Friday, February 6, 2009

Moving from the Cube to the Curb: U.S. January job losses worst in 34 years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January, the deepest cut in payrolls in 34 years as the national unemployment rate shot up to 7.6 percent, according to a Labor Department report on Friday that underlined a deepening recession.

This is painful to read. More and more Americans are being tossed out of their jobs. Nothing like moving from the cube to the curb. As I had mentioned, as of yesterday, I have been out of work for 2 months now. I have never been out of work for this long of a period of time. Needless to say, I do not enjoy filing for my unemployment every two weeks.

One week I filled out 17 applications and the another was 21 applications. I'm not even looking for jobs that fit my skills anymore. I'm looking for work and have received a few leads and a couple of contract offers. Needless to say, I'm hoping that those come through for me. Am I bitter? No, but I'm disappointed in the whole system.

I have always taught my daughter that if you work hard, you will be rewarded and have opportunities. Not anymore. No one has any confidence. Consumers aren't confident about their jobs and so they don't buy. When consumers don't buy, the companies lose confidence in the market and start laying people off. When people get laid off, they don't buy. When more and more people don't buy, the companies lay off more and more people. See how this works.

It all starts with confidence. As I had discussed in an earlier blog about the mortgage debacle, confidence was lost simply because people got greedy and starting driving the prices of houses up and those loans were sold as investments with the idea that nothing could go wrong with the housing industry. Boy, were we wrong about that! Things continued to go downhill from there.

According to some economists, they see it getting worse. At this rate, most of us will be bankrupt and living in a cardboard house like others in the rest of the world. The days of wine and roses are over and we need to work to get things moving again.

First, we need to stop the Stimulus package. With the amount of pork in it, we are just passing along to our children a mountain of debt. If I can't run my household budget using deficit spending, the government should be able to do it either. Instead of looking at the stimulus package as a "money grab", we need to work with corporations to get the economy moving again. There are several industries that will be growing by leaps and bounds in the next couple of years. Look at the alternative energy industry. Mr. T. Boone Pickens is right about getting away from foreign oil. Every time I read about the worsening economy, I see another article about the price of oil. Sooner or later, they will begin raising the price of oil. Look at the prices now, ladies and gentlemen. Creeping back up, because OPEC decreased their daily production.

Americans are the most innovative people in the world. We are problem solvers and movers and shakers in the world. If we started to invest in other industries, we would be back on top of the world. We have the opportunity to tell OPEC, "Thanks, but no thanks."

The other industry is health care. With the Boomers getting up in years, the health care industry and data management industry will be booming. There will be a need for doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc. and people who support them.

Needless to say, I have been sending my resume to wind companies, hospitals, retirement communities, etc. I see the future and want a job. If the government would just stop throwing good money after bad, we may get out of this. If we don't curb our greed and continue down the path, forget it. We are doomed to failure.

No comments:

Post a Comment