> I'm new on this list. I've got a simple, fairly ignorant question:
>what the hell is the talk of a slowing economy about? I'm confused.
>Layoffs have been going on all through the golden 90's. Is the problem
>simply that these layoffs are of high tech workers? I think anyone who
>takes the time to look will see that the economy's been in the pot for
>some time: almost everyone I know is barely scraping by,and some of us
>are not even doing that, and that with two or even three jobs. So
>exactly what the hell is the reason for this latest bs from the
>government/media? If you take the time to answer, please don't quote a
>lot of national economic figures since I really don't believe most of
>them.
> Where I live--Louisville, Kentucky--there are plenty of jobs and
>more on the way it seems. Of course, they're all shit jobs, paying sub
>poverty wages. But if you work construction as I do, or want to work
>as a machinist or in manufacturing (like anyone wants to work any of
>these jobs), there's work.
Belated answer. Layoffs always go on, in very large numbers. Under the surface of the monthly job numbers, there's an incredible amount of turbulence - and that's been true for a long long time, not just the last few years.
Sorry you don't believe the national economic figures, but they're more or less accurate. Those figures would tell you that there lots of jobs are crappy ones, and that lots of people are holding two or three jobs. Lots and lots of people are just scraping by. What made recent times relatively good is that wages were creeping up a bit, and it was a lot easier to find a job than, say, 5 years ago. It's looking like those relatively good times are over. How bad they'll get is the big question right now.
Doug