Help me help a friend...

[HawkerHurricane]

He sent me this by email... any confirmation?

"I'm looking for anyone who heard the same news today.
I have a bad feeling that there is a shroud of silence that has
been pulled over it. But that seems impossible when I think
of the type of data that was cited.

I spent ALL day driving around looking for work in my new chosen
occupation so that every time I went from one clinic to another,
I had the radio on. (For those who don't know me well, I leave
the scan button activated until something interesting pops up so
that I get a potpourri of information.)

On at least three different stations at various ends of the
dial, today, I heard the following:
Some government agency released the following employment
statistics:
If you take the past year as of the month of May and not the
calendar year from January to January, there is an interesting
ratio in the USA.
That ratio is this. They announced that more jobs were
created in the sector of debt collections (including all of its
support industries such as repossession and lawyers specific
only to debt collections) than in the ENTIRE Manufacturing
sector. Period!

I have been looking for some hint of this on the major networks
this evening and found none even though I think that one of the
radio stations was an ABC affiliate.

You know that if this is true, it does not bode well for
Americans at all! In fact, it sounds like a precursor to a
Great Depression.

So to all of you research geniuses, I ask you to find out if
this is a hoax or what?


Thanks
Yours Truly
(HawkerHurricane's Freind)"

[HawkerHurricane]

1. Zero responses?

I must be more disliked than I thought.

[johnnie]

3. Well...I don't dislike you but...

I don't know how real this is, but it sounds like it could be the case. I have heard about a lot of people losing their houses, but I don't know any personally. Wish I could help you.

[nini]

2. I couldn't find anything on that..

snopes.com didn't have it either..

[Susang]

4. I only have personal experience and observation to go from

And it is not good.

I came of age in Detroit in the late 70s/early 80s, and if you don't know, Detroit is usually hit worse by the nation's economic issues than other areas are. When the rest of the country was in a recession, Detroit was actually in a depression.

Now I live in Chicago and I am feeling an incredible sense of deja vu, eighties style. Except more severe. All the safety nets that used to be in place have been decimated. My husband and I are actually contemplating bankruptcy.

We are not alone. Almost everyone I know is having money or job issues of some kind. The worst part about it is the feeling of being trapped. There is almost no hope of mobility any more for a lot of the people I know. They're just grateful to be working at all. A workforce that is in debt, scared, and grateful to merely have a job is just what corporations want.

We're creating a new class of laborers that are terrified, underemployed, in debt and ill-informed (thanks to our government and Fox News).

[TrogL]

5. Wouldn't surprise me in the least

US manufacturing appears to be going nowhere. Go around the house and look on the labels on your stuff. Know what you're gonna see?

Made in China.
Made in China.
Made in China.

• I'm wearing Chinese running shoes. I can't afford Adidas.
  
• I've got a made-in-China DVD player. It's inexpensive and it works. I can't say the same for the last US-built electronics component one I bought.
  
• apparently Chinese cars rock
  

In my field (IT) lots of jobs have been outsourced to Indian.

So what's happening to people with those jobs - they're going waaay into debt. Then they're defaulting.

Do the math.

[democratreformed]

6. About all the verification I can give is much like

that in one of the above posts. For the past several months, the classified ads in our county newspaper have consistently begun with a listing of several foreclosure notices. I, personally, also know several people who have sold or lost their homes and/or who are considering bankruptcy.

Also, consistenly, for the past several months, I have watched as more and more junk e-mails mention something about debt consolidation or debt restructuring or some such thing.

I, like the above poster, feel that a depression is imminent if we don't get some effective leadership in this country. Unfortunately, it may be imminent even if we do. Hopefully, it won't last too awfully long.

I wish I would actually hear some verification of this from someone who has done some actual research or studies.

[arbusto_baboso]

7. I don't know about those stats, BUT...

I do work in my state's welfare-to-work program helping the unemployed prepare resumes and find work. And right now there just ISN'T any damn work.

Our job announcements board goes half-bare most of the week.

[Interrobang]

8. There are an awful lot of collectroll jobs...

...going around here, too. I ought to know; I'm still looking for work.

When the US sneezes, Canada catches a cold.

[never cry wolf]

9. I have no doubt it's true

I don't have stats to back it up but don't we have a net LOSS of manufacturing jobs since the SCOTUS putsch? If that's the case a net of one add to the collectroll biz would outpace that, and I am sure the collectroll biz is booming!