What a day, but the start of a welcome long weekend. It wasn’t a particularly bad day or good day.
I look at the world every morning, “news junkie” and former reporter that I am. At 6:00 AM the Department of Labor told us that unemployment in August rose to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July.
Reuters wrote that “Wall Street closed a stellar week on Friday after recent economic data, including a stronger-than-expected labor market report, bolstered optimism that the economy would not fall back into recession….U.S. payrolls fell for a third straight month in August, the Labor Department said, but the loss of 54,000 non-farm jobs was far less than the 100,000 expected by economists polled by Reuters, and private hiring surprised on the upside.”
Well, readers, don’t let the numbers fool you. Economists, for years, have been so far off in their “projections” that it’s almost ludicrous that they even bother to make them any longer.
Total unemployment last month approached 17 percent. That’s the number that, if you see it at all, is buried in most news stories. Traditionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics primarily reports unemployment as those who are currently seekin full-time employment. Anyone who has given up the job hunt is on the margin and not counted.
Nearly ten percent unemployed is bad enough, but close 17, well, it’s really disturbing.
I’m not going to go all economics on you here, but it does scare the hell out me, as a liberal Democrat, that there’s a real potential for my party to get slammed in November; and looking at 2012, for Obama to be knocked out by, I can’t believe I’m saying, Sarah Palin or the like.
I remember a time, back when I covered the Congress, as well as the White House for a major newspaper. It was a time when we had “legislators” in Congress, rather than “politicians,” who now seek little more than sound bites and re-election.
Those legislators worked for you and me. They worked to make our life better; to make the nation better and I lament their passing the torch to the self-aggrandizing folks who are now running our nation.
I’ve no idea of a solution. There are better minds to determine that and I just wish they’d come to fore.
Enough of this. My life’s not all that bad and I’m above ground at nearly 70. My wife’s a pain in the neck and I don’t do much anymore but read, work and watch television, but it isn’t all that bad.
People have asked me why we don’t travel, why I don’t “retire.” Well, we do travel to Europe a couple of times a year. We stay Eze, in the south of France, though we occassionally visit the Spanish coast and walked the streets my parents walked when they lived there.
I enjoy different cultures, but my scope has narrowed so over the past 20 years. France is great for me, as I speak and read the language and enjoy the people in the small coastal town we visit.
As to retiring, I’ve no idea what the hell I’d do all day. I did try painting for a while and in big way. I bought a lot “how to” books, canvas, canvas board, sketch pads, paints, brushes, oils, acrylics and water colors. It is quite clear to me that I have remarkably little talent for it, if any.
So, I stick to my “knitting” as they used say on Wall Street; working with companies in trouble and writing. However, rarely a day goes by during which I don’t play my guitar or banjo for at least a half hour, in not an hour. I’ve been playing the former since I was ten or so; the banjo since about 16.
Not to sound arrogant, but I think I’m a pretty good folk and blues player, which is probably more a result of all those years than any innate talent. I just wish I had decent voice to go with it.
Have great holiday weekend all.
