Quote from Dr. Zhivodka:
The refrain of the plea and plight of the
Michigan(rust belt) resident over and over and over...and....over....again...
Here' s a novel idea for you...MOVE. One great thing about this country is labor mobility. Stop your whining and take advantage of it.
Are you blind?
California, Arizona and Nevada have official unemployment rates at 12% or near it (meaning real U6 type unemployment is probably close to 18% or more).
The country is getting decimated. National unemployment is higher, in real terms, than at any point since the 30s.
California is technically BK. Seattle, formerly immune, is laying off hundreds of teachers, and closing dozens of schools.
This has never been about whining or me - I'm in great shape; thanks for your concern, and ease your mind.
No one here has even come close to attempting to set forth any specifics as to where jobs for the 30 million unemployed Americans are going to come from; not a sector, an industry, a business - nada.
Long-term unemployment is at historically record levels. The real unemployment rate is 19% and growing in the U.S. Tax revenues of all types, income, capital gains, property, have fallen at the greatest pace since records have been kept. Many states are technically insolvent, and the federal government is floating debt at the highest postwar level (closing in on 14% as a % of GDP).
Bank assets are toxic waste, and getting worse with time - not better. Just look at YoY asset valuations on residential and commercial properties which securitizes much of their loan base. And the real shit storm is yet to come, as a dam of REOs is still waiting in the wings. These banks are being kept alive by changes in accounting rules, taxpayers dollars to replenish their losses Q to Q, and a nice spread thanks to artificially low interest rates (which is pounding savers).
Unlike 1980-1983, the people laid off are NOT finding replacement jobs, LET ALONE replacement jobs at anywhere near their former salaries and benefits.
You are drinking the Bernanke Kool-Aid. Keep drinking it, as the government keeps scrambling for more time, in the hopes that some reflation of the economy helps asset values, and the millions of now broke Baby Boomers now retiring with little to show for their careers.
You are clueless in a way unfathomable if you possibly compare this to the early 80s. We were in far better shape then, as interest rates and inflation were the problem, rectified by Volcker, and not permanent, systemic job losses running close to 7 million (of the high wage variety) in just the last 9 years - 30 million total.