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I think the peanut butter jelly time flash would have been slightly less depressing.
But only slightly
I think the peanut butter jelly time flash would have been slightly less depressing.
But only slightly
Crap that was depressing. Like watching an infection spread.
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Mmmm.. love the smell of baked economy in the morning.
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I live in Michigan... Our state has been in serious trouble for almost 10 years now. I love how on that map Michigan goes from already sad to suicidally depressed...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-332258-100x100.png\")
The country looks like a dead prune!
Except for the DC area. Proof positive increased government spending can keep people working.
/s
Neato, I could see my friends and myself walking across the parking lot with our boxes of stuff under our arms.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1425332-100x100.png\")
I think I got the wrong graph linked. All I see is a graph showing probable infection rates of a zombie invasion...
Now do you feel stimulated?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-541944-100x100.png\")
SO, what are the employers doing in this time of recession? Nothing but letting people go. How is that supposed to help the economy any? Lets see...
Worker loses job due to company letting them go/lay off...worker collects unemployment at a reduced rate of what they were making. Said worker applies for jobs until they are blue in the mouse clicker (95% of job apps are now sent electronically). Worker tries and tries to get a job, but can't get any word from employer because they are not hiring or their scanning software to filter out the thousands of resume's rejects them. This goes on for a few months.
After a few months, worker's savings are now depleted to compensate for the difference in wage and actual unemployment. Worker now is forced to cut bills to prevent from falling into financial hole. Bills are cut which cause the cut companies to make less money, this in turn causes those companies to lay off/downsize (If enough cut services such as Cable, Cell phones etc). Also, mail carriers have less mail to carry because of less bills being paid and being sent. Postal centers start letting go extra staff in the processing end due to less mail.
Now, we have more workers unable to pay their bills as a result and this effect continues exponentially.
Big government steps in and creates some jobs, but not for everyone. More or less, temporary construction or road paving/construction jobs. People like myself who have never even operated a back ho, tractor, or lifted a steel beam with a crane are now out of luck. Sure, these new jobs help put more monies into the economy, but not enough as these too shall be short term jobs.
So what is is the solution? I really don't know except our employers really need to take a leap of faith and restore some of their original work force. Sure, it will be slow and not very productive for a while, but what they are doing is helping keep the economy going.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-914138-100x100.png\")
just paying people won't recover the economy. right now people are so scared, even if they had a little extra income, they sure wouldn't rush out and spend it. they would hide it away. the answer is remove the impediments to growth: high taxes. cut corporate taxes and give business and incentive to go out and invest in the future; cut this phony cap-n-tax bill that also holds business hostage; allow offshore drilling and/or allow nuclear power plants to be built so we don't need to rely on terrorist oil; lift state competition regulation in the insurance industry: that would definitely encourage competition.
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@medfordite: Will never happen. Companies can only see 3 months at a time. It's all about quarterly profits. Company not making any money, but investors demand to be fed? Cut off and serve them your own foot. Next quarter, make it a hand. And so on until nothing is left.
Short term financials have left us with long term problems.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-27969-100x100.png\")
@failurate: Wasn't that a Stephen King story?
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It was Survivor Type!
That story was very disturbing and upsetting. Imagine if they had him writing for Lost.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-371261-100x100.png\")
What is \"cirrhosis of the lung\" ? Nobody has used this term since oh...say 1962.
The plains states have jobs and they need people--get up and move.
Oregon? How come we never hear about the collapse of Oregon? Lots of news about how CA and MI are suffering, nothing about OR. How are they managing to limp along in a somewhat solvent manner?
While I'm saddened by their situation and am sure that the local electeds have some fault, I'm impressed at how they have managed to keep the problems from overshadowing them.
Wow, it looks like a bad sim city session
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1523149-100x100.png\")
Watching the video is a great way to get very depressed and suicidal. On the other hand, the folks in Washington is providing no signs to employers that yes, it's OK to take a risk and hire some people. It is often better to work the existing workforce and pay a little overtime than to hire someone. The chant becomes, \"More work, same pay, no bonus, no raise. Thank goodness I have a job.\" At what point do I see the stories of workers losing vacation time because they are maxed out on vacation caps, but don't want to take time off for fear of returning, and find out there is no job?
A classmate is going through that right now: They're making him take furlough days but running him ragged the rest of the time.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1523196-100x100.png\")
yah well i think the FED wanted watching Good Eats and forgot to take carry over into account
if it looks done in the pan its going to be over done when you plate
I guess people should move to the midwest to get jobs. Lots of farmhands.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-194061-100x100.png\")
Maybe I should of picked a better article to read first thing in the morning because this one pretty much ruined the day.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-107016-100x100.png\")
The worst part is that many of those jobs are never coming back. Talk about being blue states....
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1490543-100x100.png\")
Our solution was to create our own business and offer extremely huge discounts for requested services....thus hurting the company that laid off my husband. He now has THEIR business and we are surviving. I think you'll see a lot more little-guy businesses popping up like that. Start up costs were high but we managed. You just gotta get tough and creative!!!!! Play dirty!
Where is the animated map of the US Deficit since BUSH took presidency?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-296530-100x100.png\")
Wow, took a whole 7 posts for people to start bashing the government. You folks are slipping.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-524697-100x100.png\")
The United States Government does not approve of this map.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-235750-100x100.png\")
Way to go Cherry County, Nebraska. You didn't let this unemployment scare get to you as America fell to its knees in unemployment.
If you look closely you can see me down at the bottom there.
I call BS on this movie (it's a Flash app). It is designed to make things look worse than they are. The entire color spectrum is represented by 10 steps, with the 10th being the color black. This 10th step is for values of 10% and over. So there is no real visual difference between 10% unemployment and 98% unemployment in this image.
It tricks you into thinking that things couldn't possibly get any worse. The color separation between 0% and 10% should really be the color separation of 0% and 100%. In that case, the map would be mostly shades of light yellow, which wouldnt have such a dire impact on the viewers.
Wow. This is a very cool animation. I wish the counties were click-able or you could tell where major cities were located.
[joblessgenevieve.blogspot.com]
\"At what point do I see the stories of workers losing vacation time because they are maxed out on vacation caps, but don't want to take time off for fear of returning, and find out there is no job?\"
Hmmmmm? I've been maxed out and afraid to take vacation for three years.
Well that was absolutely horrible to watch.
@GC: And how! I kept wanting to make the map stop getting darker.