nakedempire


The American Empire in a Changing World



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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

'Out of work, out of sight: the forgotten people'

from smh.........

"FOURTEEN million, in round numbers - that is how many Americans are now officially out of work.


Word came Friday from the US Labor Department that, despite all the optimistic talk of an economic recovery, unemployment is going up, not down. The jobless rate rose to 9.2 per cent in June.

What gives? And where, if anywhere, is the outrage?

The US is in the grips of its gravest jobs crisis since Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House. Lose your job, and it will take roughly nine months to find a new one. That is off the charts. Many Americans have simply given up.

But unless you're one of those unhappy 14 million, you might not even notice the problem. The budget deficit, not jobs, has been dominating the conversation in Washington. Unlike the hard-pressed in, say, Greece or Spain, the jobless in 

America seem, well, subdued. The old fire has gone out.

In some ways, this boils down to math, both economic and political. Yes, 9.2 per cent of the American work force is unemployed - but 90.8 per cent of it is working".............READ MORE


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