According to the Labor Department statement issued on Friday, the current unemployment rate is 9.6 percent, which is up from 9.5 percent in August. I just read yesterday that the population of the United States (confirmed by a quick Google search, leading me here) sits at (as of July 2009) a little over 307 million people. If you ask me, that's a pretty big drop just between the two months (3 million 70 thousand). If this trend continues (.1% a month) we'll almost be at 30.7 million unemployed Americans by the end of 2010. Sure, private employers added 67,000 jobs to the market. According to the President, that's "positive news", but "it's not good enough".
The WP story went on to say that the number of American filing for unemployment benefits hovered to nearly recessionary levels.
President Obama, in an economic situation talk on Friday in the Rose Garden, said "And I hope the Senate acts this week on a package of tax cuts and expanded lending for small businesses, where most of America’s jobs are created."
Expanded lending?! Does anybody in our government remember what happened with the last financial bailout program? If a company is in need of a loan, more than likely it is unable to stand on its own two feet, financially speaking. What is loaning them taxpayer money going to do? Keep them afloat for a while, then they'll go right back where they were. What happens next? They fail, and are unable to repay their "loan". I ran across the following mortgage data from Fanny Mae, showing the kind of stuff I'm talking about (click to resize)
Increased lending equals increased spending. That is just the opposite of what this country needs, especially in an economy that is more or less in stagnation where it is right now. Government spending needs to be seriously evaluated and the programs that are unnecessary need to be downsized or cut entirely. Social security for example. "But right now, these benefits –- benefits that are often the person’s sole source of income while they’re looking for work -– are in jeopardy." While this quote from Pres. Obama is specifically focused on unemployment, it speaks to the state of all public benefit programs. For one, social security benefits need to be more strictly enforced and watched in who we're handing them out to. We don't give benefits to foreigners who have never worked a day in their life! We need to watch who pays taxes, and if they don't pay taxes we need to find out why. Can they afford to? Don't give them social security! I wish I had the quote I read the other day, it stated something along the lines of 'someone who is able to work but refuses to do so should not be allowed to share our money'. Sure, it would take more money to pay people to run social security the right way, but I bet the costs will soon be paid for by the savings. If social security, medicare, all of those systems, are not reformed quickly, my generation (and even that of my parents) will not be able to collect the benefits they need to live!
One last thing on the economy. Build a wall already, could you? Illegal immigrants from Mexico are entering our country, taking our jobs, and sending that money right back home to Mexico. Alright, we've got a lot of money leaving the country, let's just print more! Uhhmm, no, not gonna fix the problem. I think we learned what happens with that back in the Great Depression.
All in all, our economy is in a bad spot. While we're not necessarily dipping back down into a recession, we also are not gaining much ground. The GDP may be rising but as we've seen, so is unemployment.
What to do??
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