Roughly 11 million people are unemployed in the USofA, and there is every reason to believe that this will increase. Every month another 600k or so workers file for unemployment insurance. This figure doesn’t include those who do not have a full 40 hours of work each week but would like to – add them in, and the number might be twice as high. If this grows substantially, any discussion regarding this as a recession or depression will be academic. Stopping the job loss is likely to become the highest priority soon.
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Underwrite and Under-Write
Anyone who doubts the potential for a Depression needs to read the newspaper. No, don’t bother with the front page or the business section – skip over to the part that matters. A quick glance at the ads taken out by retail stores shows an amazing number of deep sales, running 50 or even 75 percent off on everything. They’re doing this because the stores are unusually, unreasonably quiet. That’s the defining characteristic of any market failure, whether you’re looking at it from the strip mall or the Capitol Mall. It’s the unusual quiet that comes from everyone staring at each other, shrugging their shoulders.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 