Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Yikes!! Unemployment statistics came out this week. America has been losing around 600,000 jobs PER MONTH over the past many months! That`s really, really bad.

This month, reports tell us American industry lost 100,000 fewer jobs!

Everybody is jumping up and down, hootin` and hollerin` that "finally" we`re starting to see the end of the "recession." At last, things are starting to look up because we`re not hemorrhaging jobs and workers!

Okay. So I accidentally get tangled up with a chainsaw, slice off my arm and two legs, then gouge a canyon across my stomach. Blood fountains around the yard, gallons at a time. I happen to live behind a hospital, and some surgeons happen to be having a smoke when they see this happen.

The good news is that I`m going to be alright! They`ve stopped the blood!

I wonder if anyone is concerned that we`ve now lost about SIX MILLION jobs over the past year!

Figure there are about 350-million people in America. Of those, only around 150-million people "can" work. That`s not to say they DO work, only that they`re capable of working.

So that leaves about 134-million potential workers. Ya have to figure that a whole lot of those people are working low-level blue-collar jobs. Others are living in poverty. Then there are the self-employed, and the high-end career workers.

How many people are left to make up the pool of workers keeping the country going?

Personally, I think we`re going to lose the middle class entirely. It`ll be replaced by a "political class" of bureaucrats. You`ll either be "rich," meaning you`re a politician. Or you`ll work for the government in some capacity.

Everyone else will be living at a subsistence income, barely scraping by.

Meanwhile, America will basically lose a tremendous amount of actual value. Things like market-value of homes, cars, machines, infrastructure, an so forth.

What can we do about any of this?

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Brendita`s Body Works - Organic Skin & Hair Care Products

The American lifestyle has been falling for decades, but it`s not been apparent because we`ve been borrowing money to support the illusion. As individuals we use credit cards. The government uses the Federal Reserve. Either way, we`ve let production go overseas, and used debt to replace the whole thing.

I hear Chrysler union workers can either keep their jobs at $14/hr., or be let go following the bankruptcy-buyout. So it appears that for those employees, the lifestyle is having a great "adjustment."

So too, I think much of the current unemployment is a result of a massive reality check. We can`t continue to live on debt, and have to revert to a cash basis. That means banks go out of business because nobody borrows money.

The only two reasons for a bank are 1) to store you money so you don`t have to keep it under a mattress, and 2) to lend money so people can buy something or use it as capital.

When nobody wants to borrow money, and nobody can afford to borrow more money, then banks come to a grinding halt. So which is the chicken, and which is the egg?

Did the financial system collapse and cause the current unemployment? Or did the growing unemployment cause the banks to collapse?

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Exactly! 

Well hey there, Craig! Thanks for the dose of reality and looking forward to June's unenployment numbers this week. My take on the whole jobs thing is that 2010 numbers are being propped up to look better than they actually are (which aren't too good to begin with). Thinking about what lies ahead in 2011 what with scheduled tax increases, higher interest rates (likely) and possible hyper inflation, two words come to mind; train wreck.

I only look forward to the jobless numbers for personal gain as these tend to move the markets one way or the other and I love day trading. So, needless to say, I'll have some "put protection" in place on the S&P or elsewhwere... LOL maybe eBay! The last time we spoke, I think we were debating whether eBay would go up or down. I think we were both right because over the last six months it went sideways, up, down, up... Now looking at my charts and a bit of moving average convergence/divergence, I think next move for eBay stock will be down.  

In any event, good to "see" ya Craig and cheers!

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Chas T.
"You can always better your best."

CT on Twitter

the likely continuing job losses and ever increasing unemployment makes it even more critical for cube farmers to free themselves up from legalized slavery, or at least start taking steps to put themselves in a position to do so.  a train wreck is coming there is no doubt in that.  the question is, how can we position ourselves to mitigate personal risk?

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