Here's another headwind for a sputtering job market: State and local governments plan many more layoffs to close wide budget gaps.
Up to 400,000 workers could lose jobs in the next year as states, counties and cities grapple with lower revenue and less federal funding, says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com.
The development could slow an already lackluster recovery. Friday, the Labor Department said employers cut 125,000 jobs, mostly because 225,000 temporary U.S. Census workers completed their stints. The private sector added 83,000 jobs, fewer then expected, as the jobless rate fell to 9.5% from 9.7%.
Layoffs by state and local governments moderated in June, with 10,000 jobs trimmed. That was down from 85,000 job losses the first five months of the year and about 190,000 since June 2009.
But the pain is likely to worsen. More Here..
Up here in Canada, in my town of 90,000 sits on a used car lot a near new $75,000 Beemer conv. sports car-sold by a recently out-of-work lawyer. Gerald Celente nailed it right: NO SUCH THING AS TOO BIG TO FAIL! I think the lower class is about to become a lot more crowded.....
ReplyDeleteIt would be a good start but two years too late. The problem is our political leaders have zero common sense and even less business sense. The first thing to do when you can't meet the budget is to cut costs. The worst part of the story is that even in good times our governments are over staffed and have too many sub-par employees. The leadership has no incentive to make government efficient and really sees government employees as a sure vote. Pass laws that mandate outsourcing or private company's performing the functions we now hire people to do.
ReplyDeleteThat's works really well to keep down military spending. The only way to do that would be to first outlaw all business lobbying and reform campaign financing where all are publically financed and personal and business contributions are limited to $100 per person or business. Dramatically shorten campaigns (8 weeks) by statute, allow more diverse parties to participate to keep the primary two more honest and drive the debate away from pat talking points and privatization might produce better outcomes, but I doubt it.
DeleteTo 7:30: NO, the last thing you want to do is outsource anything to a private company! If you bothered to do some research, you'd find out that private companies are only interested in making money, not serving the public's needs.
ReplyDeleteWe've been using private contractors to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's cost billions because they overcharge, steal, and just waste money. And our fucking government doesn't do any oversight because those contracts have been given out to friends and family.
We also have privatized prisons and reform schools. Judges are going to jail for taking kickbacks from these private companies for steering prisoners their way. And because the privatized prisons cut corners, they avoid providing medical treatment for the sick. I may not have sympathy for criminals but people should not be forced to suffer.
Then you've got states selling their toll roads to private companies (some of them are foreign and not American). The tolls go up but the money goes to the private companies. Meanwhile, poorer people end up driving on alternative roads, those roads wear out faster, and the state ends up paying more for upkeep.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Cutting costs does not mean privatizing. Geo. Bush II outsourced a lot of gov't functions--did you see the deficit go down? You did not.
lol I knew the government would never pay out on that pension. I actually feel bad for the professionals that got suckered in, especially for instance doctors that could have made 5 times the government salary but kept those jobs for pension reasons.
ReplyDeleteI'll also be very sympathetic to war vets losing their pensions too, which I think does traditionally happen because the government likes to screw over war vets historically.
I'm a state worker in cali and I agree that there should be cuts...Of course it's easy for me to say it since I have seniority...BUT if the state was allowed to fire people for lack of work ethic or just for being useless without being sued 1/2 of my co-workers would easily be gone.
ReplyDeleteThe problem and great hope is my union...I'm happy with what they got us but they are stubborn and refuse to see that you have to know when to hold em...When to fold em.
Everything to them is an appeal or lawsuit...They are killing the Golden Goose...If things in the state are bad then either we accept less overtime/less benefits or be ready to lose positions.
The problem is we're ruled by idiots at ALL levels...Seriously have never seen so many idiots at state/federal level.
California was the state that gave rise to Ronald Reagan. Now you give us Boxer, Pelosi and Frankinstein.
ReplyDeleteOut of 400,000 government job losses how many of those end up on unemployment and end up at emergency rooms for healthcare they can't pay for...How much money is just shoved to other government programs? I know of an official who was praised in the news for cutting around $31,000 from a government agency's budget...Praised for it! It was the exact amount of an employee that was laid off from his department. If this person had to go to unemployment...how much was increased to that department...Praised how dare they!
ReplyDelete