February Job Losses
The big news today is neither new nor unexpected: Big job losses. Another 650,000 in February, on top of 600,000 in January. That puts total job losses at more than 4.4 million since December 2007. The unemployment rate is now 8.1 percent, which is higher than its been in more than 25 years.
The numbers are just about everywhere, so there’s no need to cite or link to sources.
Conventional policies are little more than rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship. Government has a duty to help the poor, most of us believe, aiding and comforting people when necessary. A duty, too, to ensure that there are enough lifeboats and they don’t leak. But no amount of bandages or duct tape can keep us from sinking further.
The core assumption that government should be saving, creating, or providing jobs – that’s what we have to abandon, that’s how we can best save and restore the ship of state.
Ensure that everyone has some income independent of any job. Break the link between jobs and income.
Steven Shafarman
Tags: "the economy", economic stimulus, jobs