Alabama's unemployment rate scooted up even more last month, to 10.7%, leading me to ask: what's wrong with this picture? I understand why the West Coast has been so hard hit by unemployment...at least I know we're told it was the housing bubble...all of those stupid people buying vacation and rental homes with sub-prime mortgages they couldn't afford. And that might explain the North-East and Florida. But what's up with the South-East?
Alabama officials have said we aren't suffering the way the West Coast is because we never had many big sub-prime mortgages. But neither did Mississippi or Georgia or Tennessee, yet there they are, along with Alabama, in the second-worst tier of states with high unemployment rates.
Is it our new-found reliance on the automobile industry? The textile jobs had by and large left before the Great Recession hit, so it's not that sector. Why is the South-East so hard hit? (With the Carolinas even worst off than other states!). Heck, Wilcox County has a 25.6 jobless rate! Time to get some answers from these candidates for Governor instead of letting them slide with vague promises of ethics reform and moral leadership. What will they do about the state's jobless rate if they're elected?
The textile mills did leave Alabama and other states up to 50years ago. Other manufacturers followed and we converted to a service economy. All that loss finally caught up with us and helped put our economy in the poor shape it is now. I suggest we impose higher tariffs on selected imports to lure those absentee manufacturers back into this country.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Bil's assessment.
ReplyDeleteAmerican manufacturing has taken flight to overseas locales thus contributing to our nation's overall, (and IMO) abysmal decline.
The problem is systemic.
A very wrong-headed and misguided political theory has emerged in our nation, which has been, and continues to be promulgated by and through various outlets, including but not limited to governance, private enterprise and most especially by Protestant religious adherents, predominately of the non-traditional inter/trans/non denominational variety.
It is the promotion of the so-called "Prosperity Gospel" - the message of which in essence says "you too can be rich," but only if you do what I say, and give a generous donation, then you will be "blessed" with good fortune.
It is - contrary to what its adherents may claim - an extraordinarily self-centered ideology, one which is philosophically based upon the idea of increased materialism, or consumption. Essentially, it is heresy, for it contrary to the Christ's teachings. The "me and what I want" value structure of society has not served humanity well, and in fact, never has.
The pressure to choose their own interests and concerns above and over, and to the exclusion of the just rights, expectations and legitimate needs of others in the community, state and nation is what makes such a philosophy evil. It is essentially contrary to our nation's constitution and the principles upon which it was founded and established.
When those more powerful than you or I (meaning the über-wealthy, and increasingly their denizen corporations and armies of corporate lawyers) have the ability to wage war against the common man (the average citizen) and the so-called "level playing field" upon which they make the rules, there is no "game," no competition, no sense of inherent justice or fairness, and certainly no equality.
They are, as the George Owell novel "Animal Farm" intoned, "more equal than others."
The 25% unemployment rate in Wilcox County is high of course, but even at it's lowest level three years ago, it was still barely under 10% which was the first time it had been that low since records had been kept.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need to do in Alabama, and I have said this for a long time, is make some education past high school/GED level mandatory much like Israel does with military obligations. Tie it to a driver's license. Tie it to unemployment assistance, tie it to something that would make people think about following through on the program.
But on the flip side of that, we have to up our educational ante and make sure trade/work skills programs are available for everyone on a local level. It's already being done somewhat now, but more needs to be done.
There is not a day that goes by that I don't hear from one business or the other that they can't find the qualified people they need to hire. There ARE jobs out there, we just have to motivate people to get the training to get these jobs.
Alabama Unemployment Level Trends - September 2009
ReplyDeleteAlabama Unemployment Trend Heat Maps:
A map of Alabama Unemployment in September 2009 (BLS data)
http://www.localeLevel Trends.com/st/al_alabama_unemployment.php?MAP_TYPE=curr_ue
versus Alabama Unemployment Levels 6 months ago
http://www.localeLevel Trends.com/st/al_alabama_unemployment.php?MAP_TYPE=m12_ue