I remember 1983, and it was not a good year. Unfortunately, neither is 2009:The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs, the government said Friday. The rate was up from January's 7.6 percent.Let there be no mistake: this terrible news represents the ongoing demise of the deregulated, debt-laden, crony-capitalist, trickle-down, irresponsible, supply-side economy that Reagan, Dubya, DeLay and Gingrich built. And let's not even talk about the stock market, down more than half since its peak of around 14,000 in late 2007.
The Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a relentless wave of layoffs.
On the bright side, we've got strong, new leadership in Washington, DC that is working hard to turn this situation around. On the dark side, it took years for Bush et al. to get us into this mess, now it could take years to get us out. Meanwhile, the numbers of jobless Americans rise while their investments plummet in value. This may not turn out to be the Great Depression, but it's certainly looking much worse than a "normal" recession. Based on my memories of the deep, nasty "Reagan recession" of 1982/83, we're getting close to that point and in danger of sinking further. Let's hope not, but I fear the worst.
