The U.S. Labor Department announced that September unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, up from 9.7% in August. The economy lost 263,000 jobs that same month compared to the revised down figure for August which was 201,000 job losses. The Department also reported 15.1 million Americans are out of work and 7.2 million jobs have been lost since December 2007 when the recession began. Hourly earnings rose by a penny last month while weekly wages fell $1.54 to $616.11.
The latest numbers indicate the severe effects of the recession and that more time will pass before the country and its people will see job growth of any significant numbers. The American people are nervous and restless and are searching for over night solutions but none exist. There is too much wealth in too few hands for that to happen. The job losses in 2008 were averaging over 500,000 a month. That number has been reduced so far this year which means part of the stimulus is working.
Consumers are not spending freely yet because they are still unsure of the future. Consumer spending represents the largest part of the economy and once the job picture improves to where businesses are starting to hire again, the consumer will respond. The American people should also realize that there are those voices out there who prey on bad times and offer false information and preach despair. Many Americans affected by the recession have never experienced an economic collapse of our financial structure as severe as this one. President Roosevelt had to put the country in debt to put our people to work during WWII for the war effort. The WPA and other government programs were created to put our people to work and it worked well for America.
Those voices who are opposed to the stimulus spending and are now talking about deficit spending at the time the country is in an economic crisis were silent during the record deficit spending of President's Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 which totaled 20 years. None of those Presidents faced the severe economic problems the country faces today. In fact President Bush 43 inherited the greatest economy, job creation and balanced budgets and surpluses and turned all of that around. Those same voices were also silent the whole time wealth was being transferred from the average worker to the wealthy.
Patience is not easy to practice when you lose your job, your home and have to provide for your family or your own well being. However, the negative voices who have nothing to offer but blame and who stood on the side lines all the while the country was going into recession while supporting the status quo deserve to be tuned out.
America and its people will come out of these hard times and there will be a reason to feel good again. I would advise the people to stop and think for themselves, we the people are smart enough to figure out what is really going on and and act accordingly. We all need to be leaders instead of followers. Those who preach in the negative have a character problem that will not allow them to compete where common sense and intelligence rules.
