Friday, September 22, 2006

Michigan and Mississippi?

What do Michigan and Mississippi have in common? Both have August unemployment rates of 7.1%, the highest state jobless rates in the country. States with the lowest unemployment rates in August are Hawaii (2.8%), SD (3.2%), Utah (3.2%) and VA (3.2%).

TEN states have set historical record low unemployment rates so far this year in 2006:
Alabama (3.3% in March)
Arizona (3.6% in August)
Florida (3.0% in June)
Idaho (3.2% in March)
Louisiana (2.9% in July)
Montana (3.4% in March)
Nevada (3.6% in January)
New Mexico (4.0% in March)
Washington (4.6% in March)
West Virginia (3.8% in January)

I wrote about this in a newspaper commentary distributed nationally a few months ago, when there were nine states with record low jobless rates, now Arizona makes the 10th state with its record low rate in August.
Even in its worst recession, the U.S. economy is still stronger than almost any other country in the world during their best years. And yet even now when the U.S. economy has a historically high level of employment, historically low unemployment rates in nine states, and higher national income, output and tax revenues than at any time in U.S. history, the Dangerfield economy still gets no respect.

Posted 7:22 AM Post Link 2 Comments

2 Comments:

At 9/24/2006 4:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Make sure that you don't let your "facts" cloud your judgement and fail to listen to the people, like "Bob down the street" who are financially hurting. You don't necessarily have to get all of your information from the news; you should be able to ferret out some facts of your own.

Folks are trying to squeak by on $12 per hour and oftentimes, now, they are told they have to start paying their own health insurance for $500 - $1000 per month. Then, someone, like you, comes along and tells them "the facts say you make $12 per hour--just like last year--so your income is still the same." But, my facts, say that's not the case.

I imagine if you bang your head on the wall hard enough, you'll have to use your employer-paid health insurance to visit the hospital. While you are there, remember a lot of good people are dying because they don't have the medical insurance that you have. Appreciate what you have, but, don't for a minute, think that everyone else is doing fine.

 
At 9/27/2006 6:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

jonnyecon,

You're right, I made an unreasonable assumption that you were one of the "haves" and not one of the "have nots." I'm sorry. I am, and possibly just temporarily, one of the "haves."

However, just as we will get nowhere tearing each other apart, we will get nowhere by ignoring serious problems and thinking everything is just dandy with the economy.

Since you spoke of "the state of the economy" and "political areas" in your first sentence, I also assumed you were broadening the discussion past just unemployment. I agree those numbers, on the surface, are great.

But, there are a couple things missing there. First, oftentimes those numbers undercount the true unemployment rate (they also count underemployed people as employed). And, second, a lot of folks can't afford to live on the pay they are receiving even though they are employed.

I'll leave you with these questions. Do you think it is acceptable that you may possibly die because you do not have health insurance while others who have health insurance may live with the same exact health issue? We are supposed to be the greatest country on Earth, how can that be? Shouldn't everyone have an opportunity for life? What can be done in economic and political areas to alleviate the problem?

Once again, I apologize for my earlier assumptions. I also appreciate the opportunity to expound on my earlier comments. Open dialogue on the issues quite possibly will help. Ignoring the issues surely won't.

 

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