Friday August 1, 2008, 3:46 pm
OH POOP...this is how tired I am ... please forgive the entirely bungled headline. Yes I CAN spell and know how to grammatically construct a sentence, but I am too stupid to know when to hit the EDIT instead of the SUBMIT key.

READ THIS ANYWAY!

Friday August 1, 2008, 3:54 pm
I wonder what the real unemployment rate is, if you include the unemployed people who didn't apply for or don't qualify for unemployment benefits. Not to mention those stuck in crappy temp jobs that don't include benefits.

Friday August 1, 2008, 3:55 pm
NOT LOOKIN GOOD! THANKS CATE!

Friday August 1, 2008, 3:59 pm
This is the American nightmare...Some how people in this country better get out in the streets and start screaming...change this country..stop outsourcing, stop corporations from raping the American people. Enough is enough..how much more when 80% of us in the streets homeless...sad times for Americans..very sad.thanks Cate. Noted.

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:00 pm
The bright spots were perennial sources of job growth. The government added 25,000 jobs, and health-care employers generated 34,300 net new jobs.

And I'm sure we'll all sleep much more peacefully
tonight, knowing this(he said, sarcastically).

I've been disabled and retired for coming-on
two years now. But, when I last worked, I was
always in the paycheck-to-paycheck category.
There were more times than I could count when
I had "too much week at the end of the money".
Especially these last few months, I've been
thinking about (and praying for) the millions
of people I KNOW are out there, wondering if
there's enough gas in the tank to get back and
forth to work until they get paid again.
In an economy like this one, losing one's job
would have to burn a person's whole world to
the ground.
Thanks, Cate.
noted.

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:01 pm
Rachel, you have it absolutely right...my husband is one of those "non-statistics" and I am sure there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other Americans who aren't counted either. And yet the rich man still calls for cheap foreign labor.

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:02 pm
I personally think we need to bring back unions in this country. corporations would not be what they are today if we still had them in American work force.

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:02 pm
By the way, for those of you who got my email on this story, I don't know what "wokring" is either...

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:02 pm
Cate, get your rest ...even if it is scary out there...you take care of yourself, girl!! Typos are just a fact of life at times..no problem!!

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:07 pm
Maddy, I left work at 2 PM...slept from 3 - 4:30 PM but had such dreams that I woke up feeling worse...no rest for the wicked...LOL!

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:11 pm
More and more people are losing their jobs everyday. They are all over seas. What does our government care. They really irritate me. Noted with anger. Thanks Cate.

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:12 pm
Jaylena, I was brought up in a workingman's home, taught to vote the Democratic ticket, support labor and cast a suspicious eye on the rich. My father eventually became a Steelworker. I have always been pro-union.

BUT - how much good a union will do depends on the union - are the local (or national) reps in bed with management? MINE are - I belong to AFSCME and believe me, they suck where I am.

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:14 pm
"I wonder what the real unemployment rate is"

Rachel...the numbers have been manipulated so we can count on the true job losses as being higher. Here in CA, the Schwarzenegger (spelling) just laid off 10,000 part-time workers, and reduced the pay of 200,000 workers to minimum wage pay of $6.55 an hour. One man said his income would be reduced by $1000 a month. I heard NY is doing something similar.


"It's a recession if it happens to you...it's a depression if it happens to me..."

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:17 pm
OK...I am about to GET OFF THIS MACHINE...but before I go...I am going to keep hammering on this 'til we get the 1000 signatures! We currently have 730 - do the math! SIGN - get your FRIENDS to sign

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:18 pm
Justice for Julie
JUST DO IT!

Friday August 1, 2008, 4:19 pm
noted unless you came from another country then you will have a job

Friday August 1, 2008, 5:11 pm
Noted..

Friday August 1, 2008, 5:19 pm
Noted I really beleive this is only the begining. The yellow brick road is gone.

Friday August 1, 2008, 5:25 pm
Another place closing in my area. 450 out of work. Many long-term employees, 20+ years. Very sad!

Friday August 1, 2008, 5:39 pm
hey girl,
i'm from MO....your headline was fine ;) i reckon
and this was so sadly noted.

Friday August 1, 2008, 5:56 pm
?I am going to keep hammering on this 'til we get the 1000 signatures! We currently have 730 - do the math! SIGN - get your FRIENDS to sign"

Hi Cate...sign what?

Friday August 1, 2008, 6:01 pm
They are breaking us so that we will work for less just to be able to live.If our spineless leaders would put their foot down on these corporations and charge tariffs to out of country companies we could easily compete.The way it is now ,we(us) will have to learn to live as laborers in Mexico,China,Taiwan do,and keep our mouths shut,take what you get and be happy.

Friday August 1, 2008, 6:06 pm
Cate, sorry. I found the link. Duh...

Friday August 1, 2008, 6:54 pm
Excellent Cate, I want to add to yours.
I'm not sure how many are aware that Eli Lilly is moving to China.
And of course they are,,, they have no laws about experimenting on animals NOR PEOPLE.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/NEWS/80730058
Eli Lilly announces potential closing of Lafayette manufacturing plant

Now this was in 1995
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Oct_4/ai_17533751

http://www.bionews.com.cn/English/News/content/view/589/40/

Friday August 1, 2008, 7:13 pm

Pretty bad state we're in. I don't know how we'll ever get the economy
healthy again and it's very frustrating. Between our Nat'l debt and
all the jobs that have been outsourced, we've had our throats cut and
been bled without most people realizing it til it was too late. Now
repossessed houses sit vacant, rental prices are up due to the increase
in renters. Jobs are scarce or almost not worth having and we have the
Elites trying to tell us that if we just open up all the protected areas
to drilling, our problems will be solved. (In the meantime, Bushco is
still trying to attack Iran and failing to mention that was part of their
initial "Domino" plan to control the mideast oil.)

Sorry Cate, I kept trying to end this, but the list just continues.

Friday August 1, 2008, 8:14 pm
Thanks for that story, Kathy...oh boy, more poisoned pharmaceuticals from CHINA!

Friday August 1, 2008, 8:20 pm
the whole thing makes me sick... our gov't allows these corrupt so and so's to say they had no knowledge of what was going on while bush completely screws things up royally for us so badly that now it will take years to ever get it back to some semblance of normalcy... and all the while the ultra-wealthy who move things around financially, like pieces on a chess board, sit back and laugh because it is all a gamae to them... do any of you ever feel like rats in a maze?

Friday August 1, 2008, 9:57 pm
Sadly noted

Saturday August 2, 2008, 11:28 am
Noted, thanks Cate. I am not even going to start my tirade on unemployment. We need good unions that stand up for their workers and are NOT in bed with the bosses.

Saturday August 2, 2008, 5:32 pm
They say that Texas is "insulated" against this, but I guarantee, folks in my blue collar neighborhood are struggling. When people resort to stealing manhole covers for $15, you know things are tight. My parents and aunts used to talk of the Great Depression, and looks like a similar situation is about to happen. Thanks for the insight, Cate!

Sunday August 3, 2008, 10:54 am
My husband was laid off by Foxwoods Casino the end of May. Right now we are living on his severence package (up end of Oct). Who is going to hire a 64 year old man? How will we live on my part time work? My parents spoke of being raised during the "Great Depression" and how bad things were. I think we are headed right straight into the second Great Depression. The young people can't find jobs, companies are outsourcing everything to other countries, and if you're over 40, well you are totally worried about your job.

I'm worried about what we are going to do. Luckily, my husband spent 20+ years in the Navy so we will have some insurance. Otherwise, we'd be up a creek without a paddle. Two of my doctor's don't take Tri-Care (that's the insurance) sooooooooooo. Ah, but what of a job????? That is the number one question and the number one worry.

Sunday August 3, 2008, 11:10 am
What is most frightening is that even light manufacturing jobs no longer exist and for those who still work in that industry making $12- $17/hr., it's either restaurants or retail for them now making $6 - $9/hr should they lose their manufacturing job. These folks are America's "tried and true blue" labor force and what's left of the soon-to-be-if not-already extinct" middle class. This is extremely troublesome. I think,too,that both candidates talk about the current economic situation on a macro-level, not addressing actual workforce issues and how our labor force is going to be able to compete in a world-based economy while still retaining the labor and trade jobs which are the integrity of our national identity. Thx, Cate!! (I missssplle all of the tyme,two!!)

Tuesday August 5, 2008, 1:06 pm
I don't even want to talk about it. It has been one of the most challenging issues I have had to face in the last few years.

Tuesday August 5, 2008, 1:09 pm
Kathy...I did not know that about Eli Lilly. I bought a Redskins cooler bag about two weeks ago. I turned it over yesterday and it said "hand made in China". I was so mad I hadn't noticed that; if I had I probably still would have bought it (lol), but it is infuriating. Deedy, I like your comment as well. It is like we are supposed to live on $7 an hour. You can do it, if you don't want to have any thing extra, like maybe a refrigerator full of food. Thanks for the article.

Tuesday August 5, 2008, 2:45 pm
I couldn't live on $7/hr...not in Connecticut, not even if all my debts were paid off. No one in a major metropolitan area could.