Comments on: Unemployment Filings Reached 573,000 Last Week http://donklephant.com/2008/12/12/unemployment-filings-reach-573000-last-week/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:46:37 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Donklephant » Blog Archive » Food Stamps Usage Nearing All Time High http://donklephant.com/2008/12/12/unemployment-filings-reach-573000-last-week/comment-page-1/#comment-430379 Donklephant » Blog Archive » Food Stamps Usage Nearing All Time High Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:00:36 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=11959#comment-430379 [...] hate to be so gloom and doom about our current economic health, but the numbers are the numbers and I feel the need to talk [...] [...] hate to be so gloom and doom about our current economic health, but the numbers are the numbers and I feel the need to talk [...]

]]> By: kranky kritter http://donklephant.com/2008/12/12/unemployment-filings-reach-573000-last-week/comment-page-1/#comment-430376 kranky kritter Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:48:50 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=11959#comment-430376 It's really awful, isn't it? My heart goes out to all these people losing their jobs and facing grim prospects. I've been thinking about making regular decent-sized donations to our local food bank because I'm OK for now, and there but for the grace..., right? So I'm going to go ahead and promise that I'll follow up on this, to put some pressure on myself to actually do it. And now, a math note. Reporting these stories is going to keep terrifying folks. And hey, being terrified might be pretty close to the right response. Yet I can't help but notice that the reports often don't give us much context, so they are just numbers piling up in our heads: 2000 here, 15 thousand there, and so on. So if any journalists out there are tuning in, how about including some data on the percent of the company's work force that is being laid off? Is 2000 tool works people a quarter of the work force, or half, or a tenth, or what? Are we talking about trims or slashes? As someone who still has a job but who is worried because who knows how far it might all go, it would be nice to have some sense of the scope of any given job cut in relation to the size of the company. It’s really awful, isn’t it? My heart goes out to all these people losing their jobs and facing grim prospects. I’ve been thinking about making regular decent-sized donations to our local food bank because I’m OK for now, and there but for the grace…, right?

So I’m going to go ahead and promise that I’ll follow up on this, to put some pressure on myself to actually do it.

And now, a math note. Reporting these stories is going to keep terrifying folks. And hey, being terrified might be pretty close to the right response. Yet I can’t help but notice that the reports often don’t give us much context, so they are just numbers piling up in our heads: 2000 here, 15 thousand there, and so on.

So if any journalists out there are tuning in, how about including some data on the percent of the company’s work force that is being laid off? Is 2000 tool works people a quarter of the work force, or half, or a tenth, or what? Are we talking about trims or slashes?

As someone who still has a job but who is worried because who knows how far it might all go, it would be nice to have some sense of the scope of any given job cut in relation to the size of the company.

]]> By: gerryf http://donklephant.com/2008/12/12/unemployment-filings-reach-573000-last-week/comment-page-1/#comment-430375 gerryf Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:48:39 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=11959#comment-430375 It is somewhat ironic that massive government spending is needed to get us out of this mess, when that is what has been occuring for 8 years. What is even more ironic is that the people who have been spending that money for the last 8 years are the ones who have found religion in fiscal conservatism all of the sudden. It is somewhat ironic that massive government spending is needed to get us out of this mess, when that is what has been occuring for 8 years. What is even more ironic is that the people who have been spending that money for the last 8 years are the ones who have found religion in fiscal conservatism all of the sudden.

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