Sharp plunge in U.S. jobs (Media wishing recession on us alert)

Well, I suppose living in Minnesota you don't even have to contend with the language issue. Easy for you to tell the rest of us to learn Spanish.

Okey Arne, I'm through picking on you now. I got my point across.

Rex Nutting is an ass. We've had several heated email exchanges, and he's your typical know-nothing, line towing liberal idiot.

We are having problems and they started in 1999. Look at all of the rat run corporations which are going belly up or have gone belly up. Some of these organizations are huge. So when they go belly up or start that way, 1000's of people will lose jobs. When corporations like AOL lose a half of billion $'s in a quarter, that has impact.

Yet inspite of the Arthur Andersen phoney audit corporations going belly up, 9/11, the Jeffords and the recent onslaught by the EU and their Opecker buddies on our dollar. Our economy compared to most other economies is better.

Another factor not mention are the rat controlled states like California, Oregon and Washington running massive deficits, facing large layoffs at the state/county levels. This will have a negative impact on the economy at first. In a few years it has a positive impact with less tax sucker being employed.

Please tell me, how one can join this special 60,000? Maybe they get hiring preferences?

I was thinking the same thing *grin*

I can't believe what has happened to Washington and Oregon. They used to be great places to live, with low crime and healthy financial climates. How quickly they deteriorated! And it's such a shame because that is such a beautiful part of the country. California sank into the toilet sometime ago; it looks like their problems crept northward. I almost wonder if the Rats are hell-bent on destroying those states. It sure seems that way.

Where is everybody? Lack of customers crippling city's economy

New Yorkers say these are the worst of all times for the city's economy.

Already reeling in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, businesses are taking more brutal hits from the war in Iraq, the hangover from a snowy winter and the city's budget crisis.

Potential customers are staying home in droves and anxiously keeping an eye on their wallets, which has led to empty stores - and even parking spots - from SoHo to the South Bronx.

"Look around - the business is dead," said salesclerk Goppe Doucouri in an empty clothing store in Brooklyn's Fulton Mall. "People check things out but they don't buy. They say they're saving because of the war."

Luther Bradley recalls when 80 cars would be parked on a spring weekend in the garage he manages on Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village. There were just 30 there last Saturday.

"People are afraid to spend money because they don't know what way the economy is going to go," said Bradley, 55, of the Bronx. "The Village is a tourist area. Now who comes to the Village?"

Even before coalition troops poured into Iraq last month, statistics were painting a stunning portrait of economic dislocation in New York.

The city has lost 223,000 jobs in the past two years in a deepening slump that has affected all economic levels.

Eating away at business

Local unemployment last month stood at a five-year high of 8.6%; Wall St. bonuses were slashed by nearly a third, and applications for food stamps jumped by 20% in the past year.

But the war has piled new worries on ailing businesses as customers focus on TV updates and jittery tourists stay home.

In the Theater District, Peter Chimos said crowds have been thin for weeks at his Frankie & Johnnie's steakhouse ever since snowstorms ruined weekends.

It's the same story downtown at the Grange Hall restaurant on a cobblestone street in the West Village, where the city's new smoking ban also has eaten away at bar business.

"People are going out less and saving their money," said owner Jaqui Smith, 48.

Even the hot dog business is bad. Just ask vendor Abdalla Ibrahim, 28, who is working extra hours to squeeze a few bucks out of the sparse streets.

"My mind is, like, crazy," Ibrahim said.

With its Greek cafes, family-owned furniture stores and a sprinkling of chain stores such as The Gap and Foot Locker, Steinway St. in Astoria, Queens, might seem like a candidate to weather the downturn.

But business is plunging from 20% to 50% - and even longtime business owners say they don't know how long they can keep on bleeding money.

"This is the worst it's ever been," said Mohamed el-Shenawi, 44, owner of Classic Design, an antique furniture store. "It's been a solid recession."

The Hub, the commercial heart of the South Bronx, is usually a bustling hive of double-parked cars and crowded sidewalks on weekends.

Spring should be especially busy as families shop for Easter outfits and young people think about proms and parties.

But yesterday, you could drive right up and park in front of the racks of marked-down hip-hugger jeans and two-for-one leather jackets at Younger Girl on E. 149th St.

Dip forces layoffs

"After Sept. 11, business dropped a little. And now, with the war, it got worse," said manager Ahmed Jesse, 25.

At the Fulton Mall, Amy Kaur let go one of two helpers at her hat and scarf kiosk.

"This is the worst," said Kaur, 22.

One business that is booming in bad times is the Bazaar Gold Mine pawnshop. A steady stream of customers pours in, looking to dump Rolex watches and gold chains.

"Since the war started, it's been better than usual," said the owner's son, who gave his name as Lenny. "Everybody wants to trade in their stuff for cash."