Posted on 09/09/2005 5:48:26 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
9 September, 2005
6:41 a.m. EST
Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao just declared on FoxNews that one of the good things that will come in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina will be a huge construction boom in the states hit hardest by the storm.
"There will be a huge construction boom in the wake of Hurrican Katrina that will create thousands of jobs for Americans."
Good observation. People are going to have to have well paying jobs to rebuild new homes (that had expensive flood insurance) and industry that pays well will be slow to come back in LA. So, most of those homes in NO that were flooded were not new ones with lots of those being paid/occupied as rental properties. The slum lord scenario has been in place for years there in NO as those poor have been subsidized by the government to pay their rent. Also, those homes owned by the poor from generations and on subsistence will not have the capital to rebuild equivalent sq footage dwellings. I doubt those before-mentioned carried flood insurance. I doubt investors are going to rebuild in an area below sea level without expensive flood insurance just so they can rent to the poor.
Right from the beginning it was known that the new construction would offset the damages and losses of the hurricane. At least to the economy.
Those who worked at home were making good wages supplemented by lots of overtime. And many families were earning more with two incomes with the entry of women into the workforce. If you look at federal government receipts from individual taxes, you will see that they increased tremendously from 1940 to 1944, i.e., 20 times the amount. US Tax receipts by source 1934-2005
The other problem is that unemployment, expressed as a precentage, can't be compared apples-to-apples over time, because the cohort changed over time.
That doesn't make sense. What do cohorts have to do with it?
You're abusing the passive voice a bit (or more exactly, using direct objects as subjects). Hoover and FDR played a key role in keeping unemployment high; if it weren't for them, the depression would have ended before WWII broke out.
Thanks for the english lesson, but stick to substance. The Depression was a worldwide problem. You are now changing the subject of our original discussion. I stated that WWII did lower unemployment and it continued in the post war period.
Arguably. It was unarguably a bad thing for the children of the nation, however.
Based on what? My father served in WWII and then joined the workforce afterwards. My mother worked as a nurse. It was out of necessity that they both worked to support their three sons. We all turned out to be successful, contributing members of society. We are not exceptional. The baby boom generation of the late 1940's and early 1950s were not disadvantaged by women in the workforce.
What do you think?
Broken Window fallacy in action.
You are falsely concluding cause and effect. Ultimately, unemployment decreased despite WWII, not because of it.
The baby boom generation of the late 1940's and early 1950s were not disadvantaged by women in the workforce.
You are asserting that the moral decay of the '60s and '70s had nothing whatsoever to do with the major decrease in mothering that took place post WWII. And you know this because you are omniscient? On what basis is your assertion to be received as authoritative?
Isn't that the greatest gag? Taxpayer money is going to be spent on hurricane Katrina restoration for people (judging by the "poverty/poor" claims) who don't pay much, if any in taxes. Taxpayers will be repaying this later as the US debt increases. Taxpayers get to pay twice! LOVE IT!
Keep track if you wish. Low paying illegals will come into the city first to help with the cleanup of the commercial properties and neighborhoods. In the meantime, NO and LA will waiver housing codes to house the low paid workers with respect to number of occupants and mold/sewage related issues to housing structures "to speed the recovery".
In the meantime, the insurance companies and American taxpayers will wind up covering the cleanup and rebuilding costs of the flooded properties that 'were' suppose to be leveled because of health hazards.
The slum lords will then rake in the cash from cheap labor packed into previously flooded dwellings. I mean no paper trails for 'rental' housing income that were flooded because rent will be paid for in cash for a while.
Then those very illegal workers rebuilding the city will eventually become sick from the flood borne hazards and require free medical (like now all over the US).
In the meantime, NO has its new poor labor pool that actually works more than before and isn't completely on the dole for rent, food, etc., just medical.
Not much will change in NO because of the corruption in LA and the federal level and the town will still be below sea level even though levees will be improved and the few artificial 'high' spots artificially created.
It's not pessimism, it's the reality of how government and business actually works.
How well do you think an influx of an additional 100,000 migrant laborers from Mexico will be received by the natives of MS, LA, and AL?
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Well, wasn't it Vicente Fox that set the record straight, that illegal Mexicans do the job that EVEN BLACKS IN AMERICA WON'T DO??
Given that, they will be well received!!!
There is already over $100 billion set aside for reconstruction coming from insurance companies and the federal government.
(In other words - should *any* of the cash windfall from Katrina go to employers hiring illegal aliens on their construction crews?)
How can you make that assertion? There was an obvious cause and effect relationship on the rate of unemployment from WWII. The rate went down from 14.6% in 1940 to 1.2% in 1944. How can anyone with a straight face state "unemployment decreased despite WWII, not because of it." Are you saying that if WWII had not occurred, the unemployment rate would have decreased even more? LOL
You are asserting that the moral decay of the '60s and '70s had nothing whatsoever to do with the major decrease in mothering that took place post WWII. And you know this because you are omniscient? On what basis is your assertion to be received as authoritative?
The same basis as your assertion on women joining the workforce after WWII that, "It was unarguably a bad thing for the children of the nation, however."
What does a decrease in mothering mean? Time or quality? What happened in the 60's and 70's had more to do with the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, not a lack of "mothering."
I don't know what you define as moral decay, but I don't share that assessment. Much of what occurred in the 60's had to do with idealism and a rejection of racial and other forms of discrimination, segregation, and war as an instrument of settling conflicts. Watergate helped undermine the confidence in government and our leaders.
I graduated high school in 1961. When did you graduate?
That's called the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" fallacy. That two things correlate in time does not prove that one caused the other. Calling it "obvious" doesn't constitute proof.
I don't know what you define as moral decay, but I don't share that assessment. Much of what occurred in the 60's had to do with idealism and a rejection of racial and other forms of discrimination, segregation...
Oh. So that's how gonorrhea became such a problem in the 70's. Idealism. Gotcha.
You didn't respond to my question. "Are you saying that if WWII had not occurred, the unemployment rate would have decreased even more? " You are the one who made the assertion that, "You are falsely concluding cause and effect. Ultimately, unemployment decreased despite WWII, not because of it." On what logical basis do you make that assertion?"
This is not a case of "post hoc ergo propter hoc." Anyone who denies the linkage between the unemployment rate and WWII is suffering from Non compos mentis
Oh. So that's how gonorrhea became such a problem in the 70's. Idealism. Gotcha.
How do you know about the gonorrhea problem? Personal experience? Again, when did you graduate HS?
But, you seem to forget it cost us 405,399 American lives and millions of wounded.
Yep. Just the way a super-capitalist would look at it.
Accompanied by a massive increase in the cost of plywood, cement, roofing materials, electrical wiring, etc., etc.
If you have any buildig to do - you had better buy the material before the end of next week while local suppliers still have a stock of it.
Bingo!
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