Saturday, March 8, 2008

Hrm....

I've always wondered how much effect economists have on starting/deepening recessions with their predictions. Pygmalion effect.

The shower of pink slips was widespread. Factories, construction companies, mortgage brokers, real-estate firms, retailers, temporary-help firms, child day-care providers, hotels, educational services, accounting firms and computer designers were among those shedding jobs. All those cuts swamped job gains at hospitals and other health care sites, bars and restaurants, legal services and the government.

I wonder what they mean by "computer designers." The reporter probably does, too.
The unemployment rate actually dipped slightly from 4.9 percent to 4.8 percent, as 450,000 people left the labor force for any number of reasons. Economists thought many people probably gave up looking for work.

I also wonder if construction companies report adding/cutting jobs held by illegal workers. I won't feel bad at all if they can't find work as long as they go home.

I don't understand how anyone familiar with simple mathematics can believe there will be jobs created in the areas of vacations, new homes, malls, etc, when people have less money to spend on stuff because they're paying more taxes (Obama's tax hike, Pelosi's gas tax, etc). Apparently they learned nothing from the yacht tax--rich people use more service industries than poor people; hurting the rich people reduces employment opportunities for the unskilled.

Might be fun to watch Barack try to make people work even if no one can pay them. :)

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