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TechnoratiWASHINGTON - The world's biggest economy marked Independence Day Friday with little cause for economic cheer. Job losses are the worst in nearly six years and a de facto recession appears to have gripped all sectors.
Statistics released in the run up to the Jul. 4 national holiday offer little hope of an early turnaround. Developing and wealthy countries alike are feeling the effects of the slowdown here.
Economic woes top the list of voters' concerns in this election year, according to numerous opinion polls. Job losses, in particular, are causing anxiety and contributing to the lowest levels of consumer confidence about the future in more than a decade.
"Far too many Americans will spend this holiday out of work and struggling to provide for their families because of the failed policies of the last eight years," Barack Obama, the Democratic contender for the presidency, said Thursday.
Said John McCain, Obama's Republican rival: "Washington can no longer abdicate its responsibility to act. Our focus must be clear: enact policies to create jobs today."
Employers have jettisoned nearly half a million workers -- 438,000 -- so far this year, the Labour Department said on Thursday. In June alone, they laid off 62,000 jobs, more than economists had predicted and the sixth straight month of net job losses for the economy.
Massive job losses overwhelmed the few gains seen in health care, education, the hospitality industry, and the government.
The economy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs every month just to keep up with new entrants into the job market.
A day earlier, leading payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) said non-farm private firms jettisoned 79,000 workers last month, the biggest job loss since November 2002.
The national unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent -- a full percentage point higher than a year ago, according to the Labour Department. Nationwide, there were 8.5 million people last month, up from 7 million a year ago.
The government's figures likely understate the problem, however, as they exclude people who have given up looking for a job, and those knocked out of full-time employment and into part-time jobs against their will.
Many economists say the unemployment rate likely will continue to rise well into 2009, topping 6 percent along the way.
June's "decrease in employment was broad based across industrial sectors and suggests continued weakness in employment," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomics Advisers LLC, which crunched ADP's payroll data for Wednesday's report.
Goods-producing companies dominated last month's bloodletting with 76,000 workers let go -- the sector's nineteenth consecutive month of decline. The manufacturing sector offloaded 44,000 workers for its twenty-second straight month of job losses, ADP said.
But the services sector, which had continued to grow steadily as other parts of the economy stalled, posted its first jobs decline since November 2002, laying off 3,000 workers, according to ADP.
The private Institute for Supply Management (ISM) confirmed the reversal of fortunes on Thursday, announcing in a widely anticipated report that its services sector index fell to 48.2 in June from 51.7 in May. A reading below 50 reflects contraction.
The ISM manufacturing index for June rose unexpectedly to 50.2 but the group said this was just a spurt and warned that unsold goods were piling up and likely would lead to further retrenchment.
The purchasing managers' association blamed the downturn mainly on rising costs of fuel, food, and raw materials.
Factory orders for capital goods -- machines and other products used in making other products -- also are falling, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday, providing further indication that businesses faced with dwindling profits are paring their spending on plant and production capacity. The department also reported an increase in unsold goods.
The U.S. housing recession, now in its third year, continues to claim livelihoods in the home-building industry and among finance firms specialising in home sales and mortgage lending.
ADP's payrolls review "suggests no lessening of the recent strain on employment in these industries," said Prakken.
Builders have axed 349,000 jobs in the past two years and housing finance firms cut 3,000 jobs last month alone, according to ADP.
Worse is to come. Countrywide Financial Corp. said last week 7,500 jobs would be cut as Bank of America Corp., the second-largest U.S. bank, acquires the troubled mortgage lender.
What's more, job losses are spreading to other parts of the service economy. Starbucks, that symbol of business expansion, said it would close 600 of its U.S. coffee shops in the year ahead -- or nearly one in every five stores opened in the past two years. The company said it would serve termination notices to 12,000 employees, about 7 percent of its global workforce.
Airline employees also are bracing for job losses, as are workers for Chrysler and other U.S. automakers, some of which said this week their sales had fallen to 15-year lows.
More pain is to come, economists say, and it will be felt around the world.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have issued multiple warnings since late last year that a stagnating U.S. economy is dragging down other countries and could lead to global recession.
Latin America and countries linked to the feeble U.S. dollar have been hit hard but losses also have struck major traders China and India. Economic woes in the rich countries also could sap the world's aid-dependent poorest countries, the IMF has warned.
International experts had hoped governments with sizeable currency reserves and those with relatively little dependence on U.S. aid, investment, or export markets might ride out the storm. But the IMF warned this week that runaway commodity prices were eating into some countries' finances.
© 2008 Inter Press Service
33 Comments so far
Show AllI wore a peace shirt to my brother's Fourth of July celebration. He appreciated it, as did most of the rest of the party guests. Those who were pissed off, too f**cking bad. I'll continue to protest in my little way at every gathering I attend, and see what 'm happens. 9/11/2008 STRIKE? I'm there.
forextrader, Ain't my bed! I heard an author who penned a book @ the Murderer, she said, "My feeling is he's weary. When his head hits the pillow....", that says it all he could care on eway or another if has the ability to sleep at night unless he boots heroin!
America, you made your bed............
The wealthy know that the middle class is broke and will not turn the economy around this time. They are simply working their way up the economic ladder. Next it's the upper middle classes time to bleed. They know that hardship will hasten the deaths of the old, and scarce medical care will cause the infirmed to die earlier, and the hardships of scarcity will increase the death rate of the previously healthy. Aided by perhaps a pandemic or terrorism more American's will die. They are comfortable with these realities and in their minds is justifiable and ordained by God. They, the wealthy, are the chosen people. It has become very easy to break the connections to community based upon wealth as the measure. Ignorance is bliss but if history is the judge I would not change places with them.
Historically, our current situation goes WAY back and is predicated on the implicit assumption that, in order to survive, we must 'work' for 'someone else' -- and not only are the tasks we do usually not immediately connected to our own upkeep, but as is stated above by several posters, the 'money' we 'earn' from doing that 'work' is ruthlessly skimmed by higher-ups before we are even allowed access to it.
Over the fourth i was wondering why the concept of 'freedom' is so important to us, because generally if a person or a species has a certain quality, they are not out looking for it, defending it, etc. etc. If a species were truly 'free', then 'freedom' would not be the issue it has been with our species. But it WOULD be a huge issue to a species conceived in slavery and unaware of its own roots.
"Slave Species of god" by Michael Tellinger (2004) addresses this issue in fascinating depth. Highly recommended. It really looks at the unasked question of 'why do we work, and who are we working for ?'
Just curious to see if my post comes through, since it is not going through on the WTC 7 story.
Made it..guess the WTC 7 story is maxed out or I have been banned.. Ahh....freedom of speech...nothing like it!
Too many jobs have been sacrificed to foreign lands in the quest for corporate wealth. It takes years to build a profitable manufacturing business but only a day to shut it down.
Now we've got urgent rebuilding to do and thanks to republicans.... a lot of debt to do it with.
We shall overcome.
"The government's figures likely understate the problem..."
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/cooke/2008/0516.html
http://www.economyincrisis.org/articles/show/1080?show_print=true
Celebrating the 4th of July in our present circumstances is almost as grievously idiotic as celebrating Labor Day.
If I could sit opposite George W. Bush on Face the Nation, I'd ask him:
"Do you feel anything at all about the many, many U.S. Citizens who are out of work, and families struggling to survive in this economy?"
and I would follow-up, after one of his insincere pat answers.
"No, really, do you even care, just a tiny bit?" And I would continue pounding him, as this economy is ruthlessly pounding the people
The business of america is business, how many times do presdents have to repeat this? The rich get richer and everyone else gets poorer, that is america, the country that weaned you that you pledge allegiance to wave its flag at every possible assine moment and now you complain. You got just what you believed in, they got the mine and you got the shaft. It won't get better with a new president.
America is a fascist nation, superfluously democratic, loaded to the gills with nuclear weapons and becoming weak in will and worse afraid. In 50 years from beacon to paranoid bully.
An election won't fix that.
If you're unemployed, it's because it is profitable (you were a cost and got cut.)
If your kid gets killed in Iraq, it is because it is profitable.
If you lost your house in New Orleans, it is because it is profitable.
If you don't have health insurance, it is because it is profitable.
If your job was outsourced to Bangladesh, it is because it is profitable.
If your Congressman ignores your concerns, it is because it is profitable.
If you can't afford higher education, it is because it is profitable.
If the presidential candidates fart you off, it is because it is profitable.
If the mass media feeds you mental crap, it is because it is profitable.
Etc, etc, etc.
Well, until we wake up and see that the fault lies with the power brokers, both Republican and Democrat Blue Dogs, we will stay powerless and broke! I believe the time has come to STRIKE, stay home on 9/11/08. Don't buy anything, protest and force this government to its knees, we've got to take back our country. Do it with peaceful means, no violence but another revolution needs to come about PDQ!!!
The social and economic disasters brought about by neoliberalism have
already led to pervasive and growing popular resistance. The further
deterioration of global economic conditions might well push hundreds of millions of people beyond the threshold of tolerance. A global rebellion against neoliberalism and capitalism cannot be ruled out. Those who consider themselves to be on the left, progressives or revolutionaries, should be ready, first of all intellectually, for such a development.
This article was written in 2004, but continues to ring true.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0104li.htm
Lobster I saw it live. It was good this year.
Many ideas and answers, much more not answered, like, who are "We the People" and what it is really that we want? In a song of not that long ago part of it was Come together, right now....another was Imagine.........I'm trying to imagine where it is we now come together for it certainly seems the time.
This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. The blame is with both parties and almost every elected official. All of this is caused by the people that own America and actually run it behind the scenes, the Federal Reserve. Until the Fed is eliminated, and its members liquidated, you will continue to have these planned financial crisis and continual warfare.
the switching over from fdrs new deal economics to one of total free reign corporate economics has really stuck it to the american workers. We NEED massive government funded projects like those of FDRs New Deal to reverse these trends. Stop throwing away american workers, left to the confines of McJobs, and you will see the economic turnaround that so many growingly desperate americans need right now. Reign in NAFTA asap! Confiscate by taxation the ill gotten gains of the corrupt elite to pay for it all. Under no circumstances should BIG OIL AND GAS COMPANIES be allowed to drill public lands without paying into a social fund(of which they have gotten away with BILLIONS in unpaid dues). The ENERGY INDUSTRY has been given a free ride on the backs of the american taxpayer for FAR TOO LONG. It IS high time to declare open war on this current system of injustice. End the ridiculous two year "moritorium" on solar energy on BLM (ie PUBLIC!!) land!! And finally allow the american farmer his or her god given right to grow a single plant that would supply the increased burden of finding raw material (industrial hemp) When we can learn to work together to reach these goals, you will see a better, stronger america; An America where the people are no longer treated as just wage slaves to some corporate master in the city. The same corporate master that takes home a paycheck that is over 390 TIMES the average paycheck of the full time worker of that very corporation. Declare war on corporations, bypass government, because government is essentially a for-profit corporation that does all the other corportations' bidding.
I'm one of the ones no longer counted on the official unemployment counts either. I exhausted my claim for UI and I have no other work. All of my unemployed friends and family are the same. We don't count because if we're not collecting unemployment, we're assumed to be working.
Few places are hiring, even places that are so-called "expanding". What is going here??
every godamn time i am on this assinine sit, one article i've been on i go back and it asks me to login, I refresh, I do every goddanmn thingt WTY^F
jcrumb - you got it.
It's been three years for me. The ONLY real solution is - Take away the $Money$ Simple and effective. There are many waysto do this, from voluntaty simplicity (mentioned above) to outright defiance (my choice) Next, save your money for a National Strike. No Work - No Tax - the system will Fall. And, in Ghandian fasion, totally peaceably. Non-violent non-cooperation. It can and will work. Such tactics brought the British Empire to it's knees. It can do the same here.
Just released:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2879542449760583744&q=&hl=en
The Truth is Rising
Happy Independence Day
Last night while watching "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS, which was one of the most spectacular ever, I thought...hmmm! BREAD AND CIRCUSES (and not even much bread).
Sheeeit...RATIONALIZERS...Look in the MIRROR...your paying for it all...YOUR taxes..PAYING for the "Failed Policies of the last eigth years"...so..WAKE UP!
And STOP PAYING for your own DEMISE!
join in TAX STRIKE..impose economic sanctions on this rogue government....or at least...BE HONEST...it's all on your heads..you pay? you play!..and this..as the article states..is ONE of the areas your getting what you paid for.."Government" being one of FOUR economic "GRWTH" areas...Thanks those who live in FEAR! THANKS! for making it all possible with your DISPOSABLE BILLIONS..Thanks for being the FINANCING behind the Bush Doctrine...excellent work!
And BushCo thanks you too..
Live free or die!
Lack, fear, shortages, too many people in the world for life to go on? Yes, let us buy into this pack of lies. Then by the time we wake up America will be totally lost and a third or fourth world country. Of course, since we don't have a functioning US Constitution at this point, do we have America even right now?
There are other ways to run things and if enough of We the People really wanted too, we could change things for the betterment of all. Idealism, dreams, betterment of all? A win/ win solution? Wait a minute don't there have to be losers if there are winners? Nope, it is all a mind set. Yes, it takes education and understanding and further effort and hard work and belief too rework into a more functional system, but, the reality of making this country and the world a better place isn't impossible if that is truly what we want. Or, we can continue to follow along, bemoaning the situation at hand as if there is nothing we might do.
No, it won't be easy, and some of the time it won't feel good......and hey, for all I know most are satisfied with the current situation or, at least not so unsatisfied as to be willing to change. Because change is going to require real work......maybe, even blood, sweat, and tears. But, within this nation we have the brains, the information, the where with all and the possibility.........what we haven't shown is the intent to change instead of just going along down a path which seems to lead where?
Do you really think the democrat or republican parties are offering the change I speak of? And while I'm asking, who is it that are having these parties? And who are paying for them whether invited or not?
Just a little venting and maybe something to think about......PeternTomsbro@AOL.com will reach me
"Said John McCain, Obama's Republican rival: "Washington can no longer abdicate its responsibility to act. Our focus must be clear: enact policies to create jobs today.""
McCain, Obama and the rest of Congress forsook their responsibility a long time ago. They have a chance to create jobs immediately by massively funding repairs for our crumbling infrastructure. Instead they chose to simply wave wads of cash at the problem and say, "Shoo!" The so-called stimulus package must be doing wonders for the economies in China and India and the other places we buy our cheap, poorly made products. (and no, I didn't cash mine.)
Take a good long extended economic vacation, America. Three fourths of our economic activity, materials and energy consumption is non-productive or counter-productive. Try cutting consumption by 3/4 which allows us to cut our income by 3/4. This in turn allows cutting of the Pentagon budget by 3/4.
In economic activity, we don't need quantity. We need quality, that is, greatly increased efficiency and value. For example, the value of healthcare in the US has one half the value of healthcare in Canada, 1/3 in Mexico and 1/10 in Cuba.
Increasing efficiency and value means less work, less production, less consumption. The capitalist propaganda instructs Americans to fear loss of work opportunities, because they intend to enslave Americans to consume more, so the capitalist's goal is quantity over quality. The efficiency and value have to go down so the volume can go up.
This is how the "throw away" society developed. This is the "American Way". Please throw away everything you have and replace it ASAP so our poor economy does not fall to the level of the more efficient, high value economies. God Bless the United States of America!
There was something to cheer about yesterday, you just may not know about it. See www.afterdowningstreet.org for reports, pictures and videos of some awesome citizens defending the Constitution at Monticello, where, egads, George Bush officiated.
There were choices made: cut losses or enact revenge - well, scapegoating would be a more accurate term than revenge. CHOOSING revenge and scapegoating costs money does it not? CHOOSING economic policy that is the opposite of what Robin Hood would do makes members of the society suffer - makes them unable to eat and to have a roof over their head. Yes? Yet, both choices were, and still are, quite popular among USA society.
It seems that for the first time, Americans are finally realizing the consequence for choosing to invade nations and for being arrogant, ignorant and greedy as a society. Again, these were choices USA made and now they are lying on the bed they have made and the chickens are coming home to roost - for there are consequences in each choice one makes. So many Americans are so arrogant that they believe an American is innately immune from consequence!
So, how does an American feel about not having the ability to drive a car as often anymore (like the rest of the world being used to this for years) or to afford to feed their families as gluttonous as before? Depends on the American I guess.
The USA: A nation built on empty promises, with ideals that have no correspondence in reality as they are NEVER honored or practiced. A nation where "liberty and justice" is for some of its citizens, but not all. A nation in which its society is unable to differentiate between a right and a privilege (most of your rights are indeed privileges and conditional ones at that). A nation who espouses certain concepts without providing how they are defined (i.e. equality and freedom). The DIVIDED States of America supposedly espouses God yet one American determines the value of another American by how much money he makes. Yet, according to the Judeo-Christian God (the deity that most Americans believe is the "true" God - which explains their undying loyalty as a society to Jewish people) the love of money is the root of all evil.
Seems the chickens are beginning to come home to roost in the USA in consequence for their choices.
I was feeling the same. It was here on CD on the the NEWSWIRE part I saw this and read it. So I watched the video saw that the one guy from the Sudan heads up a Center for Victims of Torture Abuse in Philly and another in Philly and was intrigued, its called The Peoples Campaign for the Constitution. The video is done by many of these people. The gent from the Sudan was a victim of Torture. Made me feel better, empowered me.
Also saw the passage of a bill I hadn't been made aware was actually up for a vote in the House. HConRes21, asks the UN Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad with Violating the 1948 Covention on Prevention and Punishment of the crime GENOCIDE and the UN Charter because he calls for the destruction of Israel, hmmmm. Only 2 Nays, Paul and KUCINICH!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC_MF4giZxw
Capitalism as it has existed since the 18th century is no longer sustainable, not with a world population of seven billion people. We are now entering a time of severe trials and tribulations, and we haven't seen anything like the worse times to come. Are we ready for this? Certainly not here in the United States. The corrupt American elites have fooled the populace while they enriched themselves, building giant fortunes. The extent of what has happened here is appreciated by only the few who have looked at the figures that tell the story. Most here haven't got a clue. They just know that prices are skyrocketing, and they sense that bad times are upon them. They find themselves stuck with gas-guzzling behemoths they thought were their entitlement, but now....evidently not. Meanwhile people and governments in other parts of the planet are already making the hard adjustments and have been for some time. Is the United States really capable of doing the same? The system in Washington is so corrupt I seriously doubt it. More likely we will continue careening into a deep crisis like the Great Depression of the 30's before we "get it" here.
Well, here we sit. For those of you who insisted on voting for Bush/Cheney twice, who insisted that the invasion of Iraq was justifiable, who insisted that tax give-aways to the wealthy was sound economic policy, and who insisted on keeping your heads buried firmly in the sand: "We told you so."
Now what the hell are we going to do?
Bush and Cheney are smiling.
jj