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Under the volcano

By Owen Paine on Thursday July 3, 2008 06:26 PM

Last week, you may recall, our Dembotated Congress at long last finally passed a bill extending unemployment bennies for an additional 90 days. Lots of us are gonna need it -- maybe 3 and a half million of us -- this "rolling adjustment" ain't over yet.

The donkeys bray with glee "this one's for you, Mr and Mrs Little Schmuck." Obviously there'll be a virile override of any staged POTUS veto -- the tower trolls know their Bismarc. Fortunately for the job system's unofficial management class, odds are this correction will remain at a pace below freak-out velocity -- and yet....

Ahh, so what if we're back to a job force the size of the one we had last year at this time. Things move so slowly these days. But then again the next six months might see this pace swiften. The ability to plow under jobs, even in good times, is quite impressive -- at least it always impresses me.

Gross job loss from all sources -- quits, fires, layoffs, liquidations, retires, etc. easily can run up into the two million range each and every month. 25 million jobs reaped away, every year

Imagine if the system simply stopped replacing us dispensables. Why, off the solid 5% base we got now, in just a year's time we could reach 21% joblessness. Soup lines! Hoovervilles! Dance marathons!

See how kind these corporations are, taking us in like they do. It's always possible they might not.

Back to the here and now: it takes a net 100k new jobs per month to absord all the entrants and re-entrants into the marketplace. A quick calculation tells us if we're down absolutely by 450k since last December, and if we add in 6 months' worth of these missing 100k shiny new opportunities, then we discover -- as the great Krug did today -- we're, yikes, a million jobs short.

Will the job market's current doldrums spell electoral doom for Hanoi Johnny? Is he suitable for framing as America's latest job drought Judas goat? Is that alone enough to once again shoot down the air pirate? _

Comments (4)

plato's cave:

"virile override" . . . Excellent!

I'm starting to think like Naomi Klein and view everything unimaginably bad as actually rationally calculated for the profit of someone. I almost think it's careless of us to point out any dire human issue on the horizon -- like global warming or peak oil or looming depression -- for fear that someone will rush in and co-opt it.

It's time to talk like Russian intellectuals -- in code -- while we build up secret organizations.

Son of Uncle Sam:

Those canucks have exsisted at that rate forever and our southbound neighbors well hey you already know the scoop there.
NAFTA for hire?

Not alls so glum, I was in the seafood line at a market in Lynn MA. and the woman in front of me was asking if she could buy," lobsta with foo stamps." Good news-SALE-

plato's cove writes:

"virile override" . . . Excellent!

Hmm, I don't know; are you sure he didn't mean viral override?

I'm starting to think like Naomi Klein and view everything unimaginably bad as actually rationally calculated for the profit of someone...

I've been of that opinion since at least 1996, when the Communications "Decency" Act was passed, after months and months of letters and faxes and phone calls and op-eds and judges declaring they wouldn't enforce CDA. This was reinforced when Anthony "the Rat" Williams became mayor of my very own Washington DC, and began making policy decisions apparently by doing exhaustive research of the problem and its effect on the citizens of DC – and then doing exactly the opposite of what all the research suggested.

I almost think it's careless of us to point out any dire human issue on the horizon -- like global warming or peak oil or looming depression -- for fear that someone will rush in and co-opt it.

Every time I hear someone over at one of the tech rags calling for some kind of legislation to curb stuff like spyware or botnets or viruses or spam, I want to smack the shit out of them and tell them to shut the fuck up, already, you want the goddamn' politicians to hear you?!

Oh, and don't get me started about Peak Oil. Y2K, anyone?

plato's cave:

Mike,
I'm honored to have you agree with me. You are one "virile" over-rider yourself.
As a DC resident, do you, by chance, read Wayne Madsen? He has some woo-woos among his followers, but in person he is a tough investigator and warm-hearted, old-fashioned democrat who models himself on Jack Anderson.

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