4TheWeekend: "fainting goat like children to protect the rest from pedophiles."

That is both brilliant and disturbing all at once. Nicely done sir!

@diasdiem: All I'm hearing is excuses... Scuba gear, people!

Scary map! But, sadly realistic. Even my job is edging closer to the danger line and I work in Grocery Delivery. Normally business goes up for us when employment is down.. because depressed people eat more crap and by more cigarettes.

@Oranges w/ Cheese needs guidance: Houston was majorly impacted by hurricane Ike, which was right at the front of the huge crash of everything.

We're still getting over it. Slowly.

Hurricane Ike really sucked for my household personally. We work 3 jobs between the two of us and it's hourly work with no paid time off. (Actualy, now that I'm thinking about it, we were doing 4 jobs at that time. I had two and he had two.) We basically missed a whole set of paychecks that month.

The rent and the rest of our bills weren't magically lower because of it. : /

So, the safest places to be are North Dakota, South Dakota or Montana. Apparently zombies don't react well to cold.

Hollywood nosedived when the economy took a hit. It's growing a little bit now that people are spending a bit more again, but recovery will be slow. Maybe next year we'll see more jobs in Los Angeles.

the ultimate would be Vampire vs Zombie movie in which the zombies are the good guys.

It's probably almost 20% for underemployed and the like.

You have to understand that the Clinton Administration changed how unemployment figures were calculated vs. the depression era as did other administrations.

We're not at 30% unemployment like the depression had. But dammit if we're not close.

[blogs.moneycentral.msn.com]

So from what we can see, the zombie outbreak began in New Orleans around 2006? Then rapidly spread? Can we blame the economy on the weather?

Can we move on to the next thing already? What about ghost vikings? Circus Freaks?

@Skankingmike: not to mention people who just graduated from school. also not eligible for unemployment.

I prefer the DragonConTV video for "Re: Your Brains" :)

Unemp. is probably above 10% in reality, perhaps around 14-16%. The official numbers try to stay below 10% because a double digit employment number is likely to cause panic.

Inside Editor joke? No other articles are tagged that...

Did that reduce the unemployment rate?

While that may seem a bit harsh, I kind of like the idea, as it's slightly better than my idea of fainting goat like children to protect the rest from pedophiles.

I believe unemployment has already exceeded 10% if you count people who aren't on it and people underemployed.