1 in 12 now unemployed

[Cycleguy007]

the cup is over 90% full .

Well said smylee... collectively as a society we need to focus on the positive. Dwelling on the negative is a recipe for further impending disaster.

As the "captain of the enterprise" eluded to a couple posts ago... our society is built (rightly or wrongly) on consumerism. e.g. People buying stuff. If people aren't buying stuff... then our economy falters. If people ARE buying stuff, then the economy grows...

THE PROBLEM is people have been buying too much stuff ON CREDIT for years.... and when that happens, a consumer "correction" (to borrow a phrase from the financial world) of sorts HAS to occur... and THAT amongst other things is what we are going through right now.

Just my nickels worth anyway...

 

[tboy]

Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of the system(s) we have in place right now. I think it's time for a big old overhaul.

I know one of the things Obama has stated is on his agenda is to overhaul the stock exchange system. Frankly it's all just one big poker game and for every winner, there's a loser somewhere. Couple that concept with the (I think it was called) the bucket shops (where you don't actually buy the stock, you bet on whether it will go up or down) and we're looking at the result of all that gambling.

One thing I have always wondered about. The sub prime mortgages caused all this. But who has the money that was leant? Someone somewhere had to be paid.

I am starting to think that the world economy is like one big texas holdem poker game where everyone buys in and the pot is finite. Then you have everyone scrambling to get as much as that pot as possible before the game ends. This current situation is evidence of that. The banks leant the money, people bought the debts off the banks, people walked away from the mortgages, those who bought the debts lost, but whoever rec'd the proceeds of the mortgage walked away with the pot. The money had to go somewhere.

Further evidence of this is the total number of poor people. The population keeps growing and more and more people are living in poverty (or below). Sure we can produce more food and more goods, but if the pot isn't infinite, then why are so many people living in poverty? (or starving or ??). For eg: the US government spends billions on the military, that means there's less for social programs which means more people are living on the edge.

I haven't read much on it but there seems to be a big brouhaha in Ottawa about the conditions of this bail out the US government is proposing. Something about all the protectionism clauses. I don't see a problem with that frankly. If the US doesn't do that (protect their economy first) then who will? I know global market and all that but if everyone in the US and Canada is making products or supplying goods and services to each other, then shouldn't the market start to rise? For eg: instead of us buying tomatos grown in California, we buy hot house tomatos grown in Ontario. If there isn't enough to go around, then people eat something else or we do without like days of yore.

Another good example of this is our steel. We ship so much of it out of country the price has gone through the roof making everything here cost more. Sure money is coming in from those sales but the downside is everything costs more here.

 

[Rockslinger]

The brunt of this recession is being bourne solely by the private sector. Meanwhile, the public sector workers in their protected jobs are still making outlandish demands (Ottawa transit, York U, teachers, etc.). This "let them eat cake" and "public be damned" attitude by government workers will lead to social unrest. These are the conditions that led to the French ("off with their heads") and Russian (purge of nobles) revolutions.

 

[binderman]

I'm applying today for umemployment.
blame Bush for economy.

The brunt of this recession is being bourne solely by the private sector. Meanwhile, the public sector workers in their protected jobs are still making outlandish demands (Ottawa transit, York U, teachers, etc.). This "let them eat cake" and "public be damned" attitude by government workers will lead to social unrest. These are the conditions that led to the French ("off with their heads") and Russian (purge of nobles) revolutions.

??

It's regulation of markets by governemnt who subsidized credit institutions, then pressured them to give loans to people who couldn't afford it to "help" them. shamelessly enough, when it inevitable goes they then act as a savior by protecting people from 'predatory lending'

 

[BMWLover]

1 in 12 ? That Ontario PRemier is very fishy guy

 

[greensleaves]

tboy


BETTING ON THE RISE OR FALL of a stock without actually owning it (you own it in theroy) is called going long (rise) or going short (you win if the stock falls)

SOME OTHER GAMBLES that do nothing to create liquidity (IMHO) but are nothing more than a gamble are

.ar⋅bi⋅trage   
Finance. the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices.

de⋅riv⋅a⋅tive 
a financial contract whose value derives from the value of underlying stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, etc.

That the bightest minds in our society are doing nothing more than gamblig with societies moo moo is, IMHO, quite disgusting and a huge waste.

The people who won big on the sub prime market are those who bought morgages from the banks, bundled them together, and then dumped them at a whopping profit to mutual fund companies, pension plans etc.

However, putting fetters on the flow of money will also cause problems.

The problem with protectionism is it is short sighted, so they say. In the long haul it does not work and everyone loses because the nature of the beast of capitalism is that it requires an everexpanding market to exploit which can only be found outside of its borders.

What you propose is walking the path of socialism which also has its strenghts and weaknesses. Its greatest weakness , IMHO, is that the CIA will try to covertly destroy it (that is what the SEALS are for) and if they fail the US military bomb the f**k out of it.

 

[Gyaos]

There is overcapacity worldwide. 20 million unemployed in China.

Many more than 20 million are unemployed in China. That's 20 million that recently lost their jobs in the cities as migrants. And that number is just a small percentage considered middle class in China (300 Million). The other 1 BILLION of China's population is unemployed in the 1.3 BILLION population.

Bush Jr. caused this. Harper continues it. In Japan, Aso extends it. Oh yeah, Prime Minister Aso, who's name sounds like an anus.

Gyaos Baltar.

 

[OddSox]

The brunt of this recession is being bourne solely by the private sector. Meanwhile, the public sector workers in their protected jobs are still making outlandish demands (Ottawa transit, York U, teachers, etc.). This "let them eat cake" and "public be damned" attitude by government workers will lead to social unrest. These are the conditions that led to the French ("off with their heads") and Russian (purge of nobles) revolutions.

How long will it be before there are more government jobs than private? Who will pay their salaries then?