Letters to the Editor
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When do we know the worst is over?
The U.S. economy lost only 20,000 jobs in April, compared to 80,000 in March and 76,000 in February.
Which is only a 'preliminary estimate', meaning the statistic is politically motivated. The Bushites introduced formulae for generating these 'estimates' to buy themselves time. The number will invariably be ratcheted up when the next report is issued, by which time there will be new numbers to look at so the old numbers will be discounted.
I'll let you know when the worst is over. Don't hold your breath. Given the nature and severity of the long-term problems it may not be in your lifetime, if ever.
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CParis1
For most Americans, the 7 years under Bu$hco has been a constant recession.
More to the point, for an increasing number of Americans the last seven years has been a depression. How many more? They're not going to tell you, because it's not in their interest to do so.
Given their proclivity for lying as their primary means of communicating policy, you can be certain that it is not only the CIA or the Pentagon that gets its 'intelligence' wrong, and that economics wonks at the Labor and Commerce departments are certain to be more susceptible to coercion than more hardened CIA officers or military generals.
Economics is necessarily very closely associated with public policy, and you can't really talk about one without talking about the other for any longer than you could talk about Rosencrantz without mentioning Guildenstern.
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Oh Portlander
Okay, but we're still headed for the dole, whatever you want to call it. The trend toward government employment is one manifestation of Socialism, isn't it? Productivity gains are directly related to improved technology. The dumbing down of the American workplace is reflected in the number of workers who hold worthless College educations. The titans of American business point to India and China, who educate more engineers. If American educated a similar number these occupational skills would become a drug on the market, and most of the degree holders would be flipping burgers. The titans of industry would be wondering where the Liberals Arts majors were, why don't we educate more of them.
The game is called class warfare, and the only difference between most of us and Steinbecks fruit pickers is that we drive newer cars. Going on the dole doesn't have to be a bad thing, but I don't like it when the politicians sign the checks. I happen to think it is your right to have a decent living whether you have one of their stupid jobs or not, jobs which in no way measure what you contribute to society, not that it is your obligation to contribute anything..
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oil speculation
I don't really believe that oil speculation is having a substantial impact on consumer prices--for one thing, if it were driving consumer prices higher than demand could support, then the speculators would quickly discover that they would have a hard time unloading their horde at even higher prices.
Anyway, if speculators were starting to fret about their ability to unload their horde on consumers, they are likely heartened by the McCain/Clinton "gas tax holiday" scam -- if speculators only hold onto their horde for another month, they'll have no problem selling it during the tax-free holiday (as if anyone thought that McCain/Clinton were serious about implementing this gas tax holiday)
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short term long term
this is partially a short-term/long-term problem...and a problem of magical thinking.
It's taken me nearly a decade to really get my head around the fact that we've consumed nearly half of all the oil in the earth. And that the rest of that oil will be far more expensive, and difficult to get out of the ground and process.
These are facts.
In the short-term, the market may turn bullish for awhile.
But the oceanic size of the dollar-denominated money supply, coupled with the truly epic amount of personal and public debt in the united states, is going to cause major problems all by themselves for years to come.
So..short-term? Your 401K probably looks better already this year, and will look even better in the months to come, barring the unforeseen.
But in the longer-term? 10-20 years? whole different story.
As I've found, to my cost, making money in markets is often simply a matter of disentangling short-term from long-term perspective.
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Occupational Skills
The titans of American business point to India and China, who educate more engineers. If American educated a similar number these occupational skills
The titans of American business have a vested interest in saying that there aren't enough Americans educated in science and technology. I don't know the specific numbers for engineers, but I know an awful lot of American chemists who have been laid off and are struggling to find jobs, while the titans of American business were whining about not enough Americans studying science. (And using it as an excuse to move their research overseas.)
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Kaywww is right
Any job that can be offshored to a lower cost country will be in the future. So spending years in college and going $$$ in debt won't pay off when that accountant, radiologist, chemist, software designer, lawyer job has been moved to India, China, Korea - wherever.
Maybe we should be telling kids to focus on getting employment in jobs that require someone physically in a place - plumbers, electricians, construction, retail sales, McDs?
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When is the Worst Over?
I'll tell you when: 260 days.
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No Priuses in Turkey
Just as a heads-up, unfortunately there aren't any Priuses in Turkey. In fact, the big shift here is to diesel, which is kept lower than gasoline for the tractor-driving crowd. And the reason that there aren't any figures on previous records in terms of auto sales is that with the stronger lira and increasing local automotive production, Turkey has been breaking records for about 7 years straight.