InsideTech

Per an email I got yesterday, according to CNN since the White House handed out the $150 billion stimulus 650,000 jobs have been created.  I just have one question.  Where? 

There has been no sudden hiring in my neck of the woods.

I think you are right.  In the county where I live, they talk about bringing in new industry creating hundreds of jobs.  One of these companies was a suposed silicon chip plant promising a few hundred technical positions.  Well, the paper reports new  industry, the TV news does the same but within two weeks all is forgotten and the jobs never come.

I guess the state agencies are hiring people to work in the unemployment centers.  I am all for telling these major corporations if you choose to outsource your work force there will be a substancial tax increase on your business and then take those taxes and distribute them to those who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing.

I have to say that things seem to be picking up (at least for engineering) around here.  I've gotten more action from my resumes in the past 2-1/2 weeks than I have in the previous 6 months combined. 

And Curtis, I have to say, bummer.  I thought I had it bad having to wait about 12 weeks (3 months), but the 20 weeks (5 months) is way past that mark.  Bummer dude.  My wife and I were having a difficult time as it was (barely scraping by on UI now) I can't even imagine waiting another 2 months.

My pet peeve though isn't that the state isn't hiring or spending the stimulus money, it's simply that they are spending it foolishly.  I've personally watched as 3 streets (rather large ones) have been fixed, then torn apart, then fixed then torn apart, then fixed (5 times each).  That's crews of like 200 (each street) that have been kept busy, but think of having spread that around, or spent it in some direction that was more permanent.  I just don't know. 

In Michigan they do that all the time. I-75 is always under construction all summer long and now into December. They are constantly filling and refilling the same potholes, everything is just a temporary fix, never gets a permanent fix.

Absolutely, and those people are probably underpaid to!

Steve, why are you bad mouthing our county? Is it because you're not working, can't get UI and are having a tough time? First of all, this isn't the richest country in the world. Brunei and Kuwait are way over us. Second, no government in the world has all the solutions for every problem. Most countries don't even have UI. Don't be so naive to think that there is a simple solution to this issue. If there was a simple solution to unemployment, don't you think it would have been done already? The economy is driven by a multitude of complex forces that are interrelated. You can't alter one force without an adverse effect on another. Our government has the leading economists in the country working on a solution but nothing is going to happen overnight. Changes have to be subtle and take time to develop and mature. I agree that there is unreasonable spending in the government nationally and locally. Spending is only a small part of the problem. Even if they curbed all uneccessary spending, it still wouldn't solve the problem. It would help a little but not solve it. Sorry for the rant, Steve, I just get mad when somebody bad mouths my country. I know she has her faults but I love her anyway. I have faith that when the world economy does finally turn around, it will have started here because Americans know how to "Git her done!" LOL

I was referring to this comment, "Gotta love a country that is the richest in the world but where so many of it's citizens cannot afford to live."