Unemployment on Paper

By John Ballard

Charts like this are supposed to make us feel better. Light at the end of the tunnel and all that.
I would feel better if I didn't have such a bad attitude about the Reagan/Clinton/Bush years. The last two and a half decades will be remembered as the Age of Bubble Assets. Those of us who stuck with a cash economy didn't live as well, but we sustained relatively little economic scar tissue. But the numberless millions living on borrowed money are paying a dear price.

Found this at Mark Thoma's new blog at CBS Money Watch, Maximum Utility.

 

Blood doesn't show on balance sheets and charts such as this do not reflect the toll of human suffering not measurable in graphic form. Part of what does not show is the widening gap between the very rich and the rest. And contributing to that gap is another gap shown on this chart labeled "delays" which is the running start investors have ahead of the jobless population. Even when the economy is "normal" announcements of mass layoffs often trigger an uptick in the price of a company stock. Labor, you know, is just another business expense.

Comments

[Online Casinos]

Nice illustrations here.

[Appreciate Your Research]

Found this at Mark Thoma's new blog at CBS Money Watch, Maximum Utility. <<< Thanks for finding this for us !! Thoma knows what he is talking about.

another econ / finance blog that has similar charts / analysis is Calculated Risk - the guy who runs it is at the top of people who know wtf is going on.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/