True unemployment at 20%

I am betting that D.C. will be the last to be affected. After all, why should the bloodsuckers be punished first? D.C. produces no product of value. Just a bunch of political hacks and hanger's on, that are un willing to work outside of the political umbrella. Or incapable of performing in the private sector! We could shutdown D.C. ,save billions of dollars, and never notice the difference! When the past Mayor was proven to be a crack smoking, bribe taking, whore mongering moron, my faith in D.C. politics was damaged; then when he was re-elected I knew this District was past democratic redemption! When you elect a crack smoking Mayor, America needs to know why? Let me guess, he was a Democrat!

it's hard to undo 8 years of damage in a mere 5 months. are you that stupid? it's far easier to destroy than it is to fix and rebuild.

Race you may be right, something different is coming I can feel it.

Well since you did not bring up Native Americans I will agree. One trip to Laredo and Nuevo Laredo will illuminate the problem for American workers. NAFTA was the biggest fraud, since Iraq, ever dumped on Americans.

It is mind boggling to see the trucks crossing the border laden with goods manufactured in Mexico headed for American markets. China is the same, slave and child labor used to underprice and undermine American labor.

eventually the Chinese, haitian, Jamaican, african & south american worker will want a standard of living equal to the western worker and riot (I hope) against their system. However our (and Europe's benign) support of their regimes make it easier for cheap labor to be exploited for consumerism to continue in the western world.
I'm rooting for the damn thing to collapse on itself...

Here, here!

Gen on this issue we are in agreement, I don't have the numbers at hand and I'm too lazy this morning to research them, however I have seen the huge difference between the number of engineers that China and India graduate compared to us and it's disheartening. One of my clients has a son who pursuing a degree in Medieval music...how much demand do you think there will be for that, and you know he will probably be thinking a six figure starting salary would be fair.

Next they may have to pass a drug test, this weeds out another 10-15%. I once worked in the Jewelry business where new employees were required to take a polygraph (1970's). When averaged across all races it took 10 polygraphs to get one pass. Don't bother to respond regarding polygraph accuracy. All of the failures were on one question! Have you ever stolen from an employer? They would say, yes, what is wrong with that? Now who wants to hire a character like this?

social safety nets??HAHAHAH YOU MEAN YOUR WELFARE CHECK?? democrats wants to make sure you stay dependent..

Yeah thank god for social security and medicare. I will especially love them a few years from now when they start paying out trillions more than they take in. Then we will see the collapse of the dollar and the destruction of this once great nation. WAKE UP.

Neo you are so right about that, and don't forget the FDIC.

Our poor kids and grandchildren will have to actively keep about ten people on SS. Then again the ones not paying into the system will be slow to get the social health care like in England with the codes on their ward beds to 'not call' the doctor if they "take a turn for the worse"!

A safety net is great until it closes around you.

I don't know where you have worked, but look around you. Now, do you really think these morons you cant stand are the best the world has to offer?
It's no myth Mexicans work harder then most Americans have in a long time. They do the Shit HARD work that we stick our noses up at. Until we are ready to roll up our sleeves again and sweat, we are bound to these illegal bastards who ultimately take over more and more jobs up the ladder as their children grow up here with all the benefits. This has a larger impact then most know.

Why do you refer to hard working people who do you no harm as bastards? Which one of the jobs that they do are you wanting? Here in California they work in the fields in 100+ degree weather hoeing weeds out of lettuce fields for about 5 bucks an hour, or maybe your wife or daughter want to change dirty sheets in motels and clean the toilets. Man you should be thanking these people for the money that they save you in the grocery stores. They are no more illegal than your ancestors who came over here from where ever,,ask the native Americans about that sometime.

"Kenny", to answer your question about wages not being in line with productivity? I agree! It is because wage control is a primary responsibility of middle management. The increase in productivity gains are passed along to the share holders and Company officers, who hold huge share options only vested at certain times or triggered at a target share price. Not fair to the workers, but another example of corporate greed.

"Eleganza", would you give me break about the Native Americans. Start a thread about them, but quit dragging this sordid history into every discussion on Current. They were treated just as they treated their own enemies. Unfortunately, their technology and tactics failed against European weapons and tactics. They are a failed people and all the charity in the World will not restore their former glory, as Stone Age hunters.

Eleganza, my Italian ancestors came over to America legally, quickly became American citizens and worked at menial jobs to buy a house they used to board other Italians immigrating to this country. In fact they refused to teach me Italian because they insisted I be an American!

On the other hand my other ancestors were native American... what are you inferring to when you say ask them about the immigrants?
My tribe moved around so much many believe we don't know where they originated from.

Is it because they took "our" land from us? That would be a point against illegals, wouldn't it?

My ancestors have always worked to pay their way and did it legally by paying taxes! And not getting free health care and free food stamps and free anything.

Moon,my family is Mexican and I guess you could say our tactics are working too, we are slowly but surely recapturing the entire Southwest, but we are doing it without an army, and without killing people, we are doing it with hard work and with our families. The property that was stolen from us at the point of a gun we are buying back one house, one neighborhood at a time. Don't believe it? Come to L.A. sometime and take a look around.

Eleganza..you make the Statement "Stolen from us." Tell me, was it stolen from you? Or do you know anyone personally who it was stolen from?

Hammy when I say us, of course I am referring to the country of Mexico and those of us who are of Mexican descent... The same way when we refer to the attacks of 9/11 the statement is made that Al Quaida attacked "us" meaning America and American citizens... did they attack you personally? Were you in one of the twin towers?.I know you understood what i was saying, you are just being the devils advocate..I read most of your posts and I know you to be a bright guy.
Most of us, Mexican Americans, feel the same way that the Polish or the French people felt when , to quote moonloon, "their technology and tactics failed " against a more powerful German army. It feels like you have been robbed at the point of a gun. To live in a state, county, city and on streets with Spanish names and be called the alien is something that you probably can't relate to..no fault of yours, sometimes you have to walk a mile in another man's shoes to understand what he is dealing with.

That's what I am asking. Can you name a person living today who took anything from you or anyone in the country of Mexico? Or are you trying to open a debate as to original ownership?

And I believe you will be proven absolutely correct.

did you get your bailout money yet?? pakistan did already...

you are misreading it. Look at the graph. the top system puts unemployment at 16% in 1994 when the economy was doing fairly well and it has never gotten below 10% That means that unemployment hasn't doubled, it's barely up 50%

This isn't bad news it's good news. I'd like to see the graph go back to the great depression for it to be really useful.