This morning the Labor Department clued us in to something most of us living out here in the real world already know: no jobs for you.
New claims for unemployment insurance jumped by 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 464,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
I know this woman - let’s call her Sue, since both she and her company shall remain nameless, you know, to protect the innocent, and by innocent I mean Sue and definitely not her company - who works for a large corporation which provides a service that is actually doing well right now. Sue says that, as the corporation is well aware and loves to tout, their service is actually in demand in a down economy, so actual sales are up and business is booming. But this is not stopping them from maximizing profits at workers expenses. Because the down economy is providing them with the opportunity to do so, or as the managers put it: “because we can.”
I’m well aware that people from throughout the area tend to view St Charles, and the Tri-Cities (Batavia, Geneva, St Charles) in general, as affluent and prosperous. And so they are, in general and comparatively to Elgin and Aurora, to our north and south, and to the more rural communities to our west, where the city services and infrastructure are not so built-up.
I hear so much about jobs, and am so obsessed myself with the subject lately, that I decided to spend some time pondering who is working where and how that’s working out for them. And what better day to do that than hump day?
Paul Krugman’s Sunday column about the Depression he believes we are experiencing the early stages of made me think about the state of affairs here in Obama’s home state of Illinois. The whole column is worth a read, but it was this part that caught my attention:
The Obama administration understands the dangers of premature fiscal austerity — but because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress won’t authorize additional aid to state governments, that austerity is coming anyway, in the form of budget cuts at the state and local levels.
As states go, I think I can make the case that Illinois is at the forefront in already having achieved “premature fiscal austerity” and the effects on actual individuals, particularly in the area of job loss, are worth looking at, for we are in the unique position of being the bellwether for the nation in this area.
