Unemployment in Context

I remember telling a waitress in a restaurant in Grant's Pass, Oregon in late September 2008 that all that fuss in Congress about getting billions for Wall Street was going to affect her. She was incredulous. She simply couldn't believe that news from the east coast would affect her life.

But here's a graph to show how bad this recession really is. This is from the Calculated Risk web site:


As you can see, this Great Recession is worse than anything since the Great Depression. The loss of jobs will be worse, and it is set up to last longer than any post-WWII recession. In short, it will be very, very painful.

I tried to explain to the waitress in Grant's Pass that the owner of her small restaurant might run into credit problems and have to cut staff. She simply couldn't believe it. Sadly, I think she now knows the truth.

The financial folderol of Wall Street does eventually hit Main Street. And the real tragedy is that the fat cats of Wall Street created a multi-trillion dollar mess that everybody is now paying for. This is why it is so galling to hear that salaries and bonuses in 2009 on Wall Street are now higher than they were in 2008. Those guys ran the financial ship onto rocks, they've dumped us in the sea, but magically they have a new yacht, bigger, better than before, and they are merrily sailing off into the sunset while we flail in the water trying not to drown. That is simply so unjust.