Some time ago, I joked that the Obama campaign was elitist because it relied primarily on volunteers and now I'm thinking there was some truth to that. We know that the bailout has been pretty good for the banksters (and that's very much OK with Pres. Obama) but the rest of us aren't doing very well. According to Robert Frank at the WSJ, the lower you are on the totem pole, the worse off you are likely to be:
According to a study from Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Studies, unemployment for those in the top income decile–individuals earning more than $150,000 a year–was 3% in the fourth quarter of 2009. That compares with unemployment of 31% for the bottom 10% of income, and unemployment of 9% for the middle decile.
The differing rates of underemployment–including those working part-time for economic reasons–are also notable. Underemployment for the top 10% was 1.6%, while the bottom was 21%.
In other words, the top 10% is experiencing what economists would consider full employment. (h/t Atrios)
You may recall that some economists, notably Paul Krugman, argued that the stimulus bill was too small by half and now we see that they were correct.
Finally, the program to prevent home foreclosures (HAMP) has been a dismal failure.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment