OPEN DISCUSSION- The instability of the job industry in America has shown mixed improvement. Why do you think that is? (foreign opinion too)
The unemployment rate was on it's way to a sharp increase already by the time Obama took office in January 2009:
http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&tdim=true&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate
Unemployment Rate: January 2008- 5.4%
Unemployment Rate: October 2008- 6.1%
Unemployment Rate: January 2009- 8.5% (Obama takes office)
Unemployment Rate: January 2010- 10.6% (Obama is in office 1 year and lowest so far for Obama)
Unemployment Rate: September 2010- 9.2%
Obama's first passed legislation was February 17th, 2009 (H.R.1)
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1/show
Stock Market Crashes May 6th, 2010
My question is:
Were we so bad off that the market was headed down at some point already?
Who is the culprit of our strife? Did Bush set a 'gas leak' in the market before he left? Did Obama fumble the ball? Was it big corporation taking advantage of the recovery package and draining the people to line their own pockets? Is it the in-fighting over bills with or from Obama thats slowing everything up? Is this the necessary turmoil we need to endure to repair living on an economy that has spent almost 30 year working on "Reagonomics"?
...or
Do you have a better answer? Let me hear your opinion. I am not voting anyone but I will share my opinion of any statement provided. I'm leaving this one up to the readers to vote. I will step in for tie-breakers of course.
I will say this- I expected (and have been myself wrecked by) the economy crash. I felt it would be worse before it got better. I also believe we may have been better off if people stopped struggling against Obama and let him do what he was hired to do. Obama won. I believe a lot of undeserved blame was shouldered onto him because our economy was already in a sharp decline when he actually took office.
It's like this: I did not vote Obama. I really didn't like any of them and my choice was later revealed to be a nut job (Huckabee). BUT... I felt like we are stranded in a desert, and Obama is the ONLY ride coming through for 4 YEARS! And he is headed to a city. Might not be the city I want... and seat cushions may have springs that poke my ass and leg... but its better than waiting in the desert for 4 years. And I feel like every person he picks up are more concerned with the poor condition of the seats- and less concerned with getting out of the damn desert...
What's your take, oh beloved viewer?
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M$5 Answers
duenhsiyen
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M$Why do you think that is?
-We lost many jobs that can not be replaced.
-Close to home, the GM plant in Janesville, WI closed. We lost 2600 jobs, just in Janesville.
-There are places like Madison, WI that have both the University and the state backing up the economy of that city. So there were few people losing jobs to begin with.
"I believe a lot of undeserved blame was shouldered onto him because our economy was already in a sharp decline when he actually took office."
-I also believe this. It was not his fault that we had a huge deficit before he came into office. It was not his fault that we were fighting two wars before he came into office. Certainly you cannot just get out of both of those wars overnight and not suffer some kind of consequence. It was not his fault that GM or the banks failed. All of this started accumulating before he decided to run.
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M$
As far as our jobs... those went to China and similar places. One thing I do appreciate from Obama is he took a lot of tax breaks away from the companies that were sending jobs over seas.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Obama-Says-Tax-Code-Changes-Promote-Jobs-in-US--105096329.html
I also think it's great that Obama took away tax breaks for those companies shipping jobs elsewhere.
Certainly there are many that have been shipped elsewhere but I do not believe that all of the jobs lost were sent overseas.
A class I recently took (woooo I learned something), said that outsourcing isn't just shipping jobs overseas. It turns out many jobs that used to be human operators or human builders have been replaced by machines. You may start thinking about manufacturing and how effecient we have become as a nation because of it. Also do know that ATMs, self check outs, and Receptionists (my current job), have all been outsourced to machines. Why do companies allow this? They don't have to pay for vacation/sick leave, holidays, or benefits. So from the standpoint of the company, its good for them. But we are losing job after job because of this.
There are many jobs that can not be outsourced, or at least it would be very hard to outsource them. Retail for instance is hard, picking domestic fruit or vegetables is impossible to outsource overseas. Here is where the immigrants come in. They take jobs that, many Americans feel are above them. Other jobs include dishwasher, housekeeper, trash picker-upper (not dump trucks), car washes...I'm sure you could list more.
One thing I know is that from the start of this idea of 'America', Americans have been innovative and creative. We'll find something, another niche. Just you wait and see. :o)
As your employment figures indicate, President Obama managed to end the recession and jobs are gradually increasing. However, Republican obstructionism is blocking more reforms and also solutions to renovate our energy supply.
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M$
I genuinely think Bush was in office to some strange length as a power play, not an actual political play. Clinton left office with us on a stockpile of money, one of the only times since "international currency" came into play that we were well off.
However it varies from industry to industry. now days there is a boom in online businesses and entrepreneurship. many of the people fed up from the current economic situation and think broadly.
Though employment is there but specific or we can say that limited to some level of hierarchy.
Individualistic culture in US organizations lead to frustration and insecurity because there are many jobs that not judge through purely performance based criteria, there are some qualitative aspects of every job that can't be neglected. Though companies started focusing on intrinsic benefits like internal satisfaction, work/life balance, flexible job timings and employee empowerment that we can say reduce the pressure.
It companies and e-commerce business creates new job opportunities and now youth especially students willing to join e-commerce and software houses that lead to reduction in unemployment.
Thanks
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M$
first, there's too much focus on "creating new jobs," while nearly none on helping businesses/companies with financial troubles keep the employees they already have;
second, the trend of hiring many more employees than a company/business needs, which results in employees not being able to make enough money to live in because they are being "shorted" on work hours.
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M$
well now I'm curious: how tainted is the media there and also, is there still a market there in Japanese language and media?
Larry Summers and America's innovation dilemma
-quote-
"How do you channel direct innovation so that more of the work takes place near the innovation in the United States?" Summers asked. Referencing the founder of Eastman-Kodak Corp., Summers said that "When George Eastman was a profoundly successful innovator, the city of Rochester lived well for a generation. ... His innovation made him rich and enabled tens of thousands of his neighbors to live well. Is the same true today? How can we make it more the same?"
Let me phrase the same point differently. Think about arguably the most successful U.S. company of the past decade, Apple. Apple's great innovation has made Steve Jobs and a few other top executives insanely rich. It has made a few thousand educated professionals at Apple's corporate headquarters quite well-off: Engineers, finance people and the like. But given that most Apple products are made overseas, Apple's success has created few jobs for Americans with little education. Sure, there are some jobs mowing the grass at its corporate campus, working in the Apple cafeteria and driving the employee shuttle bus from Cupertino to San Francisco. But that handful of jobs pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of blue-collar jobs a company like Apple would have created in the United States in a different era.
-end quote-
@buddawiggi answered another related question regarding pay scales between India and the US: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/what-is-the-average-pay-for-a-tech-support-person-in-india So you can see that it pays to ship jobs to India.
Scary New Wage Data
-quote-
"What does this all mean? It is the latest, and in this case quite dramatic, evidence that our economic policies in Washington are undermining the nation as a whole.We have created a tax system that changes continually as politicians manipulate it to extract campaign donations. We have enabled ‘‘free trade’’ that is nothing of the sort, but rather tax-subsidized mechanisms that encourage American manufacturers to close their domestic factories, fire workers, and then use cheap labor in China for products they send right back to the United States. This has created enormous downward pressure on wages, and not just for factory workers."
-end quote-
New Figures Detail Depth Of Unemployment Misery, Lower Earnings For All But Super Wealthy
60 Minutes CBS Special: 99 Weeks: When Unemployment Benefits Run Out
Here is an amazing time lapse video of the construction of a 15 story hotel in Shanghai, China by 200 construction workers working around the clock for 6 days! Are we willing to work this hard?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps0DSihggioA reader's comment was posted on Mish Shedlock's blog that I found quite informative:
-quote-
"During Schumpeterian Depressions, large, cash-rich firms dominate and push increasing scale and standardization, whereas small firms suffer from a lack of capital and a reluctance by banks to lend.
This trend should persist well into the next decade, as deflationary depressions and the associated demographic cycle reduces business start-up activities, and this time around Venture Capital activity.
Also, younger workers of a peak demographic cohort lack the capital and longevity in the occupational structure to have made sufficient contacts and gotten access to capital and equipment in order to reach the necessary critical mass of experience, reputation, and problem solving one demonstrates sometime in their mid- to late 20s to early to mid-30s.
Thus, we are not likely to see a new wave of incremental innovation and new capital formation and business start ups until no earlier than the mid-to-late '10s to early '20s. In the meantime, mass cross-industry consolidation, R&D moving inside large firms, spin-offs, firings, wealth consumption, and shifting composition of household spending led by Boomers in late life will combine to slow growth for years to come.
Moreover it is questionable as to whether China and India can buck the larger demographic and Schumpeterian-curve trends, as they have come to rely so heavily upon US supranational firms' Foreign Direct Investment in plants, equipment, trade credits, and intellectual property. The growth of US and Japanese firms' FDI will likely continue to decelerate with "trade" for years to come."
-end quote-
Source: Job Creation During Schumpeterian Depressions
Here is a quote from this New York Times article that appeared a couple of days ago: The Great Deflation: Japan Goes From Dynamic to Disheartened
"China has so thoroughly eclipsed Japan that few American intellectuals seem to bother with Japan now, and once crowded Japanese-language classes at American universities have emptied. "
What happened to Japan during the past two decades is now happening here.
This just in today: Gallup Mid-Month Survey Confirms Prior Reading of 10% Unemployment; Expect Huge Rise in Unemployment After Mid-Term Elections
Thanks @jdhatred for your comments and tip!
Here is a quote that gives me some hope that maybe the innovative capabilities of the US may once again pull us out of this slump:
-quote-
The picture is not entirely bleak for the United States, where the constant drive to innovate can produce bursts of growth that few economists or anyone else can see coming. While Japan was seen once as an unstoppable powerhouse, the picture was altered by wave after wave of technological innovation in the United States — the personal computer industry, then the Internet and Web businesses, smart phones, and mobile software. That dynamism, economists note, is often wrenching. But it also means that investment dollars and people shift more rapidly to new opportunities. In Japan, though, such painful payroll cuts and corporate deaths were postponed for years.
-end quote-
Source: U.S. Hears Echo of Japan’s Woes
Another quote:
-quote-
For instance, the International Monetary Fund found that the persistently high unemployment in the United States is largely the result of foreclosures and underwater mortgages, rather than widely cited causes like mismatches between job requirements and worker skills.
-end quote-
Source:
How the Banks Put the Economy Underwater
International Monetary Fund-Selected Issues
Just 6 days? Anyone should be willing to work for the obvious abundance of pay that would likely result in.
I currently live in Honolulu Hawaii. I might also add that when US corporation outsources work done in America, their profit jumps up considerably because of the reduction in labor costs. It is much easier to ship jobs overseas rather that try to boost productivity incrementally. And the intelligence of Americans and the US labor force is no different than that of any other country. China is graduating 10 times more Ph.D's than we are. Major American corporations are even setting up research centers in China.
After China and India, the next major destination for high tech maybe Vietnam with half the cost of China.
http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?docid=125651805
I found this one
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/16/obama-end-tax-breaks-stop-overseas-hiring/
outsourcing may have lost its perks
Rock on! Thanks! I love being able to listen over read as I'm often doing a bit of writing as well. By the way, I'm a 4th generation German-American. I might stop being the American at this rate.
my hope is that this coming election doesn't end up salting the already stinging wound of the American recovery with more mud slinging. We already have a major setback with the in-fighting already occurring. It needs to come to an end and we get back to business as usual.
I'm adding a $M5.00 tip for contribution.
The Impotence of Elections
Americans out of work, out of income, out of homes, out of hope... .
Now that is a broadly scoped answer. That was what I was hoping for: a new perspective to add to my world view. May I ask where do you hail from?
Today, this article came out: Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain We could learn a lot from the Germans.
The world economy is doomed to spiral downwards until we do 2 things: outlaw government borrowing; 2. outlaw fractional reserve lending. Banks should only be allowed to lend out money they actually have and nations do not have to run up a "National Debt". Remember: It's not what backs the money, it's who controls its quantity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U71-KsDArFMEducate yourselves on our debt based monetary system and consider the reforms suggested by this movie, which was voted as the best documentary at the 2010 Beloit International Film Festival.
Source:
A real way to fix the economy and it exists in North Dakota