(h/t Atrios)
The job numbers look terrible. The US just hit the highest number of jobless claims in over six years - 455,000 jobless claims. Of course, these are the people who make claims. Many don't bother.
From CNBC:
The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000 for the week ending Aug. 2. The increase left claims at their highest level since late March 2002.
Jobs are being lost in manufacturing (see Slinkerwink's diary on why Obama should hit McCain hard on the Ohio DHL story), and in retail as well:
CNBC again:
Among the companies announcing job cuts in late July or early August were: General Motors Corp., Weyerhaeuser Co., and Starbucks Corp. Bennigan's restaurants owned by privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group, are closing, driving more people to unemployment lines.
So many people have given up, or have settled for part-time, no-benefits work. I agree with Slinkerwink that Obama should be hitting McCain and the GOP hard on this. Things aren't looking good for the future:
Economists expect another half million jobs to be eliminated this year alone. The jobless rate could hit 6.5 percent by the middle of next year.
I think this is the result of bad economic karma: if you invest in war and destruction and pollution (oil companies), you don't get much positive and nourishing out of it. The Federal Reserve agrees with me in a sense:
The country is getting pounded by many negative forces, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday.
In the 90s', Clinton and the democrats invested in infrastructure (especially cyber-infrastructure), and communications, and we had a min-golden era. I think we could again if we focus on science, imaginative green engineering technologies and adopt a progressive tax and health system.
Hope you all have a job, and if not, good luck finding one in this republican mess of an economy!