We need medication for the spirit.

Posted by Joel Friedlander | No Comments

It seems to me that our economy has fallen prey to doubt and disbelief. Will nothing restore some of the confidence now lost. It is an old, well recognized problem.

“Cure her of that.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain
45 And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?”
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene iii

Perhaps we ought to contact Merck, Wyeth, Bayer, or another of our lauded pharmaceutical companies and ask them to develop a medication to restore banker confidence in the consumer and consumer confidence in the economy. Waddaya think? No, huh!

Bloomberg.com reports today that:

“The government last week reported employers cut 524,000 workers from payrolls in December, bringing the total number of job losses for 2008 to 2.6 million.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg early this month forecast the jobless rate will rise to 8.4 percent by the end of 2009 from 7.2 percent reported for December 2008. Job losses this year may total 3 million, according to Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts.”

Now, I’m not a economist, but perhaps you can explain how Mr. Gault figures that job losses for 2009 will only reach 3 million if we are losing jobs at a rate of over 500,000 per month. At that rate we will lose 6,000,000 about jobs by the end of 2009. Simple mathematics isn’t it. What is going on here. Moreover, job losses are accelerating, not declining.

It is common knowledge that during the Bush administration only 100,000 jobs were created each month. For the 7 years of growth, up to the declines of 2008, 8,400,000 jobs were created. By the end of 2009 every one of those jobs will be lost. PE Obama is planning on creating or saving 4,000,000 jobs with his program. That will leave a net loss of 2,000,000 in 2009, If the program works. I don’t think that the plan will work.

Suggestions anyone?

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