The Curse of Ayn Rand

Krugman diatribes about the fetid unemployment in the U.S. versus how it was handled in the E.U., in particular, Germany, where even thought both were hit during the "Great Recession, Collapse, Pt. 1", Germany was able to keep unemployment very low.

Here's how the former Nazi's did it:

Germany came into the Great Recession with strong employment protection legislation. This has been supplemented with a “short-time work scheme,” which provides subsidies to employers who reduce workers’ hours rather than laying them off. These measures didn’t prevent a nasty recession, but Germany got through the recession with remarkably few job losses.

I'm sure Glenn Beck and all his "Tuk er Jerbs" people would say that spreading the work force or individuals sacrificing work time, as in we all work 4 days a week so we can all still be employed instead of don't touch my job or fire me so I can work full time somewhere else, as a manner of socialism.

How do the manly U.S. leaders want to accomplish it? Let's ask Larry Summers, grand-poo-bah of derivatives and boot strap thinking:

Lawrence Summers, the Obama administration’s highest-ranking economist, was dismissive: “It may be desirable to have a given amount of work shared among more people. But that’s not as desirable as expanding the total amount of work.”

That's right. Fire the fat and then rehire them when we have expanded back to normal. Right. Well, the stocks have expanded back up but that doesn't help Americans when most of the expansion is based on the growth of overseas markets.

Yes, an Ayn Rand follower declaring that you will work when we find you work. Chances are those with the stocks are not the ones complaining about job loses. The new, lean companies are only working in their favor.

We should arrest the Dept of Treasury for running a giant ponzi scheme.

All the Young Dudes

Don't have jobs. Herbert tries to bring the unemployment to a head in his piece this week. The U.S. had dropped jobs like they were hot since last summer but the real scariness is the unemployment in our young men.

Only 65 of every 100 men aged 20 through 24 years old were working on any
given day in the first six months of this year. In the age group 25 through 34 years old, traditionally a prime age range for getting married and starting a family, just 81 of 100 men were employed.

For male teenagers, the numbers were disastrous: only 28 of every 100 males were employed in the 16- through 19-year-old age group. For minority teenagers, forget about it. The numbers are beyond scary; they’re catastrophic.

This is bad news. We all know what happens when young men go unemployed for extended periods of time. If things don't get better and we are not honest to ourselves about the challenges we face, things like this can get out of control.