As we pointed out in 1.2 Million Will Lose Job Benefits By Christmas, the situation is getting desperate. The government reports that we are out of recession. The President says that his policies have helped us to avoid depression. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he, alone, was responsible for saving the world from economic catastrophe.
The reality, however, is exactly the opposite, as pointed out on CBS’ 60 Minutes:
The economic jam we’re in has topped even the great depression in one respect. Never have we had a recession this deep with a recovery this flat. Unemployment has been at 9.5% or above for fourteen months. Congress did something that it’s never done before. It extended unemployment benefits for 99 weeks. That cost more than $100 billion, a huge expense for a government in debt. But now, for many Americans, 99 weeks have passed and there is still no job in sight.
It is only going to get worse. One of the interviewees in the CBS report provides insight into exactly how this is going to play out, and it is something I have tried to explain to our 3rd grader, who is attempting to understand what an economic recession means and why we’ve cut his weekly allowance from $7 to $4.
Though the CBS report makes mention of the U-6 unemployment rate, which is roughly 17%, the actual unemployment rate is above 22%, meaning that over one in five Americans are currently unemployed. On a household basis, 28% of households have at least one person who is without work and unable to find work – that’s nearly one in three.
The business owner from the CBS report says that her small business is surviving month to month, something that millions of small businesses across the nation are facing. As more people lose their jobs, less people spend money with local and small businesses. As money contracts, so too does the small business base. As small businesses are eliminated, so too are jobs. The cycle will continue to negatively reinforce itself like this for months, probably years to come.
Many of those in the CBS report were, at one time, top-tier business professionals. Today, they have been unemployed for over two years, spent all of their savings and retirement money, and are literally on the brink of homelessness in many cases.
Even if you are employed today, you are not guaranteed to have a job tomorrow.
As such, consider finding alternate income streams now, today. Is there anything that you can do with your skills today to generate more revenue for savings and emergency funds tomorrow?
It’s better to prepare today, rather than the day after you lose your job.
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this is only the beginning. think of it this way. now people without jobs are screwed. when the dollar collapses people WITH JOBS will get screwed. keep voting for democrats and republicans and the economic collapse will continue to be your fault.Â
THIRD PARTY NOW. NO MORE LYING WHORE DEMOCRATS OR LYING WHORE REPUBLICANS…
The fundamentals are bad.
Energy and Food being the weakest.
Put dumb government and Wall Street Vultching everything up as fast as they can we are in for a world of pain.
Red
If you have no job, you must create your own. The government will not do it for you.
Learn how to make money on the internet. You can get into business for less than 15 FRN, and as long as you can write a little bit there is a lot of money out there.
It takes a little knowledge. I would be glad to help anyone interested and not try to sell them anything.
The corporations will only die when people quit working for them. The Tennessee Constitution forbids “perpetuities and monopoloies”.  Yet here we are being looted by them both.
Don’t die on streets. Make your own job and forget about working to make some legal fiction seem real. Even if half of the people are unemployed, half of them can still buy from you.
If the internet goes down, you will have much deeper trouble than money.
@Apache: “when the dollar collapses people WITH JOBS will get screwed.” — So true. The majority don’t even have a clue this is coming. No one is safe now.
@redgypsy: “Energy and Food being the weakest.” If the dollar keeps going the way it is going, and much lower, it is going to be a complete and utter disaster. Forget about foreclosures and losing your home, we’re talking about food here, an essential survival item.
@Gods Creation: “If you have no job, you must create your own. The government will not do it for you.” Such a simple explanation that it boggles the mind that the half of Americans who support the actions of Congress and the President in recent months and years simply do not understand this. Centrally planned economies are disastrous for the populace. The Soviet Union, China and Venezuela are but a few examples. (It can be argued that the Chinese as a whole are doing well, but the individual on the ground scrounges to make a living, earning just pennies per day.)
Go to Gerald Celente trends blog and watch the video “dead men walking” 10/24 post  about the dollar collapse from a former wall street insider doing an undercover interview with an armed guard at the door.  By end of this year all hell will break out.  All hope is gone, incl voting in a few weeks, as politicians are useless in all they do except promoting the NWO agenda.   The golden decades of the 70’s, 80′, and 90’s  experienced by my generation  will  seem “perfect” compared to now and beyond.
I don’t know what all the hoopla is about. Palin said she could see the recovery from her house. Oh no, I’m beginning to sound like mushroom.
laura.m’s post about the Gerald Cenlente trends blog is a fake. It’s a poorly produced video with actors and leads you to a web site to buy something. I do not believe it is from Celente, but instead someone using his name. Prove me wrong
I have a brother who is finally losing his unemployment, after nearly 1.5 years on unemployment–which was longer than he was at his former job. I tell him he is on welfare basically for the last half year at least. He has part-time jobs only, no health bene’s and had conceded to work for $8 an hour at a job he actually likes, although the pay is barely above minimum.Â
He’s 26 and pretty hopeless about the future, and many of his friends all still live at home, or returned home. Â
I make less money now than I did out of college, but I can’t get easy side jobs like I used to to earn extra money, since they are all taken.Â
Top-down solutions aren’t going to work, authoritarianism masked as liberalism/or conservatism seems to be the trend—we just take turns getting screwed over by TPTB, so after people are sick of the so called socialistic screw–we can switch back to more in your face corporatism, pull yourself up by the bootstraps Rep’s perhaps–meanwhile nearly all the levers of power of Gov’t are owned by extreme rich, and most of the politicans are multimillionaires or even billionaires so distant from the average life of those trying to live off of 30k a year, while food/fuel/healthcare prices continue to rise.
8 million of the jobs lost were lost by Men>>>tons of unemployed young men lead to big social problems–look at the middle east that’s at least one factor in some of the insanity there.
Politics attracts the worst kind of people. Even with some incumbent rats jumping ship and others being jettisoned by their own parties, there is no hope of fixing these problems. The people in the CBS piece are stuck in place and hoping for an economic turn-around which won’t come before things get a lot worse. They won’t leave CA to find jobs in other states or countries. And why should anyone look for a $9.50/ hr job when they can collect $8.50/hr for 99 weeks.  On the other side of this are the recent college grads who cannot and won’t  find work in their chosen fields. If they expatriate for opportunities in other countries, they will soon learn the real value of their degrees in a competitive world.
The government is good, save $10, don’t worry…all is well, bla bla bla…obummer is wonderful, reid is just dandy and don’t forget nazi pelosi! God help amerika and don’t forget about the $10 bills…
Wow! Tuff video to watch. I wonder if there are any preppers in the video or people that realize what real money is (before) when they had a chance to learn more. Picking up & moving (where?) can be tuff also. RV/camper/van/tent can be down sizing options also. Another option is storage bldg manager/couples that live on site rent free. Keeping your health is imporatant.
Comments….. Something I read months ago has stuck with me all this time. Our lives are changing, never to return to the ways they have been, most of our adult lives. I’m talking mostly about people over 40 years old. The fundamental facets of our regular daily lives, are disapearing before our eyes, taken away by some idiot government worker that thinks he knows what’s best for us. The worst part is that we let them get away with it.
     It has become very obvious that nothing that Washington can do , is going to fix anything. They are out of solutions, and continue to do the only thing they’re good at, throwing money at something.
     Jobs will come after everything collapses, and what’s left of a middle class get rid of every stinking scumbag banker, politician, and government official that put us here. How soon will it be, before people realize that we don’t need about 90% of the workers that are in Washington? I mean, what does the dept of Education do really? How about the dept of energy? Has the Dept of Energy actually lessened our dependance on foreign oil? You get the picture– a bunch of useless busybodies who don’t actually do anything usefull, except spend your money.
      Right now, we are in an economic freefall to a bottom. After that, the economy will reset, and a new normal will appear. The economic death and destruction in between these happenings will be horrendous. Many of the doom and gloom scenerios that have been talked about in these very boards will happen to one degree or another. But things will naturally find a bottom, and then begin the function back to a new economy. Who knows what that will be like. Can you say “collaterall damage”?
Oh, greaseman! You give me goosepimples with your narrative. I pray for this daily. The only way the rats will leave the ship is if it sinks. We can float her again but, we can’t bail fast enough to keep the water out now. Let her go down, fix the hole then refloat her and pump her dry!
The collaterall damage will be great. But, regardless of the just cause and good intentions of any war, to win it good people must die and get hurt. This one is no differe. …and it is a *WAR*! A war against the good people of America and the crooked bastard-thieves in the District of Criminals. They are losing and they will make sure we hurt as much as possible. In the end, they will swing but until then, they think they can avoid it. Justice is coming. Better curtail your spending now and reroute those dollars to food, guns and fuel. You’ll benefit much in the end.
I’m prepped and ready. Its gonna be a bumpy ride.
@ DataDog:
Celente posts all of his videos on his utube channel. If it ain’t there, it ain’t his. Last Celented vid was 10/20 http://www.youtube.com/user/GeraldCelenteChannel
This criminal Federal Government,  laughs at our Constitution.
The organized criminal Banksters, own Congress,  the President,  the Federal Reserve,  and have made a mockery of  Law.
There is no justice in America, anymore.  The Sheriff is a crook.  None of these guys are suffering….they just steal  taxpayer money, to fix their problems.
They are robbing us blind.  They  destroyed the Real Estate business, and  robbed every pension fund, in the USA and World, by stuffing them full, of their worthless MBSs.
Now, they are preparing to print dollars till they are knee deep, Â just to hide their crimes. Â They openly laugh at our stupidity.
If you have any wealth left…..take it out of the FRN system, now!  Get out of  dollar denominated paper….it will become worthless.  Buy gold/silver,  stuff,  or anything,  that will hold value.  Store food.  Get your wealth out of their control!
We must return, to being a country, that respects the RULE of LAW, Â and that is not going to happen, unless we see these guys publicly hanged. Â Â spit!
I don’t know, Â if we can come out of this, Â as one nation.
Pray for America.
Comments…..@netranger,
 I agree with your take on the situation. After a while, it isn’t hard to figure out what someone will do. Always, follow the money. if you know someone is ruled by greed, it’s easy to figure out what they’l do.
     As far as people dying, and a war situation, it’s almost inevitable. Our fearless leaders need something to distract people from the real problems. Even following Lindsey Lohan in and out of rehab gets a little old after a while. Our country is going down the tubes, and people are more interested in Dancing With The Stars. Hey, did anyone see last weeks episode of Glee?? it was great.. Umm, I digress, pardon me.
     As far as food, precious metals, and weapons, and other supplies, I haven’t quit buying. I figure I might as well spend most of what I have now, as it gets worth less every day. And the pm’s have appreciated nicely, thank you.
Enlightening video. Wow! It’s amazing to see so many educated, well-off people who have lost their jobs and are unable to find another job.  The man who found a job at Target for $9.25/hour was gratetful to have any job, and he had previously worked as a fiberoptic engineering manager!
I don’t think this is the “Change we can believe in” Americans had in mind !!!!!!!!!!!
A reset of this country to a true economic freedom, personal responsibility, core values of a free and civilized people, and a sense of community and common decency is on the way. How severe it will be is anybody’s guess. I hope for the best and am preparing for the worst.
That said, I think we all do ourselves a service by not forgetting to enjoy some of the moments around us now. Yes, I am preparing diligently. However, I also try to take the time to enjoy my daughter’s “terrible twos” that really are a lot of fun. And yes, I am reading, planning and codifying long term strategies for my families well being. But I also will take the time to spend with my wife and daughter, yes, watching Dancing With The Stars together (My wife’s choice, but I learned along time ago that she and my daughter spell love T-I-M-E). I guess I figure I can spare an hour to make sure my family bonds stay strong enough to survive what is to come.
I guess I just would hope to see us all take a breath occasionally, and enjoy what we have now. And not find ourselves in a SHTF scenario and realize we have let the relationships with our families fall so far that we don’t have the trust etc necessary to ride out the storm.
Take it as you will. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
@ Fed Up in Tx – You make some great points. With two young kids myself, I often remind myself not to let this mess overwhelm me to the point of cheating them out of TIME. I’m not sure I can do Dancing with the Stars but I do understand what you’re saying. As part of my preparing, I’ve taken up shooting as a sport. I decided (with my wife’s support of course) that I would introduce my 12 yr old son to the sport and we’re having a great time. Five years ago I would have never thought that we’d spend an hour or two shooting rifles at the range every weekend but hey, it’s a bunch of fun and we’re both learning a great skill. I’ve also been teaching my kids about PMs and the fact that they have a complete understanding of “purchasing power†at their young age makes me feel like I’m doing my job.
Â
This CBS piece is sad for sure. As a side note, did anybody else catch that little part that discussed the young man not going to college because the parents needed the college savings to pay the bills? And now he’s going into the military? And you want me to believe the PTB didn’t take our system down on purpose to enslave us? To anybody that believes this is just another “business cycle†and all we need to do is vote one way or the other and collect 10 dollar bills because our economy is the envy of the world, in the words of Gerald Celente…grow up.
Comments…..Mushroom, 10$, all for you to grab:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cvdgPlEKW9k/TI7tZh5KN3I/AAAAAAAABaE/2996cwXtIes/s1600/children-playing-with-money.jpg
This is no Recession, we are in the Great Depression. No doubt whats so ever.
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
Jeff…step it up a notch and take up hunting, vast amount of necessary skills will be learned to help you get thru whats coming.
This isn’t a recession; it’s a depression.
It took me three and a half years to find my current 100% commission only telemarketing job at a commercial loan brokerage. I’ve been here 13 weeks as of Friday, 10/22 and I haven’t made a penny. Not one. In fact, it’s cost me MORE to have this job than to just stay home. In other words, I’d have been better off financially if I’d have stayed home. And they call me “lazy” because I wanted a Tier V of unemployment benefits? Who do you know who’s worked for three months for free, but is also lazy?
And “people” keep blaming the rich, who we all work for. Answer me this: how is it bad for the economy to be a mega-success? Isn’t that a good thing? If more were successful, wouldn’t things be better? How could they be worse if more were doing better?
Big government’s the problem. Every time they try to fix things, they make it worse instead.
How many of these people had expensive cars bigger homes then they needed and huge credit card bills long before this all began? Also how many tried to keep all those things for months and months into their unemployment? The question they didn’t ask is what were you thinking??? Or have you ever heard of “prepping”???  These are exactly the same people who would laugh at you and ostracize you from their country club for being a right wing nut just because you talked about preparing for tough times. Â
Finially a mainstreem media put out a story about this problem. They have been denying and ignoring it since it began. They have been backing the White House program that all is just fine and getting better.
Thank-you CBS for a tiny bit of honesty. Now get yourself some journalists that are not left wing and get some honest reporting done and what is really going on in this nation. If you, CBS, want a bigger news following, try going back to reporting both sides and not just singing the left wing song. The people will listen and you will make money.