Political Economy category archive

Under 400k for the first time in weeks:

Applications for jobless benefits dropped by 37,000 in the week ended Sept. 24 to 391,000, the fewest since April, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 420,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. An agency official said the data probably reflected a “slight mistiming” in the seasonal factors used to modify the figures.

The pace of firings has remained little changed this year while companies are reluctant to hire at a time when the economy is slowing and concerns of a European default rise. Federal Reserve policy makers last week announced more unconventional measures to boost jobs and the economy.

No doubt this could be easily cured by laying off more wprkers.

Via Bob Cesca.

Big whoop.

Still well over 400k.

Applications for jobless benefits decreased 9,000 in the week ended Sept. 17 to 423,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 420,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The average number of claims in the past month rose for a fifth straight week, to the highest level since July 16.

An elevated level of dismissals raises the odds U.S. companies may put off plans to increase employment, making it difficult for joblessness to fall below 9 percent. Citing ongoing weakness in the labor market, Federal Reserve policy makers announced yesterday they would use another unconventional monetary tool to spur economic growth and job gains.

Lay off more highway workers to fix this.

There’s irony somewhere in this little story: a person who makes her living managing foreclosed properties can’t get enough work.

You’d think there would be a lot of work for someone like Hughes, given the economic times, but you have to factor in the politics. And right now, banks are holding back on foreclosures, even though many, many mortgages are in arrears. Maybe they don’t want the bad publicity. Maybe they’ve been stopped from acting, as they were for awhile in Philadelphia. Maybe they don’t want to show the bad results on their books. Whatever the reason, they are slowing up on the foreclosures.

“The flow of foreclosures is not big enough” Hughes said, unwilling to speculate on why. “If I wanted to move to Dallas, or to San Diego, I could get a job easily in this business. There are a lot of REO (real estate-owned-ed.) shops there.”

Lay off more garbage collectors immediately so as to fix this:

The Labor Department says weekly applications rose by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 428,000.

The week included the Labor Day holiday. Applications typically drop during short work weeks. In this case, applications didn’t drop as much as the department expected, so the seasonally adjusted value rose. A Labor spokesman says the total wasn’t affected by Hurricane Irene.

Still, applications appear to be trending up. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose for the fourth straight week to 419,500.

After all, isn’t that how “austerity” works?

Meanwhile, up the road a piece.

The city’s (Philadephia–ed.) ability to help families without homes is getting weaker.

“The city is very blatantly turning away folks,” said Marsha Cohen, a lawyer for the Homeless Advocacy Project, which provides free legal help to individuals without homes. “It’s never been like this.”

Bushonomics has made homelessness a growth industry. Cities can’t supply the necessary infrastructure to support it.

Meanwhile, J. M. Ashby sums up the Republican position:

Overlord Cantor may be open to passing a jobs bill as long as the bill does not contain any language that could actually lead to creating, ya’ know, jobs.

This would transform the bill into a self-fulfilling prophecy of a “second failed stimulus.”

. . . There is absolutely no element of good-faith at work on the conservative side of the aisle. They aren’t interested in your jobs. Only their jobs.

Republicans will not stand for tax relief for the poor.

Image via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Job creators at work:

Bank of America Corp. officials have discussed slashing roughly 40,000 jobs during the first wave of a restructuring, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the plans.

The number of job cuts are not final and could change. The restructuring aims to reduce the bank’s workforce of 280,000 over a period of years, the Journal said.

Robot killing machines, the new engine of economic growth:

Satellite operators SES SA (SESG) and Intelsat SA, dubbed “market darlings” for some of the highest profit margins in the technology industry, are pushing services such as military drones in preparation for the biggest increase in satellite capacity in at least 10 years.

More than 200 commercial communication satellites will be launched by 2020 as a surging number of television stations boosts demand for broadcasting services, Euroconsult estimates. The increase in capacity will accelerate to 7 percent annually in the next three years, from 3 percent in the five years through 2010, said Chief Executive Officer Pacome Revillon.

Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 414,000 in the week ended Sept. 3, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a drop in claims to 405,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those receiving extended payments fell.

Clearly more firefighters must be laid off to correct this.

Hanlon:

Business owners want as few employees as possible. This is why they automate, outsource, and downsize whenever possible. From a business perspective, an employee is an expense, period.

Read the rest at the link.

Steve Chapman, who normally seems sane and reasonable, manages to convince himself that a merger of Southwestern Bell Cingular AT&T and T-Mobile, which would reduce the number of major cell phone carries to two and a half (with Sprint being the half) would increase competition in the cell phone industry.

Next, he will quantify the number of angels who can dance on the head of a pin.

Also, pigs, wings.

On this Labor Day, remember that Republicans want to hand the fruits of your labor over to Wall Street.

Thom Hartmann explains:

In a follow-up to this:

Last week, Bank of America apologized for mistakenly foreclosing on an elderly couple because they had made their mortgage payment too early. But that apology didn’t include reimbursing them $1,800 in legal fees or waiving late fees caused by the bank’s blunder.

After supporters of James and Sharon Bullington cried foul, the country’s biggest lender decided today to reimburse the legal fees and waive all late fees connected to its error.

McClatchy discusses the apparent trend of blaming unemployed persons for, apparently, laying themselves off.

One manifestation of this is complaining that persons with no income pay no income taxes.

A nugget:

“There are statements about UI (unemployment insurance–ed.) recipients that are similar to statements about ‘welfare queens,’ and that shows a certain lack of sympathy with the situation of the unemployed,” said Wayne Vroman, an economist at the Urban Institute who specializes in unemployment insurance. “Any human endeavor has people who game the system, but to attribute this as a massive kind of rip-off by the unemployed doesn’t really match reality.”

The reality is that the economy isn’t creating jobs fast enough to re-employ the 8 million-plus who lost jobs in the Great Recession of 2007-09.

“People blame the chronically unemployed when, in fact, they’re the victim of a much larger economic calamity that’s beyond their control,” said Harold Pollack, a professor at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration.

Still high:

Jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 409,000 in the week ended Aug. 27, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a drop to 410,000, according to the median forecast. The figure remains higher than it was three weeks earlier, before the labor dispute at Verizon pushed the numbers up.

Laying off more highway workers will no doubt fix this.

From the write-up:

America’s wealthiest could learn a thing or two from a nation across the pond. In my Daily Take – I’ll tell you why the wealthiest in France DIDN’T need a memo from Warren Buffett to do the right thing for their country!