In case you've forgotten, we are not alone

Quick answer: no. See the auto industry for details.

 

One big difference: When the cyclical stuff heads up again, newspapers won't be going along for the ride. They were headed down way before this depression came a-knocking, and they are staying down.

The news and information-gathering game will only need/want half as many people, making half the wages they make now. If you still love this crazy, goofy, zany sort of business, good for you. Most I know who can get out are getting out, with or without their publishers' nudges. Me too.

 

i'm guessing not even close to the top.

from cnnmoney.com

 

There's no way we can compete on sheer numbers, because this is a much smaller industry.

In terms of percentages, though, there are a number of newsrooms that have shed 25 percent of their staff over the past couple of years. Got to think that's, uh, competitive for this thread's purposes.

 

1982.... junior year in high school. Minimum wage (in my state, anyway) was $3.25 per hour. Mass riots in the hallways between periods at school.

 

Thread title made me think.....

 

Don't be so sure.

We've actually been changing the way we measure these things - inflation, unemployment, etc. - for decades.

A prescient piece by Kevin Philips in Harper's last year:

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/05/0082023

Chilling, in light of what's happened since.

 

Oh, but everything is peachy. Just ask Mighty.

 

"Many companies cannot cut their payrolls as deeply as they have in previous downturns, simply because they did not do as much hiring during the most recent expansion," said John Challenger, president of the firm. "As a result, they are forced to find alternative ways to keep costs down."

Which goes to show these boardroom boys and girls don't have any intention of welcoming these people back into the workplace. There's toilets with legs to get, you know.


Not all the economic news was as grim Monday. Sales of previously owned homes and a separate barometer of economic activity each logged unexpected gains in December. But economists didn't view them as signs of improvement.

"Keep the party hats in boxes and the Champagne in the cellar," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group. "It's one month's set of data and they tell us little about the future."

Real cute Bernie. Here's seeing these "global economist" jobs as as much a waste of someone's payroll as a weather man.

 

Ain't that the truth.

 

What the fuck do you know about 1982? You were, like, negative 1!!!!

 

Greetings...