Tough Times

In these difficult economic times there are lots of stories about folks having tough luck. Crooks and Liars posted a story that show people pulling together. Click the link to read the whole story...

He looked out into a sea of people and recognized faces: technicians, secretaries, administrators, therapists, nurses, the people who are the heart and soul of any hospital. People who knew that Beth Israel had hired about a quarter of its 8,000 staff over the last six years and that the chances that they could all keep their jobs and benefits in an economy in freefall ranged between slim and none.

"I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Levy began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.

"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."

He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.

Layoffs and Such

We haven't hit bottom in our recession yet. For all of the bailouts and loans to financial institutions, the theory of "trickle down economics" just doesn't work. If the middle class isn't working, that means they aren't spending money (or borrowing money) and that means the businesses we are bailing out are going to tank anyway.

Let's face it - if you make $5 miilion a year, are you going to spend it all? Nah - you're going to lock some of it away in stocks, bonds and CD's.

Does the money trickle anywhere? Maybe to other rich people. If you DO spend all of your $5 million, you're going to buy a Ferrari and a $4 million home. Who does the money go to? Other rich people - people who own $4 million homes and have Ferraris.

But, if you make $50,000 per year, where does your money go? Mortgages, car payments, food, clothes, transportation, etc. Does your money trickle? Damn right it does - it rewards businesses that provide mortgages, sell cars, produce food, etc. All of your money gets pumped back into the economy which supports other middle class folks.

I think - I hope - Barack Obama has some sense of all of this. We need to bail out the middle class. We need bailouts that increase work in this country - we need folks fixing roads and bridges and we need increased jobs for scientists working on problems like increasing food production, and creating clean, green energy.

Meanwhile, this is what we're seeing as we pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the big banks and financial institutions...

Viacom laid off 850.

NBC Universal laid off 500

Newsday laid off 100.

People finished laying off 18.

Simon & Schuster laid off 35.

Niche Media folded a magazine.

Tragedy on the homefront.

Google announced it's cutting its fancy job perks.

Sotheby's and Christie's announced pending layoffs.

In the corporate world, there are major layoffs going down at AT&T (12,000 workers), Goldman Sachs, Carlyle Group, Credit Suisse, and tons of other financial firms.

The big picture: 533,000 US job losses in November.

The list is from Gawker.