Unemployment like you've never seen it.

[mechanic]

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

Be sure to press the play button to see the transformation from 2007 to present.  Takes less than a minute.

[okielectrician]

Very depressing
I know our shop has not been this slow is 20+ years.
Most are guys are only getting,maybe 25 hours a week.And most are customers have high end homes and businesses.
Guess know one is secure right now in letting go of there money.

[kennyd]

That doesn't even count the ones working 25 or 30 hours, the ones taking wage hits, the ones working at less than ability, and the ones who just plain gave up.  My 2 helpers are doing 4 days, and we cut the work uniform order to match, so it is certain to keep going.  The office gal is doing 5 5's, sales took 20% cut, and the rest are laid off.

Now when I need materials (machine shop) it is harder to find them in stock, and smaller loads cost more too boot.

My son's job kept cutting hours until he was down to less than the gas to get him there, so he quit.  Now it is odd jobs, and he doesn't even qualify to be "unemployed".  Daughter was cut with no notice, but did get a severance.  Son in law still doesn't know about employers getting renewed on their maintenance contracts, so that could go away, too.

The "green" wind stuff is shut down around here, it seems it also can be made in China.  They sure aren't fixing any infrastructure.

I really wonder how many people can be fit in my 3 br home if need be.

[hillbill]

buddy of mine was telling me about a interview he saw with a economist that worked for reagan, said the artificial propping up of the economy by the gov was just moving the actual real recession up till 2011, when it will be far worse than it has been.sounds lovely!

[INresponse]

Like I've never seen it?   Hmm, I was only between 10 and 13 years old but the late 1970's and up to about 1982 were pretty rough.

Here is a quote from an old Newsweek article I like.   http://www.newsweek.com/id/164211

During his 1980 Labor Day speech at New Jersey's Liberty State Park, Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan listed the economic failures of his opponent, President Jimmy Carter. With the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, Reagan used the moment to respond to Carter, who had accused Reagan of misusing the term "depression" to describe a recession that began in January of that year. "Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary. Well, if it's a definition he wants, I'll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

At this point in time, with all the spending going on at the federal level and not growth going on at our level I think the recovery will start when Reid, Pelosi, and Oblama lose their jobs.

It doesn't matter what political party they belong to, the idiots in Washington need to quit wasting money with freebies and handouts, locally and worldwide.

[mechanic]

I was married, working, and paying for a house when Jimmy Carter was in power.  We counted unemployment different then.  If we used that method, out current rate would be between 17 -20%.  The difference then was that we had a larger mfg. base here.  While most industries got very slow, most picked back up.  Now we see many already gone and others leaving.  Worse, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg.  You are correct, if we don't rid ourselves of these flea bags it will be complete disaster, but even if they were all gone today, the bill still has to be paid, and it's a big one.

[Swampman]

We've hired about 10 in the last few weeks.  Today we laid off 4.

[a4beltfed2000]

We lost almost 100 employees, I am #12 on the call back list (union worker). went from 133 guys to 38 in less than 2 months.remaining guys took a 20% paycut for the next 3 years, I've Been off for almost a year. Nobody wants to hire a bridge/structual engineer right now. 6 years ago, I had jobs lined up, and and messages on my phone for work, a year ago, I was working 60 hrs a week. Now I can't get a job making bread much less bridges or buildings. So much for bettering oneself and getting a degree, still didn't do much good......

[magooch]

Around these parts it looks like if you're a nurse, or truck driver you've got it made.  Judging by the number of vehicles on the freeways, some folks are doing just fine.

Hey, I'm doing my part; I'm not occupying a job and my wife spends money like there's no tomorrow.

[searlock]

everywhere i hear this recession compared to recessions of the past and how this one might go. the biggest difference i see in this current recession is that people are different, greatest obesity in history, half the country wants socialism. there are few tough people in mind or body. the value of the dollar is different and getting worse. i don't think this one will go like any in the past. when the going gets tough the tough will be hard to find.

[slim rem 7]

during the[first depression in the 30s]..unemployment was said to be between 30 an 40 percent.. i suspect it was much higher..my dad wore a pair of shoes out looking for some way to make a dollar on the streets of charlotte n.c... he told me the story many times..
  his training is really helping me get buy now..you do what you gotta do if the families not got nothin to eat..slim
 i don t wory much though ..gods got his eye on the situation here.. let his will be done.

[thxmrgarand]

I think that Mechanic has a key point that the media overlook.  The US is trying to create an economy from government and health care, and it's not clear that is possible.  Record numbers of Americans are living on transfer payments, including Social Security, and more people are retired today than has been the case in any previous recession.  For the first time, stimulus spending by government causes Americans to buy goods mostly produced outside our borders.  Some commodity prices are staying higher (measured in dollars at least) because the US dollar is no longer as desired as it has been in the past (whereas in previous recessions declining commodity prices stimulated manufacturing).

I honestly don't know what all this means for the end of this recession but I suspect that it means that past recoveries are not good indicators of what we now might see.  I think that voters will give Democrats ownership of some or all of this recession as we vote this year.

[INresponse]

everywhere i hear this recession compared to recessions of the past and how this one might go. the biggest difference i see in this current recession is that people are different, greatest obesity in history, half the country wants socialism. there are few tough people in mind or body. the value of the dollar is different and getting worse. i don't think this one will go like any in the past. when the going gets tough the tough will be hard to find.

Perhaps I am seeing things different with people because I live in the Las Vegas area, but in the past recessions people could repair broken items like cars, wash machines, ovens, bicycles, etc.  But so many people today do not know how to repair anything, and simply toss things to the curb if it stops working for them.  People are in the habit of buying a new car every 2 or 3 years and do not know how to change their own brakes, which are a lot easier to do with disc brakes compared to the old drum brakes.  They bought the car, filled the gas tank, never changed the oil, and traded it in at 24 months for another new car. 

I go out of my way to keep what I own maintained and repaired, but most people I know around here simply push it aside and buy a new one.  God forbid they get a little dirt under their nails.

I am seeing a few more commercials and advertisements with "American Made" or "American Owned".  Perhaps people will learn that buying a product your neighbor, friend, or family member produces will help keep them working and will help turn things around.  Until then, the workers in other countries are earning their paychecks with profits coming to them from the good ol' USA.

[Foxxtrot]

dupe, but worth repeating every few months when they revise the map.

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,191971.msg1098966402.html#msg1098966402

[alsaqr]

So hang in there.....the economy will be enriched by exporting jobs to other countries ...so says the GOPer BushJr and the neoconservatives....

+1

Yep, it is the Republicans beloved percolator theory of voodoo economics.  

[teamnelson]

when the going gets tough the tough will be hard to find.

i like that.

[45-70.gov]

i  have  enjoyed  my time  off

tho  i do  miss  the  EXTRA money

i got called back to work  today out of the blue

hope i can  tolerate  getting  up and going to work  EVERY  day again

had to pass a drug screen a couple hours  after the call

they  made me  empty my pockets  prior to the  pee test
should have seen the look on the nurses  face when  i pulled  out  my  357  mag

2 days  of school  and start  week after next

[Squib]

haha 

you should have carried your biggest 45-70

[LaOtto222]

Unemployment is pretty bad around here - mid West. My part of the state - NE Indiana is particularly bad because we have a lot of auto industry and RV businesses here. I have personally not been effected very much yet - but many others have. I have had some rough spots in the past, so I know what it is like - not good. When Jimmy was our president - it was bad then too. What got us out of that mess? Government spending on military build up (to pump money into the private sector - namely private businesses), freezing wage increases (because of run away inflation) and lowering taxes (to stimulate individual spending and business expansion). Our leadership talked of how great our nation was, should be and will be. He told the rest of the world so, he told us so. He dictated to the rest of the world how it was going to be. Did it work? - it sure did. It got people back to work again and then the economy back on it's feet. What our present administration does now is give hand outs to the people that are not working. Extending unemployment benefits, bail out money for the private sector, taking over (or dictating to) businesses. Our present leadership is fixated on how bad we are. We have done this wrong, that wrong, we are sorry for all the things we have done wrong to the rest of the world. We need to coddle dictators. Our present leadership goes on and on about how things are bad and they are our own fault. This is not going to work. It does not create jobs. It does not create confidence. Job creation is what will get us going again. What it does is makes people dependent on the Government for their needs - but there are not enough people working to pay taxes, buy goods and services to get the economy going again. We need to people; to work - not give them their needs. We need real job creation - not numbers that are thrown out there that do not mean any thing. We are in a downward spiral that keeps feeding off of it self. Damn the poll numbers; this government knows what we need and by GOD we are going to get it whether we want it or not. We need real job creation; hand outs and negativity are not going to do it - only prolong it. Hopefully we can get some people in office that will listen to what we want and create some jobs.

[mechanic]

Oh....you'll get a job when you're willing to work for 3rd world wages and no bennies...that's what its leading up to.
Good bye middle class.


..TM7

I gotta' agree TM.  When you are competing with people in mud huts it's hard to come out ahead.  Either they have to come up, (little sign of that), or you have to come down, (that's happening regularly.)

[INresponse]

LaOtto222, thanks for writing that.  I would have if I could have remembered it better.  I must a few months younger than you.

mechanic, I gotta agree with your last post.  We can either buy any item off the shelf or we can look around for something made in the United States.  Things like towels, plastic cups or plates, socks, T-shirts, vegitables, rice, or any other item you might need probably will have the option of an American Made item.  You can help yourself, your neighbor, or your family keep a job or you can reward someone in a sweatshop around the world somewhere.  It has to happen, our money needs to stay here and it will have to start out with the small stuff.

[45-70.gov]

things  are  cheaper  when  you buy from  mud  huts

heck  they  need a  25 cent an  hour  job  making me something  cheap

some  ameican  at walmart   can  make  $9  an hour selling it to me

i wi$h  i got  my  med$  from a mud  hut dweller

[INresponse]

I suppose those cheap items are cheaper to buy, but they don't pay into our social benefit programs and millions of people still need their monthly check.

[45-70.gov]

I suppose those cheap items are cheaper to buy, but they don't pay into our social benefit programs and millions of people still need their monthly check.

but they don't pay into our social benefit programs

GOOD

[slim rem 7]

well for me its just a return to ways of living that my dad taught me..
 he could fix things an make things last for a lot longer than most..
 i was a good student and am just a 2 nch shorter version of my dad..he was 6ft 4 inc..
 so while i could use more money..im right at home stretching my dollars to the max.. mostly i just depend on a very dependable heavenly father..consider the lilys of the field..  :)slim
 i highly suspect if somebody was tracking me ..they would only find one set of tracks in the sand..they wouldn t be mine..
if you think you can t live with just  the bare essentials ..you got a good experience,to look forward to..im not kidding..

[teamnelson]

it'd be one thing if it was sweat shops and mud huts ... but our overseas competition is enjoying the fastest growing middle class with high rise apartments, big flat screen tvs and better cell phone products than we can get here. there's more competition for cell coverage in somaliland than anywhere in the US or Europe, and I've seen Masai shepherds texting their girlfriends from the bush in southern Kenya. The most advanced mobile banking system in the world was developed for the 2nd and 3rd world; you can buy, sell and trade on your nokia from the khat fields in Ethiopia, and never see a bank. Micro$oft has been running low to no cost IT certification training in asia and africa for over a decade in anticipation of the call centers we need to keep our overpriced high-tech toys running. Sure he's making $2 an hour, and lives far more comfortably than many Americans. I walked into the computer parts district of a town I lived in overseas; buy all the chinese parts to build a cutting edge communications server with technology that hadn't even been released in the US yet, for under $100.

Don't let the mud huts fool you. We've passed our legacy on to the rest of the world, and they're enjoying now what we had in the 50's. It'll eventually die out for them too, and they'll send training centers over here to teach our grandchildren how to staff tech support centers for their systems.

[bearmgc]

well for me its just a return to ways of living that my dad taught me..
 he could fix things an make things last for a lot longer than most..
 i was a good student and am just a 2 nch shorter version of my dad..he was 6ft 4 inc..
 so while i could use more money..im right at home stretching my dollars to the max.. mostly i just depend on a very dependable heavenly father..consider the lilys of the field..  :)slim
 i highly suspect if somebody was tracking me ..they would only find one set of tracks in the sand..they wouldn t be mine..
if you think you can t live with just  the bare essentials ..you got a good experience,to look forward to..im not kidding..

Them's good words. Back to basics and remember who's really in charge. The One above.