The unemployment really isn’t that bad but it still doesn’t change the fact that a government too large and too involved has led to this mess. We still are very close to what was previously considered “full employment” even with the doom and gloom. Whether things get much worse will be a test of the new administration which seems to want to take a dualistic approach. That Obama is seriously considering cutting corporate taxes and hold off on raising taxes is a testament that he wishing to be more than a one term President. If he gives in to those who want to “stick it to the rich” we are going to find unemployment exceeding 15-20%. Some areas of the country already have reached 10% unemployment. I expect it to get immediately worse when the new minimum wage increases kick in. Also it isn’t just here that the wages are going up. So we should see businesses squeezed even more internationally also and the number of jobs will be reduced and the workload on existing employees will rise.
The problem with minimum wages is that they are not indexed to the reality of business profitability and until the naive politicians and labor unions accept that reality things will get worse.
You didn’t get the memo?
All business must be “non-profit”.