Near the end of the rope?

[kentuck]

Either things will get better or they will get worse. They will not stay the same.

Without jobs or a means to survive, people become desperate. Patience with the discontented is limited.

If the corporate structure, with all its corporate welfare, cannot provide jobs, then we need to find another way other than the capitalist charade that is now going on.

The most obscene word is "taxes". One side preaches against it like a religion and the other side is afraid to mention it for fear of being obliterated. We are stuck in a purgatory of our own making.

Workers have become no more than a machine to these people. Their only concern is for their stock holders and continued profits.

The system no longer works. Capitalism is no longer for the betterment of our people or our society, if it ever was? It is dead.

We must find another way. Otherwise, we are sliding into an abyss with no escape. Somebody needs to start creating jobs. And soon...

[scheming daemons]

1. Interesting reaction to today's jobs report.....

+162,000 in March.


You're right... either things will get better or they'll get worse.



They're getting better.

[pscot]

2. Oh well. That's alright then.

No worries, eh?

[Greyhound]

15. Even the report you quote (but don't link) says that the majority of that is due the

temp workers hired by Census.

The major benefit of which is that their unemployment can reset (depending on state).

You really need to work on your Scheming skills.

[skeptical cynic]

3. Note that with +162,000 new jobs

Unemployment remained at 9.7%. Evidently, as many jobs were lost as gained.

The Op is correct that we are sliding into an abyss--but the future is waiting on the other side of that abyss. That abyss will be ugly but cathartic. Bring on the abyss.

[scheming daemons]

4. No... that's not what that number means

The unemployment rate, 9.7%, is simply this.

9.7% of the adult population responded to the monthly survey that they are currently out of work, but are actively looking for a job.


The reason the % stayed the same is because many more people who previously had given up looking, have begun looking again.


This shows that the unemployed are regaining optimism and beginning to look again.


The 162,000 is a net increase... meaning... 162,000 more people are working this month than were working last month.

[kentuck]

5. At least, that is a creative argument.

"The reason the % stayed the same is because many more people who previously had given up looking, have begun looking again."

:shrug:

[cherokeeprogressive]

14. +10 "have begun looking again" LOL n/t

[skeptical cynic]

7. Did you include

those who have been looking but have stopped.

Sorry, but the numbers are just BS. Our economy is based on consumerism, and consumerism is based on consumer confidence, so they numbers will say whatever it takes to try to create confidence.

[scheming daemons]

8. "the numbers will say whatever it takes to try to create confidence"

So how do you explain these same numbers saying very bad things for the past 24 months?

[skeptical cynic]

13. Are you talking about all the "green shoots"?

I think I understand the mainstream party line and Obama-booster perspective. I think it's part of the problem, not a part of the solution, but really think I understand it. It's part of the audacity of hope, right? The cup isn't 3/4 empty, it's 1/4 full.

[Cresent City Kid]

6. They always seem to create just enough jobs to prevent revolution

In the late 1800's, we had capitalism in its purest form, set up to benefit the capitalists. The government was to weak to limit them in defense of the people, or unwilling, perhaps a little of both. Left unchecked, it led to the Great Depression. The New Deal was a workaround that prevented that type of collapse while keeping the vestiges of capitalism intact, all to stave off communism.

The Reaganites either forgot this lesson, or didn't care as they sought to undo the compromise that led to a large and healthy middle class. As much as they railed against communists, they unwittingly created conditions that make communism or socialism seem more palatable. Voters seem to alternately forget and remember the lesson. They fall for the lies of the right, vote in republicans, then vote them out when the economy starts to tank before it gets to Great Depression like depths. This keeps us in a stalemate, as well as the capitalist themselves giving just enough back to keep the whole system from total collapse.

Barring some economic or natural catatsrophe, I expect this stasis to continue into the foreseeable future.

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Spot on CCK.....................

You know your history. In addition, the New Deal (and WWII) was the reason that we didn't wind up with a real socialist government. More Socialists were elected in the USA in the 30s than (I believe) at any time in history. Without the New Deal incorporating some socialist ideas, Socialism would have taken over at the ballot box during the 30s.

The only place I MIGHT disagree a little is your last paragraph about the stasis. I see how there could be RW dictatorship before stasis and then a reaction to that RW dictatorship. Change happens MUCH quicker now than it did back then. The quicker the change, the harder it is to keep society and politics locked in place without authoritarianism. I'm not predicting that it WILL happen this way, but I DO think that it COULD happen as easily as status quo.

[Cresent City Kid]

12. I hope you're wrong about the dictatorship

The right wing is certainly hell bent on the dictatorship you mention, though it may be dressed as our democracy. The system they hope to have in place is top heavy and unstable, but it benefits them, hand over fist. Unless there's a military coup, they will have to dupe the populace. They have done this with their political base, but they have a problem currently with the numbers of educated and reasoning people who don't buy their bullshit. That's the crux of their current predicament, their message doesn't work in reality, and we're catching on. Also, they've got their base hooked on guns and love of freedom. I'd hate to see that mob if they catch on that they're living in a dicatatorship.

[tigereye]

11. the irony is that if people don't have jobs and money to spend, it's kind of

hard to keep an economy "based on consumer spending" afloat. If one destroys the middle class (as folks like to claim), who is going to buy all the stuff? :shrug:


Also the electorate is quite reactive, with a short memory, as you note.

[tigereye]

10. what do you think small businesses do? The problem is that a lot of them

become very large businesses as they grow, and they often become beholden to stock-holders with very unrealistic profit expectations and concerns and rules that are not worker-friendly. Otherwise, people have to work for large non-profits, hospitals, agencies, governments... The money to pay them all has to come from somewhere.

Maybe we just need to get rid of the stock market! :rofl: