New business not creating jobs, and hasn’t for a long time
Is the current economic situation just another in a long cycle of booms and busts, growth periods and slowdowns, and thus something that will correct itself in time? Or does it reflect something more long-term, something more fundamental gone wrong in the economy?
Personally, I think that’s the most important economic question of our times. And these new numbers out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics don’t encourage me much. They suggest that new business establishment, long considered the main driver of job creation, is no longer capable of playing that role. They also demonstrate that the phenomenon is not a product of our current economic struggles, but instead can be traced back more than a decade.
As the BLS commentary notes, “the number of jobs created by establishments less than 1 year old has decreased from 4.1 million in 1994, when this series began, to 2.5 million in 2010. This trend combined with that of fewer new establishments overall indicates that the number of new jobs in each new establishment is declining.”
I don’t know how to explain it, and without an explanation it’s impossible to recommend ways to reverse it. I do know that some will automatically try to blame it on government, because that seems to be the only kind of policy debate we can have anymore. But when fundamental economic change is taking place, it usually swamps any influence that government might wield one way or the other.
– Jay Bookman
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305 comments Add your comment
USMC
May 31st, 2011
12:49 pm
Comrade Obama says it all: Lack of Experience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2encXLmPDo
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
12:49 pm
“LACK OF PROFITS. That’s the problem”
Of course it is, no argument there. When exployment is up, profits go down. When employment is down, profits go up. The more people there are with money to spend, the more profits there are to be made.
But when the economy is bad, then businesses have two choices: hunker down and tolerate fewer customers and lower profits…or voluntarily take temporary lower profits to keep people working so they have money to spend, which ultimately leads to higher profits.
Or, they can do like Wendy’s and Arbies did – raise their prices…and lose even more customers, like me. Their prices went up…I stopped eating there.
Good little liberal
May 31st, 2011
12:50 pm
My first post compared liberals to the abusive husband who couldn’t understand why his wife left him.
After a few hours of hearing the abusive husband explain why his wife deserved a good constant beating, I rest my case.
God help us if we can’t change the occupant of the White House.
Have a good day, folks.
robert
May 31st, 2011
12:50 pm
“we would return tax rates to the Clinton Era; and tax companies that pay none, it would help the economy and the work force. Not just the rich and corporations.”
Agreed- let’s also remember the vast majority of income taxes are from individuals and that more than 40% of folks don’t pay individual income tax.
Hey- why not lay out the full problem
Brosephus
May 31st, 2011
12:50 pm
I read where you thought that a WPA type program would be great for rebuilding area destroyed by storms. Why not employ private companies to do the same thing? (Which is what actually happens)
I don’t give a rat’s ass who does the employing as long as the money goes towards giving someone a job and money instead of padding some CEO’s offshore bank account. Right about now, I trust the government more than I trust private companies simply because of the fact that private companies have not shown any concern for their workers and/or their customers in recent history. All they appear to give a sh*t about is investors and profits. If you or they want to change my mindset, then change their actions.
Your mindset that the government needs a hand in everything is maddening.
That is not my mindset, and if it’s maddening, it’s only because you’re projecting an image onto my words that don’t exist. I think there is a time for private intervention and a time for government intervention. When the private sector is chickensh*t in stepping up to take ownership of a situation, there’s only one other group you can turn to. The easiest way to get government out of everything is for the private sector to grow balls and deal with issues instead of deferring to the government through inaction.
USMC
May 31st, 2011
12:51 pm
Obama wants a detente with business leaders
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39603656/ns/today-today_news/t/obama-wants-detente-business-leaders/
Why does Comrade Obama need Detente with business leaders???
Obama has ostracized the Private Sector.
Brosephus
May 31st, 2011
12:52 pm
This posts illustrates why we need regime change. This demonizing of profits by your political leaning is the complete problem.
My political leaning is realist. I haven’t seen a party formed that supports my view, hence I remain independent of either crooked parties we have now.
Profits feed kids,
If you have money to invest towards gaining access to those profits. If not, profits don’t do jack sh*t for your bank account.
make jobs and build manufacturing facilities.
And we’ve had oodles and oodles of that going on with all the recent profittering.
Bottom line, if you don’t have access to those profits, either by investment or employment, those profits may as well be Chinese arithmetic written in Arabic by a Russian translator.
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
12:53 pm
oops! doing too many things at once: This “When exployment is up, profits go down” – should say “when UNEMPLOYEMENT is up, profits go down”
MW
May 31st, 2011
12:53 pm
“the vast majority of income taxes are from individuals”
Should come from corporations.
A.J.
May 31st, 2011
12:54 pm
Read an article this past weekend in which an economist talked about how the U.S. economy has returned to roughly where it was before the last recession but with 7 million fewer workers. Technology of course is one of the reasons, companies able to produce as much with fewer employees.
Which begs the question, do we now have too many people? What, in the long run, do we do with millions of people for whom there is no work? One of the solutions we’re likely to hear in the not too distant future is ZPG, a la China.
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
12:56 pm
“Should come from corporations.”
It would still come from individuals. Corporations do not print money. They get it from their customers. Their customer pay their bills, pay their salaries and wages, and pay their taxes.
Good little liberal
May 31st, 2011
12:57 pm
Brosephus
Capitalism is based on profits and yes, greed. It isn’t feel good. It isn’t about kissing babies. It’s about competition and making money for the investors. That’s what has built our country, not politicians and not the government. The government, up to lately, has allowed that greed and profit making to drive our economy. And pal, it has ben the greatest economy the world has ever seen.
So take a look around at how your feel good, demonize wealth and profit and lets all have more government intervention is working.
The rest of the world had figured out the greed thing and we are having a big old group hug. A big old unemployed group hug.
Look around and see the number of people suffering because this is a result of what you support.
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
12:58 pm
“Capitalism is based on profits and yes, greed.”
Nope, not greed. Greed is separate and has no relationship to ANY economic or political system.
Fly-On-The-Wall
May 31st, 2011
12:58 pm
Finn,
I agree with your statement – absolutely true.
Dusty
May 31st, 2011
12:59 pm
I am quite fond of the people of Missouri by way of Harry Truman. They even name their towns “Independence”. And there’s the speech of 1899 Congressman Willard Vandre; “I come from a country that raises corn and cotton, cockleburrs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri and you have got to show me.”
Doncha just love it? I hope Prez Obama kept that rejection of “frothy eloquence” in mind when he talked to them at Joplin.. You can bet that the people of Missouri are right on their feet doing what they can on their own. Sure, they will take what’s handed to them. But I am also sure they will also ask “What else goes with this ‘gift’? Show me now.” That’s their unofficial motto and I hope they stick with it.
See ya late….
Left wing management
May 31st, 2011
1:01 pm
Good little liberal: “The United States is a Representative Republic which relies on capitalism for an economic base. We don’t need more government workers. ”
You remind me of how the old guard conservatives in the old Roman Republic fiercely fought change in ancient times and constantly appealed to the old ways of virtue, the mos maiorum that the forefathers adhered to. Your position reminds me of that, especially since you stress the word “Republic”. But as with ancient Rome, after awhile it’s necessary for the system as a whole to evolve and be re-invented. The fact that people like you are stressing so forcefully on the roots of capitalistic private virtue of the Republic’s founding suggests that on some level, you yourself sense that there’s a big problem, one for which there is no easy answer. And however much you may resist it, there’s no going back.
Fly-On-The-Wall
May 31st, 2011
1:03 pm
and Finn, that was your 11:25am comment.
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:04 pm
josef, ALL those things are covered by private insurance. Schools, hospitals police stations, etc. Tornadoes don’t dig up roads, sidewalks or bridges. They just have to be cleared.
And to Brosephus’ earlier point about Katrina, many didn’t buy flood insurance (their fault living in a city below sea level). Otherwise, if the insurance companies didn’t come through that’s what courts are there for, not government.
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
1:05 pm
“Otherwise, if the insurance companies didn’t come through that’s what courts are there for, not government.”
Last time I looked, our courts were PART OF the GOVERNMENT
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:06 pm
Doggone, save your sophistry for the dumb-masses.
Left wing management
May 31st, 2011
1:09 pm
GLL: “So take a look around at how your feel good, demonize wealth and profit and lets all have more government intervention is working.”
But we’re not “demonizing” wealth. On the contrary. We love wealth. Which is why we want to see to it that it is SHARED and not monopolized.
See?
Brosephus
May 31st, 2011
1:10 pm
Capitalism is based on profits and yes, greed.
Greed has nothing to do with capitalism whatsoever. It’s views and outlooks like yours that allows greed to propogate in our society with little to no punishment whatsoever. I can’t understand how in one minute, we’re supposed to be a Christian nation, and in another one, we allow one of the seven deadly sins as a way of life. I don’t think a circus contortionist could fix themselves in a position quite as well as that one.
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
1:11 pm
“Doggone, save your sophistry for the dumb-masses”
Actually, I did. Glad you’ve self-identified. Saves me the trouble.
USMC
May 31st, 2011
1:12 pm
“…Which is why we want to see to it that it is SHARED…”
-said best by a true Marxist
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
1:13 pm
“Because without greed, capitalism doesn’t work very well”
and with greed nothing works very well. You can seek profit without being greedy about it. Greed is just another form of selfishness.
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:14 pm
“I can’t understand how in one minute, we’re supposed to be a Christian nation,”
We’re not, despite what anybody says.
“and in another one, we allow one of the seven deadly sins as a way of life.”
Because without greed, capitalism doesn’t work very well. You and Doggone are wrong on that count, Brosephus. Usual for her, not so much for you.
Mighy Righty
May 31st, 2011
1:14 pm
The point of Jay’s piece is to place blame for the current economic mess at the feet of something or someone other than the clueless Obama. The left is beginning to realize that George Bush cannot be blamed forever. The new straw man will be, “it’s merely the times and no one can fix the economy.” Keep your eye on the bouncing ball.
USMC
May 31st, 2011
1:16 pm
Food Stamps are up 39% since Obama took office:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/congress-mulls-cuts-to-food-stamps-program-amid-record-number-of-recipients.html
Adam
May 31st, 2011
1:17 pm
That would violate the 11th commandment: “Thou shall not forsaketh profits for any thing or man. Let thou who is down, pulleth thysef up by thy own bootstrap.”
Surely that’s the 12th. The 11th is “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”
GLL: You haven’t been paying attention if you think there’s a lack of profit.
N-GA
May 31st, 2011
1:17 pm
Jay,
Government spending can only go so far in creating jobs. The pain of that spending is just pushed down the road. The root cost of the economic collapse was decades of cheap credit (Greenspan). Unfortunately the Fed is faced with 2 ugly scenarios: inflation and deflation. Neither is good, but inflation MAY be the better of the two with regard to jobs. IMO deflation might very well lead to another depression…prolonged economic miasma with an accompanying loss of hope.
The Fed will need to act on this cheap credit. By raising rates, expansion/recovery becomes more difficult but inflation may be controlled. However if the cost of government borrowing increases, the economy will experience a double whammy and budget cuts don’t affect interest costs.
Woe is us…..
USMC
May 31st, 2011
1:17 pm
Limousine liberals?
Number of government-owned limos has soared under Obama
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/05/31/4765/limousine-liberals-number-government-owned-limos-has-soared-under-obama
There is a pattern here…
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
1:19 pm
“You realize your error there, don’t you Dave R?”
Now, now LWM – be careful, or he’ll call you a sophist too!
poison pen
May 31st, 2011
1:20 pm
What’s that big sucking sound? NAFTA
USMC
May 31st, 2011
1:20 pm
Consumer confidence falls unexpectedly in May:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Consumer-Confidence-falls-apf-1525822108.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Pro-Obama media always shocked by bad economic news:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/05/pro-obama-media-always-shocked-bad-economic-news
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
1:21 pm
What’s one of the problems with bidness? No sense of humor! I was just looking over the stuff left behind by the plumbers on installing the Peerless product. Now, we all know just how maddening those instructions can be, eh? Not for Peerless…these instructions are funny…
“All instructions for installing new faucets start with the same first step: ‘Remove old faucet.’ Well, we at Peerless thought it was about time someone provided some instructions for that, too. Good luck to you, and may all your coupling nuts turn freely.”
“After you’ve shut everything off, try running some water in the sink. Did any water come out? No? Good, it wasn’t supposed to.”
“…this may take an adjustable wrench or pliers (and, if you like, a few mild curses)…”
“…watch out for falling rust. That stuff is no fun to get in your eyes, and even less to get in your mouth..”
“Have you banged your knuckles on the pipes yet? If so, congratulations. Get out from under the sink, apply a bandage, and move on.”
“…in a could-be-better-case scenario, the faucet will just sort of sit there, snickering at you. If that’s the case, move on to step IJ…”
Oh, yeah, and they do it in three languages!
I’m willing to bet it’s not a bad company to work for!
Left wing management
May 31st, 2011
1:21 pm
Dave R.: “Otherwise, if the insurance companies didn’t come through that’s what courts are there for, not government.”
Woah was that a howler.
You realize your error there, don’t you Dave R?
What do you think led to you making that error, do you think?
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:21 pm
“and with greed nothing works very well.”
Really? Proof?
N-GA
May 31st, 2011
1:22 pm
Was it so long ago that the were 100’s of thousands of: valet parking attendents, limousine drivers, personal trainers, gardeners, party/wedding planners, etc.?
People bought into all that crap…every tween has a cell phone…3-4 TV’s per household…cable in most homes. What happened to living within one’s means?
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:22 pm
“Woah was that a howler.
You realize your error there, don’t you Dave R?
What do you think led to you making that error, do you think?”
Why don’t you provide some specifics, LWM? It’ll be a first for you . . .
MW
May 31st, 2011
1:25 pm
Corporations pay taxes on their profits. They can afford to do that. In addition, corporations must be regulated or, as we know too well, they’d screw over everybody. Who’s going to regulate corporations? Government, that’s who. It costs money to regulate. Corporations should pay their fair share. And it ain’t zero.”
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
1:26 pm
DAVE
Oh, yes, they do…the flooding that comes along with it can wipe out a roadway in no time flat, depending on the strength of the twister…and the insurance companies? Yeah, right, unh hunh, sure…they’re in bidness NOT to pay out…like Brosephus said…
And the 11th Commandment?
“Thou shalt not shtup a shiksa.”
Bosch
May 31st, 2011
1:26 pm
N-GA,
“What happened to living within one’s means?”
That cheap credit you mentioned earlier. Our consumer driven economy wouldn’t last a week if everyone actually did live within their means.
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2011
1:27 pm
Sounds like we’re in an economic “malaise”. Anybody remember who was president last time we were in economic “malaise”?
Interesting but over the weekend I was watching C-span or some type of news program and the economist speaking was saying that if you factor in gas and food prices which have been spiraling- inflation- that we actually have- dare I say it? – STAGFLATION. And it made me remember who was potus when we had stagflation.
Anybody know if its true that food is not counted in the govt’s CPI? I know gas isn’t in the basket mix which seems strange to me but I coulda sworn the economist said food isn’t included either. So if the CPI doesn’t include gas and or food prices than its pretty much a bogus stat since many households spend a decent portion of their earnings on the 2.
I also saw on the news this morning while driving that consumer confidence is down. Not good.
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
1:28 pm
“Really? Proof?”
Bernie Madoff
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:28 pm
MW, but the crux of my argument (and apparently the WSJ as well) is, “What is a fair share?”
Should regulatory costs be higher then the income taxes they pay, and if so, why should they be? And what are the results of those costs for a business to hire people?
Left wing management
May 31st, 2011
1:30 pm
Greed has nothing to do with capitalism whatsoever
I don’t know. This is a harder one than appears at first sight. For capitalism to triumph, it of course first had to break the back of the old Christian principles that banned usury. Because capitalism raises usury to the ultimate principle and enshrines it as the central motor driving human affairs. So the whole gamble really is whether ancient Christianity or capitalism is right about that point. But one thing that can NOT be argued, in my opinion, is that capitalism is Christian, as the ignoramuses from the sticks like Paul Broun and his ilk want to believe. Because, quite clearly, from a Christian perspective capitalism is unquestionably the very incarnation of the beast.
Me personally I favor a 3rd way, one that accepts the fact that capitalism breaks the back of Christianity in one of its primary tenets but who favors carrying that radicalism of capitalism on through to its completion in a brotherhood of the proletariat. A new ‘dictatorship’ if you will. One that I think Paul of Tarsus would have probably gotten on board with too.
Kamchak
May 31st, 2011
1:31 pm
The root cost of the economic collapse was decades of cheap credit (Greenspan).
TESTIFY!
Much hay has been made about the high interest rates during the Carter administration. I had a passbook savings account with Decatur Federal S&L in the early 70s (years before Carter) paying me 5 1/4% – 5 3/4% interest. Hell, you cant even get that with a 30 year T-Bill. Seems to me that compound interest on savings was a driving incentive to actually save money as part of comprehensive financial planning.
Irwin M. Fletcher
May 31st, 2011
1:31 pm
USMC – “Food Stamps are up 39% since Obama took office”
Take a look at how JP Morgan-Chase benefits from this.
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:31 pm
Yes, josef, flooding can take a out a small portion of a roadway. Not a big deal to replace, and is usually handled at the local level. But a tornado cannot take out a road, bridge or sidewalk.
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2011
1:32 pm
Josef Nix,
And people don’t exaggerate or flat out lie to insurance companies about their actual losses or on their health questions on health or life insurance policies either do they?
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
1:32 pm
Thulsa
Six of one, half dozen of another…corporate cheats and scoundrels, individual cheats and scoundrels…just a matter of scale…
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:33 pm
“Thou shalt not shtup a shiksa.”
josef,
One of my favorite movies is “My Favorite Year” with Peter O’Toole. When his character Alan Swann visits the Brooklyn digs of his escort’s family, the first thing his uncle wants to know is if he “shtuped” a certain actress.
Irwin M. Fletcher
May 31st, 2011
1:33 pm
“JP Morgan is the largest processor of food stamp benefits in the United States. JP Morgan has contracted to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. JP Morgan is paid for each case that it handles, so that means that the more Americans that go on food stamps, the more profits JP Morgan makes. Yes, you read that correctly. When the number of Americans on food stamps goes up, JP Morgan makes more money.”
Yay Capitolism!
Irwin M. Fletcher
May 31st, 2011
1:34 pm
sorry – Yay Capitalism
Stevens
May 31st, 2011
1:34 pm
My dream is that they would simply re-instate the tax code from 1955.
At that time the top earners paid three times as much in taxes than they do now.
By today’s Republican standards, the Americans who fought Communists and Socialists were actually Communists and Socialists. That is what they will call you if you say you want 1955 tax rates. I don’t think ‘liberals’ were in charge in 1955.
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2011
1:37 pm
Capitalism can only succeed in a moral, just society. Anyone think we are as moral a nation as we used to be? Take a look at all the small riots and public disturbances at various beaches, parties, and celebrations over the memorial day weekend and get back to me on that. And how many of them kids doing all sorts of bad stuff even know what memorial day honors? And for those of you reading code I’m talking about white kids and white people getting out of control all weekend- not just black people.
Soothsayer
May 31st, 2011
1:37 pm
Reagan insider: ‘GOP destroyed U.S. economy’
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — “How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy.” Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, “Four Deformations of the Apocalypse.”
Get it? Not “destroying.” The GOP has already “destroyed” the U.S. economy, setting up an “American Apocalypse.”
“If there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing. The nation’s public debt … will soon reach $18 trillion.” It screams “out for austerity and sacrifice.” But instead, the GOP insists “that the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers be spared even a three-percentage-point rate increase.”
Like I’ve always said . . .
This is a great article for both Left and Right.
JKL2
May 31st, 2011
1:39 pm
left wing et al- a WPA type employment program has never so much as even been put on the table
We already did that. It was called a $1 trillion stimulous package. (remember “shovel ready”jobs?). Didn’t do squat. Wasting more money is not the solution and only creates more problems in the long run.
You know how to turn a depression into a Great Depression? Government spending and things like the WPA.
Soothsayer
May 31st, 2011
1:39 pm
Enter your comments here
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2011
1:40 pm
Josef Nix,
Corporate thiefs and scoundrels need to start going to jail a little more often. Those penny ante individual cheats and scoundrels collectively add up to quite a bit of cheating themselves.
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:40 pm
“Bernie Madoff”
Aberration. And more sophistry.
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
1:41 pm
DAVE
Yes, it can…not the most common ocurrence to be sure, but it can…I’ve seen it happen…and yes, local level, provided there’s any local left! There’s a difference between a little pop up twister and something F-5 and a mile wide on the ground for a couple of hundred miles…and a Katrina which laid waste to the infrastructure over how wide an area?
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:43 pm
“I don’t think ‘liberals’ were in charge in 1955.”
Then you don’t know who ran Congress, do you, Stevens? Only in 2 of his 8 years did Eisenhower have a Republican Congress to go along with him.
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
1:46 pm
Thulsa
Thieves and scoundrels abound in a culture that encourages such…and are we less moral today than in your longed for days gone by? I think not…about the same, imho….
Paulo977
May 31st, 2011
1:46 pm
USMC
“Obama has ostracized the Private Sector”
He has? I must have been asleep. When did this happen?
Mitchum
May 31st, 2011
1:47 pm
@ Dave R, Eisenhower was president in 1955.
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:47 pm
josef, I have little sympathy for any Katrina victim. Frankly, I’m tired of bailing out a city that continues to rebuild from floods when that city is built below sea level – the epitome of doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.
Me? I’d pay them all one-time to move and make a huge freakin’ lake out of the area and be done with it.
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2011
1:48 pm
Sarah Palin is on her bus riling up the libs again. She just drives them nuts. Do they hate that woman or what? But ya know what? I think she wants them to hate her.
Bosch
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
Oh snap! Sucks for the wingnuts:
There are no national surveys that track doctors’ political leanings, but as more doctors move from business owner to shift worker, their historic alliance with the Republican Party is weakening from Maine as well as South Dakota, Arizona and Oregon, according to doctors’ advocates in those and other states.
That change could have a profound effect on the nation’s health care debate. Indeed, after opposing almost every major health overhaul proposal for nearly a century, the American Medical Association supported President Obama’s legislation last year because the new law would provide health insurance to the vast majority of the nation’s uninsured, improve competition and choice in insurance, and promote prevention and wellness, the group said.
Because so many doctors are no longer in business for themselves, many of the issues that were once priorities for doctors’ groups, like insurance reimbursement, have been displaced by public health and safety concerns, including mandatory seat belt use and chemicals in baby products.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/health/policy/30docs.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=BU-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-DST-053111-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=
deegee
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
I remember when computer automation came into being. The opinion was that it would destroy jobs. Yes, there is no longer a need for file clerks and secretaries. However, take a look at the demand for software developers and IT specialists. Unfortunately, these jobs have been going overseas or to immigrants because we Americans wanted to major in English and Art and Philosophy and Social Studies. It’s not too late to get the skills that are needed to compete for jobs in the 21st century. Wake up, people.
poison pen
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
Jay, I know that I harped on you many times about your articles, but you finally hit a homer with this one. Our politicans, on both sides, just aren’t smart enough to figure out what the problem is, our country is not getting healthier or better.
China and a few other countries are advancing at an alarming rate and we are stagnant. There are many trade laws that need to be corrected, however the trash that’s been in Washington for the past 15/20 years are so worried about other countries and not offending anyone that they took their eyes off of our own country.
Bosch
May 31st, 2011
1:50 pm
Doom,
Sarah who?
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:51 pm
And now, I’m out to deposit some well-earned capitalist income.
Because I’m a greedy S-O-B.
@@
May 31st, 2011
1:51 pm
That cheap credit you mentioned earlier. Our consumer driven economy wouldn’t last a week if everyone actually did live within their means.
Must be why the Democrats promote wealth envy. They’ve got folks jonesing on the Joneses.
Kamchak
May 31st, 2011
1:51 pm
Do they hate that woman or what?
Or what.
Definitely, or what.
Dave R.
May 31st, 2011
1:53 pm
“@ Dave R, Eisenhower was president in 1955.”
And CONGRESS, which really runs things, was Democrat for 6 of his 8 years, Mitchum.
HK
May 31st, 2011
1:54 pm
“And CONGRESS, which really runs things, was Democrat for 6 of his 8 years, Mitchum.”
Ever heard of Veto?
Doggone/GA
May 31st, 2011
1:54 pm
“And CONGRESS, which really runs things”
Last time I checked, Congress couldn’t actually sign bills into law.
Brosephus
May 31st, 2011
1:55 pm
Because without greed, capitalism doesn’t work very well.
Bro Dave, I think you’re off a bit on that. One can have drive to succeed and prosper under capitalism without being selfishly driven. Greed turns that drive to succeed into an endeavor to succeed regardless to what happens to those around you. Greed turns capitalism into something a bit more nefarious than it’s intended to be. I would suspect many try to interlace the drive for success with greed when the two are not mutual.
Kamchak
May 31st, 2011
1:56 pm
And CONGRESS, which really runs things, was Democrat for 6 of his 8 years, Mitchum.
And as we all know, Democrat always = liberal.
Brosephus
May 31st, 2011
1:58 pm
Dave
You have to remember that Katrina destroyed more than just New Orleans. What about those inland areas of Mississippi that are above sea level?
St Simons - we're on Island time
May 31st, 2011
1:59 pm
New & young businesses, more than anything, need ZBAs and
LOCs from banksters. They’re not getting them from the banksters.
The End.
That was OUR money Bush & Paulson loaned Mama Bush
(JP Morgan) and the banksters. We could have regulated
that money so that it would be spent on small business
creation and operation. But noooo.
Guess who stood in the way of that regulation.
Thanks again, cons. Y’all would %^& up a hammer.
Kamchak
May 31st, 2011
2:01 pm
What about those inland areas of Mississippi that are above sea level?
I guess their bootstraps just weren’t long enough.
Another instance where size does matter.
Billyboy
May 31st, 2011
2:02 pm
It is simple productivity has increased in the private sector. If you look at the same chart for the public sector the opposite is happening. If government decreases productivity then it increases jobs, sounds like a good new program.
kitty
May 31st, 2011
2:04 pm
We would save a ridiculous amount of money if the tax system were simplified by lowering rates and reducing deductions just like we did in 1986 so people (and companies) would not spend so much time gaming the system trying to avoid paying taxes….from Obama is Over.
Do you actually have any clue at all about what you typed here? There was NO simplification in the 1986 Act. I was a new tax accountant and we all called it the Accountants Retirement Act of 1986. There was so much more work from that act that we were set for life. Thanks, Ronnie!!!!
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
2:05 pm
DAVE
Now you’re just trying to stir me up, ain’t you?
And where do you expect them to move? That city is a world treasure and heart and soul of a culture you seem not to hold in very high regard. So, maybe resettle them, oh, along the San Andreas or the Cascade faults? Or maybe up in the Midwest where they keep rebuilding after a gust of wind blows them (again) into Kingdom Come. Or maybe that lovely little corner of the empire up in New England we keep digging out from under a few feet of snow? Oh, I know, let’s ship ‘em all back to France and Africa where they came from, eh Helen?
Maybe we ought to close the second largest port in the empire while we’re at it, shut down the Mississippi to navigation, turn off the oil pipes?
WT
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
“What about those inland areas of Mississippi that are above sea level?”
Much of the population was black, oh yeah right…now I see.
Misty Fyed
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
Maybe if small businesses didn’t have to pay their employees a living wage to yell “Whaddayahave”.
But seriously, I wonder what the impact of increased minimage wage is on these numbers. Teen employment is was down 13% in 2008 from 2000. Total employment of teens is about 32%
The summer jobs have disappeared due to the high minimum wages.
Irwin M. Fletcher
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
Misty Fyed – “The summer jobs have disappeared due to the high minimum wages.”
Is that why everytime I go to McD’s or BK all I hear is Spanish?
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2011
2:08 pm
Dave R.,
Have patience Dave. Its only been almost 6 years since Katrina. Ya gotta give them at least another decade or 2 before they can be reasonably expected to stand on their own again.
JKL2
May 31st, 2011
2:08 pm
Dave R- I’m tired of bailing out a city that continues to rebuild from floods when that city is built below sea level
We had a little town along the Mississippi called Meyer. When it flooded about 10 years ago, they rebuilt the levee on the other side of town and said move back at your own risk. Still had about 100 idiots rebuild their houses there. I think they’ve been wiped out twice more since then.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
May 31st, 2011
2:11 pm
Well, I say let’s get rid of all regulation on businesses for 5 yrs. and see what happens. Sort of like you take your pants off and bend over for five years and if nothing happens you can put them back on.
That’s my opinion and it’s very true. Have a good p.m. everybody.
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
2:11 pm
WT
Correction…much of the population was NOT black and NOT white either! But I CAN tell you the neighborhood they’re from from the shades in between…
JKL2
May 31st, 2011
2:11 pm
Brosephus- What about those inland areas of Mississippi that are above sea level?
Those aren’t the people sitting around with their hands out, waiting for the government to “rescue” them 6 years after the fact.
Adam
May 31st, 2011
2:12 pm
For once, I agree with Thulsa (1:37)
josef nix
May 31st, 2011
2:14 pm
JKL
We had a little town….
New Orleans is a major city…
deegee
May 31st, 2011
2:14 pm
Summer jobs haven’t disappeared. They are going to old people. Take a look at who is working the checkout line at the grocery store and bagging your groceries. Look at the folks working in retail at Sears. Look at who is taking your order at some of the fast food places. I would buy the argument about minimum wage if prices stayed the same while wages went up. You’re paying more for a value meal because McDonald’s is paying more for their employees. Suck it up.
Adam
May 31st, 2011
2:15 pm
Because so many doctors are no longer in business for themselves, many of the issues that were once priorities for doctors’ groups, like insurance reimbursement, have been displaced by public health and safety concerns, including mandatory seat belt use and chemicals in baby products.
As it should be.
Brosephus
May 31st, 2011
2:16 pm
Misty Fyed – “The summer jobs have disappeared due to the high minimum wages.”
Is that why everytime I go to McD’s or BK all I hear is Spanish?
Nah, you hear Spanish partly because of the J1 Visa program. We, as a country, bring in college-aged students from other countries to come here and work in J1 status for limited periods of time.
Private sector programs:[3]
Alien Physician
Au Pair and EduCare
Camp Counselor [Summer camp]
Intern
Student, Secondary School
Work/Travel
Teacher
Trainee
Flight Training (J-1 privileges to be terminated effective June 1, 2010)[4]
Adam
May 31st, 2011
2:17 pm
JKL2: I’m tired of bailing out a city that continues to rebuild from floods when that city is built below sea level
Hey. Don’t be a d*ck.
Anyway, the city wasn’t BUILT below sea level, it SANK. Plus, much of the major areas aren’t actually below sea level. Just very very close.