"Still, it is true that governments can create jobs. It’s just that they’re almost never the jobs that actually help the economy. The government can hire 20 million people to move piles of dirt around or to just sit around if it wants. That will “create jobs.” But it won’t be good for the economy, because those people are not productive for the economy. They won’t be adding value or producing something of value that expands the economy."

"In San Francisco, 75 percent of children are black, Latino, Asian, or Pacific Islander, and more than 80 percent of those families are low income. A full 90 percent of the students in public schools are students of color. This means kids’ issues in San Francisco are issues of racial and economic justice."

"In the final three months of last year, the company lost more than $27 million every hour. That’s $465,000 a minute, a yearly income for a median American household every six seconds, roughly $7,750 a second. And all this happened at the end of eight straight years that America devoted to frantically chasing the shadow of a terrorist threat to no avail, eight years spent stopping every citizen at every airport to search every purse, bag, crotch and briefcase for juice boxes and explosive tubes of toothpaste."

Say it ain’t so!

I shouldn’t have read The Economist’s leader on the “jobs crisis” over lunch yesterday. A few snippets:

“An American who loses his job today has less of a chance of finding another one than at any time since records began half a century ago… .

“Morever, many of yesterday’s jobs, from Spanish bricklayer to Wall Street trader, are not coming back. People will have to shift out of old occupations and into new ones…

“The bare truth is that the more easily jobs can be destroyed, the more easily new ones can be created.”

Tough noogies and self-help for journalists

"When does a recession turn into a depression? When economists start getting fired! Since the experts can’t even agree on how long this downturn will last, let’s hope that starts happening soon. One thing everyone agrees on: The current economic contraction, which began a year ago, will be the longest on record since the Great Depression. The optimistic scenario, voiced in the New York Times, is that it will end by the middle of 2009,"
–

Recessionomics: How Long Will the Greatest Depression Be?

Does this mean I can just sit on my keister with the “It’s shitty times” excuse until summer?


Social Media Predictions 2009.

“Companies that focus on earning love will thrive during hard times, and kick ass when good times return.” - Andy Sernovitz

Unemployment: Worse Than it Looks - BusinessWeek

Awesome.

Silicon Valley’s Harsh Economic Reality

There’s a reason why I follow this one particular NonSociety/TMI girl.

meghanasha:

My father woke me up this morning in a frenzy urging me to read the Harold Tribune’s article about an economic slowdown in Silicon Valley. He (like many others) doesn’t understand my web business, but would like to protect his daughter from any financial turmoil on the horizon. “We’re going into a recession, Meghan” he tells me over VoIP from Singapore. I quickly calculate that it will take us 2 years to get out of it and he counters my argument with straight facts that there is a worldwide recession brewing and it may take much longer for us to get back on our feet. Judging from my personal stock performance, (I’m not going to lie) it’s pretty BAD, my stocks are getting killed in the market. I pride myself on investing like Peter Lynch, buying into companies that I’m familiar with and sticking with them long term. But, at this point, how long is too long to hold on to a company that may never see its original numbers? This question also translates to companies in the startup community, I’ve seen so many new startups pop up in the past few months, some with funding, others (like ours) bootstrapping in hopes that their concept will translate to the rest of the world. When it comes to companies, particularly startups when do you call it quits, what are the signals to keep going?

“The economy is tanking and people are arguing whether they should go to Demo or TechCrunch,” two technology conferences that coincided last month. “Few companies sound like they are breaking new ground. It’s like, here is ‘Twitter for dogs.’ And people still think they are going to get rich by being a blogger. It seems to me like the industry is still in denial.” Abrams said. This week’s events are not only affecting Wall Street firms (in my opinion, hedge funds will never be make money at the same rate as they have in the past three years). This particular quote in the Harold Tribune on Thursday keeps running through my head. Are we on the verge of a second tech bubble? Are we all living in a delusional state similar to the one I lived through in 1998? I don’t have the answer, I don’t think anyone really has the answer. In short, I’m scared, but often fear gives us the courage to muscle through adversity in times like these…Right???