Interactive Map Shows Unemployment On the Rise, Recession Continues
One stimulus package has already been distributed. Another is being suggested. With the trillions of dollars that have been printed and spent in the last year to give our economy a jump-start, you would think that we would see improvement in the economic situation of our country. This is unfortunately not the case. In fact, our financial position as a country has grown worse, not better.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U. S. Department of Labor says that as of September 2009 (the most recent month for which it has statistics) over 31 million people in the United States are unemployed. This number includes people who require full-time work but are only able to find part-time positions, as well as those who want work but have stopped looking due to lack of available jobs. But do not take my word for it. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. This map of all counties in the United States shows how unemployment is scattered, and growing, across our nation. It starts in January of 2007 and ends in September of 2009.
In the face of this data, it is extremely difficult to accept the assertations of our leadership that we have finally experienced the worst of this "Great Recession". For me and for many people I know, it has been anything but great. If we believe the more conservative economic pundits, the trend will continue and we will see things get worse before they get better. In the meantime, what does our government plan on doing? Give more money to big businesses who use the newly-acquired funds to improve their bottom line at the expense of the consumer! Make up ststistics to show vaporous jobs saved in nonexistent political districts, with money disappearing to help convince the masses of the veracity of the claim! Bail out industries which utilized bad business practices to make money from innocent consumers, while those same consumers lose their jobs, their homes, and their lives! And of course give away money with no method for tracking the expenditures or requiring accountability on the part of the recipients.
Our current economic woes are very much like a large kidneystone: Eventually this, too, shall pass. I only wish it did not have to hurt so much, especially those innocent bystanders whose only crime was to try to live a decent life and provide for their families.
Article submitted Wednesday, November 18, 2009 & read 1032 times.
Leave your comments through ProBlogz: