I think your definition of socialism is a bit off. In Italy, for example, most of the means of production don’t belong to the workers, but to the Prime Minister.

Greece and Spain don’t have a worker-owned economy, either.

1. Find a country or countries where good-paying private sector jobs are being created.

2. Figure out what they are doing that the USA is not.

3. Start doing it.

Cory’s always criticizing the Times as this vestige of a dying mediatype, but then highlights the worst of their articles. Despite appearing to be supported by data, the article is just obliquely referencing studies that are decades old.

And what about the rest of the time? If you broke the work force up into risk-averse and risk-seeking cohorts, first, how do you do that? And second, if you did examine that, using some kind of empirical measure, what does that show us in terms of trends? Maybe the hypothesis laid out in this article would bear fruit, but maybe it would be proven that this particular measure doesn’t really change that much.

That kind of analysis would be interesting. Hearing about kid A from Worcester, Mass whine about not getting the perfect job a year or two out of school while he’s mooching off mom and dad doesn’t exactly tug on my heartstings.

I mean, based solely on this article, would you hire this kid?

But no money: no food choice for you. My sympathies. Get back on your feet soon and buy all the booze, steaks and unhealthy junk you want. Seriously.

In fact it is my hope that EVERY un- and under-employed person reading this can find their median happy place in this ugly economy.

But I have to agree with the world view of #41.

Oy, what a mess. . .

Why would you want to plot that against inflation?

Regardless, if anyone wants to be depressed, just look the population pyramid. The boomer population are hitting retirement age. Now look at debt/savings, alot of people don’t have much saved up if they’re 60. Average age till death, 80ish, more if you’re a lady.

What does this mean? With a tanking economy now and high spending because of the aging boomer population, I see a future of high taxes and very little benefits.

You may start drinking now.

http://boingboing.net/2010/07/04/econopocalypse-the-m.html

The 40-hour work-week and pensions have been a thorn in the side of industrialists for years – cutting into their margins.

This “jobless recovery” is an artifact of the major corporations attempting to “teach labor a lesson” – laying off tens-of-thousands of workers and expecting the survivors to “do more with less” (or they could be “next”).

Since progressive labor reforms didn’t result in the earth shattering collapse of the US economy (quite the opposite, actually), it seems they want to contrive it by simply forcing thousands (millions) into abject poverty under the guise of “belt-tightening” (but not belt-loosening).

Also, I agree that this NYT article does little to advance the above points – if anything, it seems contrived to foster contempt for those who are truly affected by the current economic climate (i.e. single mother working two jobs, laid off factory worker with 2 children and a mortgage).

I realize the above sounds a little like conspiracy theory – but, we know that Labor unions plan generation-spanning change, so why is it unreasonable to believe that Captains of Industry do the same in their closed board-room discussions?

This is like complaining that taking a patient’s temperature is idiotic because sick people don’t always have high temperatures.

It would be interesting to find if annual unemployment benefits paid in the United States approach the total value of TARP…

And also that not everyone has stable family to turn to, and the GOP wants to further punish those who do not, because it solidifies their feelings of superiority when you beg.

I don’t ever want you to beg. Hang in there.

http://www.DearSenator.info

What , do you propose that we abandon agriculture?

Those of us on the left make a distinction the right studiously avoids between incentive, which allows citizens to build a business, hire employees and make the world a better place, and greed which inevitably destroys economies and brings misery to millions.

And what’s more anti-capitalist or anti-business than to allow greedy bastards to crash the world economy?!

Us Lefties believe citizens have the right to protect themselves from the tragedies of greed and concentrated wealth. If that means regulations, estate taxes or criminal prosecution that’s not socialism -just common sense.

The point of my post was mostly a “been there done that got the t-shirt” commiseration. Granted 2002 wasn’t a recession (for most) but basically was for anyone looking for a job in the tech industry.

As much of the improvements in technology are leading to gains in efficiency, company health improves and jobs reduce. This allows some people to make MORE money and others to make far, far less.

I think what Cory wanted to say is that Social Health and Economic Health correlate but aren’t dependent and maybe we should be measuring Social Health, not Economic.

What is the country with the Gross National Happiness goals?

“How many unemployed Americans could have had jobs for the last year and a half if Obama had realized the House Dems’ “shovel-ready” pitch was a crock and pursued other, quicker forms of stimulus–like an instant payroll tax cut?….

….a smart man would have to have had virtually no contact, direct or vicarious, with government not to realize state and federal construction projects are bound up with time-consuming rules (like the Davis-Bacon Act’s “prevailing wage” requirements) that undermine their Keynesian utility.”

“Us Lefties believe citizens have the right to protect themselves from the tragedies of greed and concentrated wealth. If that means regulations, estate taxes or criminal prosecution that’s not socialism -just common sense.”

Thats your opinion, its still the imposition of your beliefs on others withouth their consent. In a liberatarian society which I’m in favour of you could have socialists, in a socialist society you couldn’t have liberatarians.

Socialism is something entirely else. Read the big, big Wiki:

“In a socialist economic system, production is carried out by a public association of producers to directly produce use-values (instead of exchange-values), through coordinated planning of investment decisions, distribution of surplus, and the use of the means of production. Socialism is a set of social and economic arrangements based on a post-monetary system of calculation, such as labour time, energy units or calculation-in-kind.”

This is not greece. This is not spain, neither it is germany, france or whatever country of the european union. That’s fucking star-trek. The current problems in europe are originating in the same business as the stuff thats going on in the states. Understand that the differences in this are rather minor ones. we arent comparing basic political or economical systems here, we are talking about democratic market driven societys with a financial market running wild.

I have no idea (and don’t believe) whether a system of socialism can do any better than a market driven economy, i don’t know of any case where it did. But please:

Stop talking about socialism when talking about social security. Do not feel brainwashed at the moment you figure out what cory stated today. Accept that its the bollocks of fox and their like that try to show you hitler, stalin and castro wherever someone talks about that workers get their asses whipped by a system ruled by numbers instead of common sense, common good and freedom (not only monetary) for all.

Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort one feels when holding two or more contradictory ideas at the same time. Dissonance can be especially great when when your thoughts or beliefs are not in line with your actions.

The main finding of the theory of Cognitive Dissonance is that people will always seek to reduce dissonance by either discarding errant beliefs, rationalizing, or changing their behavior to match their ideas (or vice versa).

This article is a good intro:
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/cognitive_dissonance/