RE: Does Washington care about unemployment?

RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (Full Version)

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rulemylife -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 8:39:16 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: pahunkboy That not true. Ask your DR if depends are right for you!~ YOU RML STOMP I would respond to this Pahunk if I had any clue what you just said.

Musicmystery -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 8:44:08 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: rulemylife quote: ORIGINAL: Sanity Defending the Reagan Deficits - "To paraphrase a classic President Reagan line: Are you better off today than you were in 1980?" Lovely. The man who practically wets his pants bemoaning the current national debt finds nothing wrong with the President that started the deficit ball rolling. It also turned the largest creditor nation in the world into the largest debtor nation in the world, and ended in a stock market crash, a banking crisis, and a return to high employment that sunk Bush I.

DomYngBlk -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 8:53:29 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: rulemylife quote: ORIGINAL: DomYngBlk So, the depression was orchestrated so that we would have the fodder for WWII? Come again? Wasn't having to listen to that paranoia once more than enough? Have to admit the paranoia is pretty impressive save for the facts getting in the way

DomYngBlk -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 9:04:06 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: eyesopened Washington isn't Oz and there is no Wizard who grants wishes. How would you have "Washington" create jobs? LadyEllen is right. It would take a reversal in the mindset of our nation. Profit and lots of it is such a singular goal. Beacuse we gotta keep the stock market healthy and the shareholders happy. I'm old. I remember a time when investing meant you put money toward a product or service industry and like planting seed to reap at harvest time, you watched it grow. But now people want instant wealth and have created "investments" that are nothing more than electronic shell games where there is no actual goods or services behind the bet. Companies used to "go public" because they needed an influx of cash in order to expand and grow. Companies go public now just to get their chips to place on the craps table that is Wall Street. We have been lied to. We are under the impression that paying US workers to make anything will cost us more than we are willing to pay. What utter bullshit. Buying from China increases profits. Period. Have you shopped at WalMart lately? If they buy bath towels made in the US for $1.00 and sell them at $5.00 they make a nice profit. If the buy them from China at $0.25 and sell them for $4.75 they tell us we are saving money and they make even greater profit all the while making people feel dependent on buying that towel at this great lower price because they now are living on unemployment. It's time to wake up. LadyEllen is right. The collective greed is a cancer. I wish I had some answer but I don't know how we get the people who benefit from their greed to see how harmful it is in the long run. As a society, we are easily bored and demand entertainment and even the horrors of the BP oil spill no longer interest us and Goldman Sachs are doing business as usual. If I sound pessimistic it's because I am feeling my age today. 401's, IRA's, Union Pensions.....never ending stream of money flowing into money managers pockets. It was a gift from God that those were enacted. That they were abused can't surprise anyone. The Federal Goverments ability to regulate has been gutted over the past 30 years. Three things would bring jobs now, and fast. 1. Force China to float the yuan against all currencies. This would instantly raise prices on all goods now in walmart substantially. All products made here would be far more competitive. 2. Put a tax at the dock on any Product produced by a US company that has been made in another country for re-import to the US. We could exempt Nafta on this. 3. Make law so that any product made and shipped into this country has to conform to the product specifications and material specifications of products made here. That would keep the Formaldehydes out of Dog food and Cadmium pigments off of toys, for instance.

Moonhead -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 10:05:02 AM)
I like 2. There's no way in hell you could ever achieve 1, though, and 3 could be tricky as well.

Musicmystery -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 10:20:34 AM)
quote: 2. Put a tax at the dock on any Product produced by a US company that has been made in another country for re-import to the US. We could exempt Nafta on this. NAFTA is not our only trade agreement. We are also a party to the WTO (World Trade Organization--154 members), the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), as well as bilateral agreements with Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, Singapore, and pending Congressional approval, Colombia, Korea, and Panama. http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements

Fellow -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 11:32:28 AM)
I think Washington cares about unemployment and the government watches the numbers very closely. The problem is that high unemployment is a natural part of the current economic system. The governments are always protecting the system. The crisis did not actually create the conditions but it rather moved the system into equilibrium. Simply, there is no shortage of products and services in the market. Protecting status quo is especially true for the US government as the last is basically run by the business lobbyists. Reversing off-shoring- outsourcing could help to solve the problem but it would take major riots in the US to start the process. US government has the power to set up tariffs but it wouldn't be a smart move as it would make US unreliable trade partner and it would start trade wars. The attempt would be too risky and unpredictable, it could harm US more than benefit. Punishing corporations with some kind of outsourcing tax would not work either: they would move their offices out of US (what they do already). The way to go would be to start re-negotiating the trade agreements with major partners. We remember what panic the proposal caused when Obama mentioned it during his presidential campaign. Obama adviser had to make a trip to Canada and assure them in private: "we did not really mean it, these are just elections". I think high unemployment will be the norm for at least a decade. There is not much the current government would realistically do to deal with the problem. The second stimulus package would offer only temporary small pain relieve and it would not solve anything. The government needs to change in order to make progress. The third party movement could be the only hope I can see.

Musicmystery -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 11:34:55 AM)
quote: The problem is that high unemployment is a natural part of the current economic system. That's pretty debatable. Most economists peg natural unemployment at around 5%.

Fellow -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 1:56:36 PM)
quote: That's pretty debatable. Most economists peg natural unemployment at around 5%. I agree; it is debatable. My speculation moves the rate up. It requires more detailed analysis to substantiate. Also, it may take decades (depending on conditions) for unemployment rate to fall into "natural" category.

wittynamehere -> RE: Does Washington care about unemployment? (6/3/2010 1:59:51 PM)
Calculated the same way it used to be calculated, unemployment is currently 22% and rising (see shadowstats.com). In the great depression we hit about 25% at the worst point, calculated that way.

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