Appraisers' Free Forum

"The unemployment rate hit its grimmest milestone yet, soaring above 10% for only the second time since the Great Depression."

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/06/unempl ... -jobs.html

Thanks Steve...I edited to put the above in a quote box & forgot to re-paste the link

Broken link, Mako. Use the URL code and try again, please.

Or, just go here:

http://www.bls.gov/home.htm

Ahh, 1983, I remember it well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/06/AR2009110600555.html?wpisrc=newsletter

My wife had just successfully closed out a restaurant business, after the banks strangled them. She had no trouble finding the next job, though. I was working for an insurance company and my boss, who had just changed companies wanted me to jump ship too. I told the new company that I could only come if they would cover our pregnancy. They stretched the rules to get me... a bad bet for them because the baby was pretty expensive. Bought a house the next year... interest rates were about 18 percent, bought down to 13 with an ARM and points. The right time for an ARM, just before rates start declining.

It was on Reagan's watch...

http://www.mail.multied.com/elections/1980.html

...and it was also the first year I voted for a Libertarian for President.

Didn't keep Ronnie from getting re-elected in '84, though...

http://www.mail.multied.com/elections/1984.html

These things always have a tail. The current recession belongs to George Bush, even though Obama is making plenty of mistakes that will show up down the road.

Steve Owen wrote:The current recession belongs to George Bush, even though Obama is making plenty of mistakes that will show up down the road.

You said a mouthful there & this Administration scares the hell out of me.

Government action (or inaction) typically takes 9-18 months to work it's way through the economy. Obama keeps coming up short & people are losing faith in his ability to accomplish ANYTHING! That's NOT going to bode well for the economy going forward as people are losing faith in the elected officials.

I voted for Reagan twice and wish I could do it again.

His autographed picture to me is hanging beside me on my office wall staring at the side of my head.

I never voted for Reagan. Hindsight is 20-20. However, I am not ashamed of my vote for Ed Clark.

Here's some more info...

http://seekingalpha.com/article/172045-and-bernanke-didn-t-think-unemployment-would-reach-10?source=email

I think Reagan belongs on Mount Rushmore.

Interesting graph...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/06/business/economy/unemployment-lines.html?emc=eta1

You click on the demographic that most closely represents yourself to see how if fares compared to the total unemployment. They used annual averages to smooth out statistical noise in the estimates of unemployment for narrower demographic groupings. By way of comparison, note that the national unemployment rate was 10.2% in October, much higher than the twelve-month average of 8.6%.

We need to consider that the government tends to paint a rosy picture.

There are people who no longer qualify for unemployment - they're not being counted.

There are also those who don't have enough hours in to qualify for unemployment - they're not being counted.

And there are those who were self-employed...their businesses have dried up & some of them don't qualify for unemployment - they're not being counted.

The overall picture is undoubtedly much, much worse.