Comments on: Job Situation Worsens

By: Alan Stewart Carl

Alan Stewart Carl — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:04:49 +0000

Wow, my comment was a tar pit of typos. Let’s try again:

John L. â€” an overreaction can be just as harmful as no reaction. Panic doesnâ€™t save any more lives on a sinking ship than does complacency. I reject the notion that weâ€™re jeopardizing everything by spending a few weeks debating the details. I do wish the Republicans were more interested in debating than obstruction, but Iâ€™m glad their obstinacy has at least provided a few more days to discuss what is and isnâ€™t good stimulus.

By: Alan Stewart Carl

Alan Stewart Carl — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:26:30 +0000

John L. — an overreaction can be just as harmful as no reaction. Panic doesn’t save any more lives on a sinking ship than does complacency. I reject the notion that we’re jeapordizing everything by spending a few weeks debating the details. I do wish the Republicans were more interested in debating than obstruction, but I’m glad they’re obstinance has at least provided a few more days to discuss what is and isn’t good stimulus.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:47:08 +0000

I agree its important not to overreact. While this raw number is certainly disturbing, remember that there are about 50% more Americans in 2009 than there were in 1974. 600,000 out of 200 million is different from 600,000 out of 300 million. It's useful to look at unemployment rate data and view the graph all the way back as far as it goes, 1948. We are at this point already in one of the big scary peaks, but at 7.4 we're not as bad off as we were in the 2 or 3 biggest peaks. Of course, we don't know where we are headed. One thing that IS consoling in this graph is that if you look at each peak, unemployment declined on the back side just about as quickly as it rose on the front. That's the only silver lining I can see.

By: John Burke

John Burke — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:13:41 +0000

Actually “businesses” — i.e., the private sector — cut 604,000 jobs in January. Government, federal, state and local, added a few, despite all the grim talk of fiscal emergencies from every state house and city hall.

When the “stimulus” package passes, federal, state and local employment will become the boom sector for a while, but will the rest of the economy be “stimulated?” We’ll see, I guess. Meanwhile, tell your sons and daughters to prepare to take civil service exams or become teachers.

By: Jim S

Jim S — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:53:22 +0000

If the bill is made as lean as Republicans such as McCain have proposed it will fail. Of course maybe that’s the point, to be able to claim that they passed stimulus “like the Democrats wanted” but that it didn’t work. The claim then will be that if only they’d stuck with tax cuts like the wise Republicans wanted it would have been OK.

By: Trescml

Trescml — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:36:31 +0000

I agree that the stimulus package will not quickly pull us out of a recession, but it will certainly help prevent us from falling into a depression. You can make the argument that a depression now is going to be better than the depression caused when countries stop loaning us money but by limiting the stimulus that is the real choice you are making.

By: John L.

John L. — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:45:48 +0000

The Titanic is sinking … but don’t overreact. Let’s make sure we get the right kind of lifeboats into the water. It doesn’t hurt to be too careful. Our rescue efforts should be targeted to make sure we eliminate wasteful expenditures of energy and resources.