Friday, February 6, 2009

Seventh heaven

Employers Slash Nearly 600,000 Jobs--Most Since 1974
Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to revive the economy through a stimulus package and a revamped financial bailout plan, both of which are nearing completion.

The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported.
If you didn't kill yourselves while reading that, congratulations, you have a will strong enough to do what is necessary to survive the coming wars. Boy though, that is a depressing couple of paragraphs, isn't it? Which is nice, since we're headed for a Depression. Recession battered, eliminated, grim , deteriorating, no end in sight, terrible toll, drawn out, pressure, revive, far worse, reductions, deeper than previously reported. I'm not sure what other horrible descriptors the AP could have added to the beginning of the piece, unless they described the recession as some fire wyvern eating the still alive corpses of our beloved children.

Guess what? Each day something isn't done it'll get worse. Don't worry though, your elected betters are on it, bravely saying "we'll get to it sometime" while squabbling over whether they should sink an almost trillion dollar bailout bill because they don't like a provision that gives $1 million to a school for the blind so they can buy talking computers for the little sightless ingrates or the provision that provides $500,000 to promote shoe wax awareness month. 7.6% This is as good as it gets.

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