Its amazing how Mia takes his poltical perspective and then somehow tries to tie it to facts and is so profoundly wrong so often. Michigan is doing terrible. No doubt. Michigan has had unemployment rates higher than the rest of the nation since the early 2000's. Frankly, we are hurting our own people by not doing enough to support manufacturing jobs within the US. Auto manufacturing across the board is the largest component of over all manufacturing in the US. It has taken a horrible blow. As has been reported Americans are roughly buying 10 million new cars/year these days --not 16 million/year as they were doing before the recession. That is killing manufacturing jobs in the nation. Michigan's high unemployment is a function of that. Things are so tough there they are losing jobs in every sector. Cash for Clunkers seems to have spurred Auto manufacturers to increase production going forward. Maybe that will help. Cash for Clunkers spurred about 700,000 purchases. That is a drop in the bucket relative to 16 million/year. Still the auto manufacturers have announced more production so that is good news for factory workers. Meanwhile, Mia you couldn't be more wrong on Virginia in every way possible. If you had read this post in the depression thread and looked at the graph presented here...http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/sites/default/files/publications/ye08rer.pdf you would see that Virginia is anything but rural. Virginia employment is dominated by 2 parts of the state; Northern Virginia outside of Washington DC and the Norfolk/Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach region. They are very crowded urbanized areas. What is the single element that dominates employment in those areas? FED GOVT SPENDING. Nothing is even close in driving those two areas. Northern VA is overwhelmed with govt employees and contractors who solely work for the Feds. Its astonishing. Hampton Roads area is dominated by the Navy and all the contractors that work with it. Move out of those areas and you have a state similarly devastated by the recession as is much of the rest of the nation. You seem to be saluting Virginia for its relatively low unemployment rate. You should quickly send more tax money to the US gov and say thanks for keeping employment high in Virginia. Quick use this money to pay for more fed workers and more fed contractors.
Here is a little tidbit that speaks to the problems with rising unemployment rates. The national chain Bed Bath and Beyond Increased sales and profits but decreased Staffing and advertising. The Wall Street Journal references this little tidbit and references that its significant competitor, Linen's and Things went bankrupt. I'm pretty sure that occurred at the end of 2008 which means that Bed Bath and Beyond has experienced 2 quarters with dramatically less competition. Still the economy is hurting them; same store sales are slightly down. They increased overall sales, increased their margins....and they did it with less employees and less advertising. Employment is simply going to lag any elements of recovery. Businesses took incredible hits in late 2007, 2008, and this year. They are reinventing themselves as we speak. Even if they are improving elements of their businesses they are doing it with fewer employees. If companies like this see a lot of growth....they will start hiring again. If their profits grow like the wind, new competitors will come after them and hire up to compete. It will simply take time. And that process has nothing to do with who was in office in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, this year or next year. It is the way the business cycle works.
"True statistics now in the free market calculate our real unemployment at 20%" - Ron Paul on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Actuaries and other free market professionals have calculated that today in the United States, 20% of the employable population aged 20 years and older are unemployed. This is referred to as the "Real U.S. Unemployment Rate". The government's published "unemployment rate" does not include "discouraged workers". Under the Bush administration, discouraged workers were people that had been unemployed for 6 months or more. The Obama administration changed that definition to people who had stopped looking for work one month before the statistics were taken. With Obama's new definition, it's now apples and oranges when compared to the previous administration, because it allows the illusion that published unemployment is lower than reality. But it's really 20%. Yes, things now suck a lot worse under the Democrats.
It has been known for a very long time that official unemployment rates seriously understate actual unemployment, especially so in recessions. I fail to understand the correlation between the worst economic downturn since the great depression and who is currently in office. If the government contributes to business cycles (I think it does) then surely you would agree that it is longer term. The economy is not binary. It does not (and can not) instantly respond to things like democrats and republicans.
I was having a conversation with a couple from Michigan that now lives in WI. The discussion centered around College FB, and their rivalries, (husband/wife) and the rest of us who like anything from the Badgers to KState. In any event I mentioned to her that if Michigan would just succeed from the union, that our unemployment rate would drop to less than 2%. She found it kinda comical, and sad enough - true. Point? Most of the troubles in the US from banking to employment seem to center around only a few certain geographical locations in the US. Predominantly union, heavily populated metropolitan areas, very liberal, and overly burdened with illegals.
There are only a few key problem areas as I see it. Calif is one. So is Michigan, Illinois, Florida and Georgia. These are the places the banks are failing.
As had been discussed earlier, the FASTEST way to boot-strap the economy is through defense spending. Democrats are deliberately NOT improving the economy with defense spending. This is because Democrats would rather hurt Republicans, than help America.
I know you hate being confused by the facts, but you really should try to get them straight. As you can see on the map (particularly on the west coast) the areas of highest unemployment are largely rural, non-industrialized and non-union. Deschutes County Oregon (unemployment > 15%) has an agricultural/resource base supplemented by tourism and high tech. Harney County Oregon (unemployment > 17%) has an agricultural/resource base and the lowest population density in the continental US. Douglas County Oregon (unemployment ~ 17%) has a resource base - mainly timber - with minimal manufacturing. "Illegals" are a non-factor in any of these examples, and they are some of the most conservative areas in the PNW. Trinity County California (unemployment > 17%) Resource and toruism base. Lake, Colusa, Yuba, Sutter, Sierra, Plumas (unemployment 15-18+%) are all ag or resource based. Non-industrial and some of the most conservative counties in California. But if I look at the most undustrialized area in the PNW - King County Washington (Seattle) unemployment drops to ~8%. Unions? Boeing is hugely organized. Seattle in particular and the Puget Sound in general, are well know liberal enclaves. It's where a lot of hippies moved. Look at the SF Bay Area. Unemployment below 9% (Marin County is only 7.5%). Arguably the most liberal area of the country. Heavily industrialized. Strong Unions (Longshoremen, Teamsters and public - SEIU/AFSCME). Nothing here would support your assertion about union heavy liberal metropolitan areas overburdened by illegals.
Look, I understand you are bitter because you feel you are a victim of "the economy" when in fact, you may just have been a part of it. Ouch.
What in the world does this statement have to do with anything whatsoever, particularly your absurd claim that, "Most of the troubles in the US from banking to employment seem to center around only a few certain geographical locations in the US. Predominantly union, heavily populated metropolitan areas, very liberal, and overly burdened with illegals." Too much Glen Beck?
Wow, used to be "FOX NEWS", now when someone has difficulty responding they blame Glen Beck? We've come full circle. I, unlike you kool-aid drinkers actually think for myself. I'm merely expressing to you my opinion based on the overall reality of the situation. What your mistakes have to do with the topic are well, pretty much everything. You are basing your responses on knee jerk reactions to your emotionally charged claims of shifting blame for your own mistakes. Buck up camper and take some responsibility for yourself and start trying to think for yourself. What are you afraid of; people calling you Glen Beck?
Gee, I even painted you a picture of the "reality of the situation". Your absurd claim that, "Most of the troubles in the US from banking to employment seem to center around only a few certain geographical locations in the US. Predominantly union, heavily populated metropolitan areas, very liberal, and overly burdened with illegals..." ...is not supported by the facts. Must be an alternate reality. You been smoking again?
GM just announced its deal to sell Saturn fell out. Its closing down the entire Saturn line. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeeh9Lis.7vA Ah lets see....the Saturn main manufacturing plant is in Spring Hill, Tennessee an area that is 30 miles South of Nashville and still has abundant farmland. Lets see its not Urban, isn't in a liberal area, definitely not heavily populated. Yes there is a union at Saturn. It had a long history from its beginning in aggressively working with management. That was one of its startling changes from Detroit. As far as illegal aliens...here are some statistics....http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeeh9Lis.7vA. As of 2006 total foreign born living in the state = 3.5% of the population....and that is all foreign born...lets assume a good number are very legal. The place is not a haven for illegal aliens. So much for that theory!!!!!
I suspect that, when Penske looked hard at Saturn, there was something he really didn't like. There must be some deep flaw, like quality, or a contract, or something dirty. I know a company in Silicon Valley that has been on the selling block for the past two years. The inside story as to why it hasn't been sold is that top (and VERY incompetent) management wants lots of money in their pockets for a sale to be approved. But nobody wants to pay them off! That's real life
@Corwin having reread what I wrote, I feel silly having made the comments. But the comments by Mia, so absurd, so partisan, and so tinged with a level of racist overtones directed at urban centers, blue states, etc. Such nonsense. Meanwhile there are reports in the business media why the deal didn't occur. Go check them out. How sad for the workers associated with Saturn. That is a lot more people out of work. It is going to devastate that part of Tennessee. That is a big chunk of workers who are going to be jobless. It puts a huge hole in that local economy. I own some small businesses. I've bought and sold some. Before that I brokered real estate deals and made my own. There are a thousand reasons why deals don't happen, not the least of it are the ones you mentioned above. I tend not to make deals in quantity any more. I worked on one deal this year and it didn't occur. You know why it tanked. One party to the deal so hated someone connected to the transaction in a very tangential way, that despite a reasonable offer, and the advice of her financial and legal adviser to take the deal she turned it down. There was a very short window of opportunity to make it. Meanwhile, this remains a very weakened and fragile economy. The deep picture is that the crash in real estate and financial markets took an estimated 20% of paper worth out of the US economy. Homes are still being repossessed. Businesses are working with reduced staffs. There isn't a lot of buying going on. Not only are there less Americans with incomes and money, the entire spending versus saving equation has changed. Americans are saving more and spending less. At best right now the downward spiral of the recession is bottoming out. If so, its bottoming and economic activity is way way below where it was pre recession. I have mentioned this before. Pre recession there were about 16 million new vehicles being sold in the US. Most of them were manufactured in the US. Now there are about 10 million new vehicles being sold. At an average price of about $27-28,000 per the National Association of Auto Dealers....that means that there is about $160-170 billion less in economic activity in that sector. Take a bunch of other sectors of the economy...in fact virtually if not every one...and there are billions if not trillions of less economic activity. That is a key reason things are bad. All that less activity means millions of people are out of work. It simply won't come back immediately. It takes time. Meanwhile in such a lousy economy its got to be a big risk to buy an auto manufacturing business when overall vehicle sales are about 60% of what they were before.
Please share the "facts" (including sources) that you are basing this on. Inquiring minds and all that... The assertion does not make a fact.
@earlthepearl, I don't see any racist overtones from Mia. In a broader sense, though, the term "racist" has unfortunately (or fortunately?) become meaningless due to it's often inappropriate use. I grew up an Italian-American in the 1970's. For those of you not familiar with the culturally accepted racism at the time, it was acceptable to be a bigot towards Italians then. We were automatically branded as dishonest cheats (especially by the U.S. Catholic Church). Even the Federal Government had incorrectly branded The Sons of Italy to be a subversive organization! However, my parents taught me to look past the racism and - most important - do NOT give racism any attention. Racists want attention for their beliefs, and as I was taught, if you don't give a belief any attention, it fades. Other Italian parents taught their children the same. As a result, certain horrible terms used to describe Italians have now fallen into disuse. Aside from that, I enjoyed the realism of your post and the understanding of Bed Bath and Beyond sales. I plan on looking up the business reasons for GM's Saturn deal falling apart. But from my own personal perspective, as I'd written elsewhere, when I worked in Detroit in Automotive as a vendor I was shocked and annoyed at the incompetence and inefficiency of General Motors. The company was a real joke, awash in cruel politics and petty bickering. They alienated innocent partners by suing them for GM's own screwups. So, during this last financial mess, while vendors were friendly and flexible with terms for Chrysler and Ford, GM has gotten no sympathy or terms from their vendors. Real World issues, not theory.