Friday, February 6, 2009
News The Morning News
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 7:00 AM
598,000: The number of U.S. jobs lost in January. Unemployment rate is now at 7.6 percent.
Stimulus bill: Still being nipped and tucked.
On the edge: Says Krugman.
Edge of a depression? Maybe, says GE exec.
Starbucks layoffs: The pink slips begin.
Washington unemployment benefits boost: Coming today, if all goes as expected in Olympia.
Men: They make up 82 percent of recent job losses. Which means: ladies, you are about to become the majority of the work force for the first time in American history.
Ginsburg: In hospital for pancreatic cancer surgery.
25 random things: Please, make it stop.
And a "pointedly partisan" speech last night from Obama:
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1
Finally fighting back against Republican naysayers, Obama needs to call his supporters to arms. Enough of Republican's failed ideology.
2
This is so sexist! Why isn't the Gyno-american population expected to bear their share of the burden in these hard economic times? I guess being paid 75% of what men are paid is turning out to be a blessing when companies are cutting back.
3
Agreed. There's a limit to bipartisanship, especially when all the other side is offering is more neoliberal, supply-side ideology, which, as is crystal-clear at this point, cannot assist but only continue to exacerbate our current situation.
4
Some thoughts...
I like Krugman, and have read a lot of his work. He's a bit sensational, which sells columns, but not unrealistic.
I read The Great Unraveling and it, and others, prepared me for now. I pulled all my money out of equities last summer, and some of it sits in gold.
But I'm still spending at pretty much the rate I have been, as I suspect many are.
The press is making things worse now. If people are concerned, they restrict spending, and we all suffer. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The froth is leaving. Our undeserved excesses are no longer. We're becoming more real. I'm just as sore as the next person about Wall Street bonuses, but I realize that no one complained when the market was going up.
Japan held it's key rate at zero for many years. We will do the same. Money is free, and yet we still fall.
Key question: what's the next bubble? I think gold.
In 1980 or so silver went to 20X it's value. 20X.
What to do?
Some thoughts...
I like Krugman, and have read a lot of his work. He's a bit sensational, which sells columns, but not unrealistic.
I read The Great Unraveling and it, and others, prepared me for now. I pulled all my money out of equities last summer, and some of it sits in gold.
But I'm still spending at pretty much the rate I have been, as I suspect many are.
The press is making things worse now. If people are concerned, they restrict spending, and we all suffer. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The froth is leaving. Our undeserved excesses are no longer. We're becoming more real. I'm just as sore as the next person about Wall Street bonuses, but I realize that no one complained when the market was going up.
Japan held it's key rate at zero for many years. We will do the same. Money is free, and yet we still fall.
Key question: what's the next bubble? I think gold.
In 1980 or so silver went to 20X it's value. 20X.
What to do?
5
Thanks for mentioning the Krugman column. It's a real call to arms about the urgency of some kind of stimulus. Another NY Times columnist who has done a great job writing about the stimulus is Bob Herbert. As Herbert said on MSNBC recently, the stimulus needs to have "a laser-like focus on jobs, jobs, jobs."
I'm upset that Obama let the Nancy Pelosi crowd in the House commandeer the stimulus legislation and turn it into a confusing grab-bag. But my greater fear is the extent to which congressional Republicans will influence the ultimate stimulus bill. Short of killing it, the Republicans can water it down and neo-con it to the point where it will be completely ineffective. Make the stimulus all about pandering tax breaks instead of job creation, and guess what--it will be a disaster. And the longer this economy remains in the tank, the more Obama and the Democrats will get blamed for it.
I'm upset that Obama let the Nancy Pelosi crowd in the House commandeer the stimulus legislation and turn it into a confusing grab-bag. But my greater fear is the extent to which congressional Republicans will influence the ultimate stimulus bill. Short of killing it, the Republicans can water it down and neo-con it to the point where it will be completely ineffective. Make the stimulus all about pandering tax breaks instead of job creation, and guess what--it will be a disaster. And the longer this economy remains in the tank, the more Obama and the Democrats will get blamed for it.
6
Kelly O and Ari Spool give Chester A. Arthur can of Rize, Chester A. Arthur drink Rize, freak out, Prez out, JAMES A. GARFIELD BECOME CHESTER A. ARTHUR!
JAMES A. GARFIELD ISN'T GOING TO BE PRESIDENT ANYTIME THIS MONTH!
And no, I don't feel like letting it go.
JAMES A. GARFIELD ISN'T GOING TO BE PRESIDENT ANYTIME THIS MONTH!
And no, I don't feel like letting it go.
7
More and more, I'm worried that a massive scale war will be the "solution" to the economic crisis (just like the Depression), especially if men are disproportionally displaced from work.
8
After this NYT article, can we put an end to feminist complaints that the stimulus isn't giving women enough jobs? Women aren't losing their jobs!
9
Tax cuts right now, and on borrowed money are dumb, dumb, dumb.
Helping people buy automobiles right now is even dumber.
Helping people buy automobiles right now is even dumber.
10
*sighs* I wanted that speech to end with "And, to Congress Democrats: Your constituents did not send you to D.C. to break the party line in favor of shady lobbyists."
Because Boxer is being a ho right now.
Because Boxer is being a ho right now.
11
It's more like:
7. Fact: We are weak.
8. Habit: Checking Slog every 30 minutes.
9. Goal: To get back to work.
7. Fact: We are weak.
8. Habit: Checking Slog every 30 minutes.
9. Goal: To get back to work.
12
@8: I wasn't aware of many feminists complaining that women aren't getting enough jobs. A more typical complaint is about pay disparity.
13
The speech is really great but he's preaching to the choir isn't he? It's a Democratic Party event. No GOP in the room.
14
@12, there was a post here by (who else?) ECB arguing that the stimulus wouldn't give women enough jobs because women don't do construction (or some other similarly silly argument.)
17
25 random things?
that is so last week.
everyone's doing 48 items now - you guys are so Ancient Bush History ...
that is so last week.
everyone's doing 48 items now - you guys are so Ancient Bush History ...
18
"598,000: The number of U.S. jobs lost in January. Unemployment rate is now at 7.6 percent."
Official unemployment rate that is. Remember, the BushCo Administration changed the way this number was calculated so as to make the number appear smaller. It's nearly certainly much worse than that.
Official unemployment rate that is. Remember, the BushCo Administration changed the way this number was calculated so as to make the number appear smaller. It's nearly certainly much worse than that.
20
That's really interesting about men and unemployment. And it's not just service workers and Wall St dudes: My mom told me yesterday that my uncle had been laid off at the end of January. He worked in accounting/finance at Kimberly Clark. Nice guy. This is the second job he's been laid off from in two years; before that he worked 20 yrs @ Owens Corning doing acct/fin. He turned 50 last October. He was employed at KC for less than a year. At KC, he made more than my dad, who has an MSEE. He is not taking this well.
(Slog doesn't sell people's e-addys, do they?)
(Slog doesn't sell people's e-addys, do they?)
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