Reply #35: Employers cut 80,000 jobs in March, most in 5 years: Another cause for optimism? (X-posted from GD)

[Pale Blue Dot]

Take a look at this article from MSNBC. I think it sums up the thinking in the financial sector right now:

"Wall Street’s main stock indexes were lower Friday and Treasurys rallied following news that the economy gave up 80,000 jobs last month, the biggest loss in five years.

Although the job losses are a significant sign of economic weakness, some investors were reassured that the total was not 100,000 or more."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3683270 /

In other words, the news is horrible, but it's not quite as horrible as it could have been, so that's good news! To use a sports analogy, that's like throwing a party becuase your team only lost by 25 points when they were expected to lose by 30.

The most significant feature of these job loses is that there is currently no mechanism in our economy to bring those jobs back. The housing downturn and the upswing in food prices have left people without cash. They're spending less, so retailers and manufacturers are cutting jobs and/or sending them overseas. This, in turn, decreases furthur the amount of money people have to spend. It's a death spiral, and the financial sector and other economic optimists have yet to come to terms with it.

It doesn't matter right now whether the unemployment rate is bad, really bad, or really, really bad. The point is that unless we are willing to make some drastic changes, those jobs are gone forever. We've lost the game, America. It's time to deal realistically with that fact.