"There is no light at the end of the tunnel with these numbers," said Nigel Gault, economist at IHS Global Insight. "Job losses were everywhere and there's no hope for a turnaround any time soon."
February's net job loss came after even deeper payroll reductions in the prior two months, according to revised figures released Friday. The economy lost 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January.
Employers are shrinking their work forces and turning to other ways to slash costs -- including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay -- because the recession has eaten into their sales and profits. Customers at home and abroad are cutting back as other countries cope with their own economic problems.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost 4.4 million jobs, more than half of which occurred in the past four months.
With employers showing no appetite to hire, the unemployment jumped half a percentage point from 7.6 percent in January. That was the highest since December 1983, when the jobless rate was 8.3 percent.
All told, the number of unemployed people climbed to 12.5 million. In addition, the number of people forced to work part time for "economic reasons" rose by a sharp 787,000 to 8.6 million. That's people who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or were unable to find full-time work.
If part-time, discouraged workers and others are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been 14.8 percent in February, the highest on record.
The pain hit blue- and white-collar workers, those without a high-school diploma and those highly educated. The jobless rate for people with a bachelor's degree or higher jumped to 4.1 percent last month from 3.8 percent in January. That's the highest on records dating to 1992.
Meanwhile, the average work week in February stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.
On Wall Street, stocks regained some ground as many market participants had braced for even grimmer unemployment data. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 25 points in morning trading. Broader indexes were mixed with the Standard & Poor's 500 up slightly, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid a bit.
Job losses were widespread last month.
Construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs. Factories axed 168,000. Retailers cut nearly 40,000. Professional and business services got rid of 180,000, with 78,000 jobs lost at temporary-help agencies. Financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000. Leisure and hospitality firms chopped 33,000 positions.
The few areas spared: education and health services, as well as government, which boosted employment last month.
Disappearing jobs and evaporating wealth from tanking home values, 401(k)s and other investments have forced consumers to retrench, driving companies to lay off workers. It's a vicious cycle in which all the economy's negative problems feed on each other, worsening the downward spiral.
A new wave of layoffs hit this week.
General Dynamics Corp. said Thursday it will lay off 1,200 workers due partly to plummeting sales of business and personal jets that forced it to cut production. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., and Tyco Electronics Ltd., which makes electronic components, undersea telecommunications systems and wireless equipment, also are trimming payrolls.
The country is getting bloodied by fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises-- the worst since the 1930s. And there's no easy fix for a quick turnaround, economists said.
President Barack Obama is counting on a multipronged assault to lift the country out of recession: a $787 billion stimulus package of increased federal spending and tax cuts; a revamped, multibillion-dollar bailout program for the nation's troubled banks; and a $75 billion effort to stem home foreclosures.
Even in the best-case scenario that the relief efforts work and the recession ends later in 2009, the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing, hitting 9 percent or higher this year. In fact, the Federal Reserve thinks the unemployment rate will stay elevated into 2011. Economists say the job market may not get back to normal -- meaning a 5 percent unemployment rate -- until 2013.
Businesses won't be inclined to ramp up hiring until they are sure any economic recovery has staying power.
The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent in the final three months of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, and it will probably continue to shrink during the first six months of this year.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Immigration
Immigration is a very controversial topic. We all have different opinions and thoughts about the situation. I am not trying to offend anyone and I understand that some may think differently and that’s alright with me. I will just express my feelings and opinions regarding the topic. I think that having people migrate to this country is a great thing. Immigration brings diversity to the United States, one thing that it is very well-known for. I believe we should allow people to legally come into this country. Of course not everyone should be allowed to but people who just want a better life for themselves and their families or who don’t have a criminal background should be able to. The way we feel about immigrants should also be handled differently. There have been so many hate crimes committed against Hispanics and that is no way to deal with the issue. In the last two months approximately, there have been at least 3 hate crimes in New York. Although this may not sound alarming it can become a habit. Also I don’t remember exactly where but I read about how although immigrants do “take” jobs, they also make some. The article that I read talked about how many immigrants put up businesses which produce more jobs for those who need them. One thing that really bothers me about how immigration is being handled is when families become separated due to deportations. Almost every day on the news I see a family who has been separated or worse, children who are now left to live in this country without their parents or any other support. Overall I think the government should implement “rules” for entering the country such as background checks and such, but also do something for those who are already living here and have a life here. Immigration does affect us all whether directly or indirectly, I think something should be done about it soon.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bipartisanship...is it a myth?
Bipartisanship, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is anything of, relating to, or involving members of two parties ; specifically : marked by or involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties. This past week Rush Limbaugh, at the CPAC, was not a proponent for bipartisanship. He stated that he “wants everyone in the US to succeed, that he wants the US to succeed.” But my question is how can we succeed as a country when he makes quips about the Democratic Party such as:
Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know yowere, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year.
Rush Limbaugh for the most part is described as a conservative republican. He addressed that most people in this country think of conservative republicans as: sexist, bigots, and homophobes. But what I get from him are disturbing propaganda about the president and the direction that he plans to approach the final crisis that this country is in. Instead of seeking new solutions and presenting his new ideas; he wants to point out that our president is not authentic enough. He made note that Obama didn’t have any slave blood in his roots and that he wasn’t “down for the struggle.” Why in this particular time should he be concerned with Barack Obama’s blood roots or his ideology concerning the African American struggle? Lately, conservatives like Limbaugh want to represent the president as a socialist. That he would tear this country apart. I see this as a negative perspective. We should rally and support a new, fledgling president. That means both democrats and republicans should reach out across the aisles to work for a common good of the American people.to reach
Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know yowere, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year.
Rush Limbaugh for the most part is described as a conservative republican. He addressed that most people in this country think of conservative republicans as: sexist, bigots, and homophobes. But what I get from him are disturbing propaganda about the president and the direction that he plans to approach the final crisis that this country is in. Instead of seeking new solutions and presenting his new ideas; he wants to point out that our president is not authentic enough. He made note that Obama didn’t have any slave blood in his roots and that he wasn’t “down for the struggle.” Why in this particular time should he be concerned with Barack Obama’s blood roots or his ideology concerning the African American struggle? Lately, conservatives like Limbaugh want to represent the president as a socialist. That he would tear this country apart. I see this as a negative perspective. We should rally and support a new, fledgling president. That means both democrats and republicans should reach out across the aisles to work for a common good of the American people.to reach
Body Image
We live in society that body image is more important than health. Today they are many women and girls want to lose weight which most of the time unhealthy weight loss. For example; fasting, skipping meals, excessive exercise, laxative abuse, and self-induce vomiting. The reason that so many women and girl so oppose with their body is the great impact on this situation is that the media has huge influence in their lives. The way the advertising things, skinny models, and the pictures on magazines, newspaper etc. they have a big different when we compared between men's magazines and women's magazines. Those women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men's magazines do. Also over three quarters of the covers of women's magazines include at least one message about how to change a women's bodily appearance by diet, weight loss products. I don't think most women's do become skinny for their health. I think most of them they do this because they have some low self-esteem, and the commercials drive them crazy with many skinny models that frustrated them, and make them to do something with their body. I also think that makes it worse for them because they want to fit the way that societies think is perfect body. They compare them self with others which is bad because everyone has different body and that the way should be anyway. This makes me think do people live for themselves or for others? It’s good to have an average body mass but not to become out of control and ugly. Loving, caring, eating health food is nothing to do with becoming super skinny trying to make people love just the way you are without doing any harm to your body...............
Weight Obsession.
Jessica Simpson's weight abuse!
For the past couple of weeks, everywhere you turn there is pictures of singer, Jessica Simpson, where she looks a bit curvier than she used to be. How much pressure are these stars under and how much can the media affect the way they feel about themselves? Do all women have to be a size 0 now or they are considered "fat"? Isn't there way more important issue's for the media to talk about? Why is America so obsessed with weight? As long as your healthy that is all that matters. This issue put's a lot of pressure on young women to be super thin, which can lead to eating disorders.
-Research says that 80% of 13 year olds have attempted to lose weight
-Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder.
-1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder.
Jessica's sister, boyfriend Tony Romo, and even her ex-husband Nick Lachey are all supporting her and think that this is ridiculous, and they are right! This is becomming a very serious issue, she is a role model to many young girls and the media is calling her fat when she isn't. The media has this non-realistic image of what a woman should look like. My hope for the future is that the media can rise above ridiculing women's weight.
For the past couple of weeks, everywhere you turn there is pictures of singer, Jessica Simpson, where she looks a bit curvier than she used to be. How much pressure are these stars under and how much can the media affect the way they feel about themselves? Do all women have to be a size 0 now or they are considered "fat"? Isn't there way more important issue's for the media to talk about? Why is America so obsessed with weight? As long as your healthy that is all that matters. This issue put's a lot of pressure on young women to be super thin, which can lead to eating disorders.
-Research says that 80% of 13 year olds have attempted to lose weight
-Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder.
-1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder.
Jessica's sister, boyfriend Tony Romo, and even her ex-husband Nick Lachey are all supporting her and think that this is ridiculous, and they are right! This is becomming a very serious issue, she is a role model to many young girls and the media is calling her fat when she isn't. The media has this non-realistic image of what a woman should look like. My hope for the future is that the media can rise above ridiculing women's weight.
Does this look like a fat woman to you?
Domestic Violence, Starring... Women
In 2005 there were 1,181 women murdered by their partner. That’s 3 women being murdered a day. In essence 1/3 of the women murdered in the U.S are victims of domestic violence. Those numbers are staggering. Over the years violent crimes against women have increased. The upward trend in this crime is disturbing. Domestic violence has a huge impact on many aspects of ones life. Those areas include: relationships, job, self-worth, confidence, mental health, just to name a few.
Domestic violence is defined as a pattern of abuse in a relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power over an intimate partner. the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reported, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year. Less than 20 percent of battered women sought medical treatment following an injury.
Sexual violence in a relationship is also a crime which is on the rise. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes crimes that were not reported to the police, 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006. That averages more than 600 women a day being assaulted and not reporting it. A significant number of crimes are never even reported for the main reasons including the victim's feeling that nothing can or will be done and the personal nature of the incident is too intense to share with anyone let aone a srtanger.
The women being targeted are not in anyway limited to a certain race, social stature, geographical location, or age. Young women, low-income women and some minorities are disproportionately victims of domestic violence and rape. Women ages 20-24 are at greatest risk of nonfatal domestic violence. and women age 24 and under suffer from the highest rates of rape. The Justice Department estimates that one in five women will experience rape or attempted rape during their college years, and that less than five percent of these rapes will be reported. Income is also a factor, the poorer the household, the higher the rate of domestic violence, women in the lowest income category experiencing more than six times the rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence as compared to women in the highest income category. When taking race into consideration, African-American women face higher rates of domestic violence than white women, and American-Indian women are victimized at a rate more than double that of women of other races.
In 1994, the National Organization for Women, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is now called Legal Momentum, the Feminist Majority and other organizations finally secured passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provided a $1.6 billion to address issues of violence against women. VAWA was reauthorized in 2005, with nearly $4 billion in funding over five years.
As women become more independent and gain the confidence they need in order to report these crimes the numbers will continue to rise. This is a problem that we as a society need to address and correct. No one deserves to be put through the mental and physical hell domestic violence unleashes on people.
Domestic violence is defined as a pattern of abuse in a relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power over an intimate partner. the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reported, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year. Less than 20 percent of battered women sought medical treatment following an injury.
Sexual violence in a relationship is also a crime which is on the rise. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes crimes that were not reported to the police, 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006. That averages more than 600 women a day being assaulted and not reporting it. A significant number of crimes are never even reported for the main reasons including the victim's feeling that nothing can or will be done and the personal nature of the incident is too intense to share with anyone let aone a srtanger.
The women being targeted are not in anyway limited to a certain race, social stature, geographical location, or age. Young women, low-income women and some minorities are disproportionately victims of domestic violence and rape. Women ages 20-24 are at greatest risk of nonfatal domestic violence. and women age 24 and under suffer from the highest rates of rape. The Justice Department estimates that one in five women will experience rape or attempted rape during their college years, and that less than five percent of these rapes will be reported. Income is also a factor, the poorer the household, the higher the rate of domestic violence, women in the lowest income category experiencing more than six times the rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence as compared to women in the highest income category. When taking race into consideration, African-American women face higher rates of domestic violence than white women, and American-Indian women are victimized at a rate more than double that of women of other races.
In 1994, the National Organization for Women, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is now called Legal Momentum, the Feminist Majority and other organizations finally secured passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provided a $1.6 billion to address issues of violence against women. VAWA was reauthorized in 2005, with nearly $4 billion in funding over five years.
As women become more independent and gain the confidence they need in order to report these crimes the numbers will continue to rise. This is a problem that we as a society need to address and correct. No one deserves to be put through the mental and physical hell domestic violence unleashes on people.
Alcohol and Drinking
Many people think drinking one or two beers or other alcoholic beverages are okay and still drive. What people don’t think about is what may happen to others around them or themselves if they go above the limit and drive. More and more people are drinking and driving. The drunk drivers are getting into accidents where some turn deadly. Early this morning, one of my dad’s close friends was killed in an accident, where alcohol was suspected. This man had a wife and kids, how should his wife tell their children? What if his family was in the car, would they all have been killed?
I hate to think like that, but it’s true. Many adults don’t think about the people that would get hurt if this situation ever happened to them. I’m sure no one thinks about getting into accidents when they go out to drink. Alcohol impairs one ability to react in a timely manner, impairs ones vision ability, as well as other things.
I leave with this, it is okay to go out and have a good time with friends, family, or whoever you are going out with. If you and the others plan on having drinks and don’t think you can drive, don’t tempt it and call someone to come and get you. That is a lot safer and more responsible. You’re not only saving your own life but the others as well.
I hate to think like that, but it’s true. Many adults don’t think about the people that would get hurt if this situation ever happened to them. I’m sure no one thinks about getting into accidents when they go out to drink. Alcohol impairs one ability to react in a timely manner, impairs ones vision ability, as well as other things.
I leave with this, it is okay to go out and have a good time with friends, family, or whoever you are going out with. If you and the others plan on having drinks and don’t think you can drive, don’t tempt it and call someone to come and get you. That is a lot safer and more responsible. You’re not only saving your own life but the others as well.
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