City Employees Must Make Concessions or Face Layoffs by September 30 –
City employees who hope they are going to ride out this council and hope for better days are in for a strong dose of reality. In June, the council approved a budget that will cut 2.5 million dollars in personnel costs from the budget. The hope of council is that concessions can be made before a self-imposed September 30 deadline to avert layoffs.
Up until that time, the real estate bubble enabled Davis to remain in the black, but once that engine was cut off, the city had to take measures to cut back. It took them nearly three years, but that is what happened this June.
This has perhaps been one of the worst weeks in the economy since September 2008. Many experts and analysts are talking about double dip recession.
As the San Jose Mercury News reports this morning, “Behind the sudden dive on Wall Street on Thursday is a series of bad economic reports from Main Street that have economists worried about another recession.”
The numbers are gloomy. Consumer confidence is decreasing, unemployment claims are up and manufacturing is struggling.
Growth in the first quarter this year was downwardly revised to just .4 percent, and second quarter growth was not much better at 1.3 percent – less than expected.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP (gross domestic product) growth. That decline ended in June 2009, but now economists fear a second downturn, which is referred to colloquially as a “double dip.”
Writes the Mercury News, “Adding to those gloomy statistics is a dysfunctional political system on display for weeks as a divided Congress turned a simple measure to raise the debt ceiling into protracted warfare over budget cuts. The possibility that more Washington gridlock is ahead is just one more worry for the economy, as is the European debt crisis.”
They add that one firm puts the odds of a new recession at 40 percent.
The New York Times has an article yesterday that it is “time to say it,” a “double dip recession may be happening.”
The real danger now may be less the economy and more the political ineptitude that seems to accompany it. Writes Floyd Norris of the New York Times, “When what may eventually be known as Great Recession I hit the country, there was general political agreement that it was incumbent on the government to fight back by stimulating the economy. It did, and the recession ended.”
He ominously adds, “But Great Recession II, if that is what we are entering, has provoked a completely different response. Now the politicians are squabbling over how much to cut spending. After months of wrangling, they passed a bill aimed at forcing more reductions in spending over the next decade.”
“Until recently, most observers believed the American economy was in a slow recovery, albeit one with very disappointing job growth,” he writes, “The recession now appears to have been deeper – a top-to-bottom fall of 5.1 percent – and the recovery even less impressive. The economy is still smaller than it was in 2007.”
While we focus this column on the local economy, this city is poised for some tougher times, perhaps. The impact of the downturn is likely to re-open the California state budget deficit that was optimistically thought to be shrinking.
With the inability to generate new revenue due to political gridlock, that means more cuts to education, both K-12 and higher education, and more furloughs and layoffs for state employees.
Davis has a huge percentage of its population that either works at the university or for the state. Further cuts figure to decimate our economy. The result is that we are going to see reduced sales tax revenues and probably, at the very least, a continued stagnation in the real estate market, if not an outright further drop in real estate values, meaning a subsequent drop in property taxes.
In the meantime, a proposed water rate increase threatens to worsen the economy. First, the impact on businesses could force some out of business, while reducing the bottom line for others. That threatens to further cut into sales revenue.
At the same time, the water rate hikes threaten both the viability of a spring parcel tax renewal for the schools, as well as the parks tax renewal for the city. If the parcel tax is defeated for parks, that will be another million that the city will need to find to keep up with infrastructure and maintenance costs of parks.
At the same time, the water rate hikes threaten the viability of our schools at a time when we may once again see huge cuts.
Even with projected flat revenues, the city was facing as much as $7 million in additional costs, due to losses by CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) and rate hikes. However, some may have taken solace in the fact that CalPERS posted record increases in the value of their portfolio last year. However, this week’s stock market plunge figures to cool any thought that CalPERS can avoided decreasing its ARR (accounting rate of return).
We have gotten the sense that at least some employees are not taking this seriously, that they believe somehow that the council is going to back off the $2.5 million in cuts. The reality is, that $2.5 million is actually just the beginning.
The employees are going to have realize that they are going to face two choices – concessions or layoffs. Layoffs may be inevitable at this point, anyway. The city needs to prioritize the services that they provide and re-organize, in order to provide vital services in a more efficient way.
Back in June, the employees rallied together behind the efforts of Firefighter Union President Bobby Weist. What employees need to recognize, however, is that many of these cuts are necessary because of the policies that Mr. Weist worked with council to produce in the last decade.
While police officers got a modest 20% increase in salary over a 4-year period, and other bargaining groups got less than 15%, the firefighters got a 38% increase. The typical firefighter in 2000 was making between $40,000 and $50,000, now they make over $100,000 with over $150,000 in total compensation.
As the Vanguard has previously shown, the firefighters rode the bubble and, in fact, ate up the entire half-cent sales tax on their own.
In June, many city employees argued that they felt disrespected by this process and that they are the ones who make this city what it is today.
To me, this is not about the job that people have done, it is about the economy and budget realities that we face. The reality is that when 80% of our general fund costs are personnel costs, when the huge increases in the cost of city government from 2000 to 2008 were due almost entirely to increases in compensation to employees, the only way to get our fiscal house in order is to cut personnel costs.
That said, I favor an approach that puts the bulk of the burden on those who can most afford to take a hit. Listening to a bunch of guys who make $100,000 complaining about losing their houses is not going to engender sympathy from the citizens of this town who are being furloughed, laid off, and otherwise having far greater cutbacks to their salaries than what the city has imposed.
I am reminded of the comments of firefighter Kirk Talon who, in June, had the gall to complain that he’d probably lose his house with these proposed cuts.
This is a guy who made $101,000 last year. He makes $130,000 to $140,000 per year in total compensation. He’s going to lose his house if the city has to institute a 8 to 9 percent pay reduction? Give me a break.
We need employees willing to accept their part in this mess and share the pain. There is a very simple way we can get part of the way there, and that is to go from 4 firefighters on an engine to three.
I understand there are drawbacks to it, but it could save $1.25 million a year and most cities have gone to that deployment level. Moreover, it begins to target the actual problems that we face in this community.
Of course, if the firefighters believe strongly enough that they need four on an engine, I’m sure they would be willing to find $1.25 million in contract concessions to enable Davis to continue to have four on an engine. I won’t hold my breath on that of course.
“You see signs here that say welcome to Wisconsin and that is exactly what it sounded like,” Mr. Weist said back in June. “It sounded like the Governor for Wisconsin.”
What I see is a continuation of bad economic times, and people who somehow believe that you can find millions to cut that do not affect employees in a $40 million general budget in which 80 percent of the money goes to employee compensation.
Forget Wisconsin, this is the de-Nile. You know it’s not just a river in Egypt anymore, it’s a way of life for many Americans. The reality on the ground is that we have to change the way we do business.
As Dan Wolk put it back in June, this is the end of the era of business as usual. This is an era of shrinking revenues and unfunded liabilities. “This is an era of shared sacrifice,” he said.
—David M. Greenwald
Hey Blogger ,
“”””I am reminded of the comments of firefighter Kirk Talon who in June had the gall to complain that he’d probably lose his house with these proposed cuts.
This is a guy who made $101,000 last year. He makes $130,000 to $140,000 per year in total compensation. He’s going to lose his house if the city has to institute a 8 to 9 percent pay reduction? Give me a break.””””
This guy also said that he had been dealing with ” CANCER ” in his household !
Until you know both sides of the story , you should keep your YAPPER mouth shut …
David:”I am reminded of the comments of firefighter Kirk Talon who in June had the gall to complain that he’d probably lose his house with these proposed cuts.
“This is a guy who made $101,000 last year. He makes $130,000 to $140,000 per year in total compensation. He’s going to lose his house if the city has to institute a 8 to 9 percent pay reduction? Give me a break.”
Wow David, such indifference. How do you know he isn’t telling the truth? How do you know his peronal financial situation? As a renter you really don’t understand what it costs to own. Maybe he bought something that he could afford based on his salary schedule but is now upside down, has lots of money in and can’t refinance. If he takes a pay cut maybe he loses the house. For some reason you seem to think that the arbitrary number $100,000 a year is a lot of money and maybe this is colored by your own financial situation but owning a home someone bought during the bubble might require a huge income.
I think your lack of empathy is what is so disturbing about your view. Its sort of like Wisconsin where the Governor seems to want to rub union workers noses in it. These people, despite what you think, do their jobs to the best of their abilities. They are just trying to get ahead. In a bad economy when sacrifices have to be made its not easy for anybody but what is so troubling about your opinions is the way you seem to want to be right without consideration of the real impact give backs have on people. My father had a saying “Nobody wants to piss backwards.” By that he meant people don’t want to be worse off in the future. This is basic human nature to want things to be better in the future. Things for many may not be better in the future and that is sad but what seems so hard to take is that you seem so mean about it, so indifferent, so callous toward those who are about to take a pay cut or lose a job.
By the way, give backs are why I think Arnold really screwed public workers. To get re-elected Arnold set the tone by spending every penny the state had giving big raises to state workers and teachers, about 10% over 2 years. Many public sector workers bought homes figuring the raises were permanent. The when the economy tanked the state had no cushion and Arnold went to furloughs. As a result there are a lot of public sector workers who are upside down financially. No matter what your salary is you can get into trouble. Its like the kid who walks through the casino with his dad and asks,”How much can you lose in here.”
“While police officers got a modest 20% increase in salary over a 4 year period, other bargaining groups got less than 15%, the firefighters got a 38% increase. The typical firefighters in 2000 was making between $40,000 and $50,000, now they make over $100,000 with over $150,000 in total compensation.”
Many (myself included) would be happy with a “modest” 20% raise over 4 years. The firefighters increase has been obscene. When you add in their stubbornness on crew size, it gets worse.
This recovery has been almost non-existent and the unemployment rate disguises the fact that many have given up or are underemployed.
Reinhart and Rogoff point out that recoveries from financial crises are different—they are long and drawn out and growth is sluggish. Many experts and pundits were expecting a typical postwar recovery—this ain’t it. We still have a mountain of debt to clear off. Some of this has merely shifted from private to public (federal government/ federal reserve) hands, though there has been some repair in balance sheets and much of corporate America is actually doing well.
Correct on every point Wu but still the tone of the article is so mean spirited. It would be so much better if David were to write in a more dispassionate manner, at the very least, while he is putting his hand into people’s pockets.
“while he is putting his hand into people’s pockets”
Hold on a second, I’m not putting my hands into their pockets at all. Leave aside the fact that I’m a mere commentator, but this is city money, which means it is taxpayer money, and that’s our money, not theirs. As a taxpayer, the city needs to look after their own responsibility first and foremost.
I’m sorry that Mr. Talon has personal hardships, a lot of people do. You think there aren’t taxpayers and ratepayers in this city that are looking at a 300% increase in water rates, who don’t have health problems? He makes a salary that is public record and he makes a lot more than a lot of the people who also have health problems who are being asked to pay more to support water projects and city services. Just because we don’t know their story doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
I’m sorry for four years I have warned the council that this was coming, the employees apparently had their head in the sand, but they are all going to be unemployed if the city cannot maintain solvency and then where is Mr. Talon going to be with his family?
“While he is putting his hand into people’s pockets.”
Cool down man its a figure of speech. But what is really hilarious is the idea that you are doing this for their benefit. Please with friends like that they don’t need enemies. And please stop digging. Its really hard to believe you feel sorry for Mr.Talon when the next clause is dismissive because other people have hardships.
[quote]”When what may eventually be known as Great Recession I hit the country, there was general political agreement that it was incumbent on the government to fight back by stimulating the economy. It did, and the recession ended.”[/quote]
The recession may have “ended” in the minds of politicians, but most of us well understood the recession was far from over at the state and local level. And I very much doubt it was really “over” at the federal level. There was a lot of political spin going on, but wishing the recession was over doesn’t make it so or make the problem go away. In fact I would argue such denial makes things worse – which it did IMHO.
As for the local recession, I agree that layoffs will be devastating to anyone that happens to. Not only that, anyone laid off cannot pay taxes and is not likely to be able to find another job, which further shrinks the tax revenue base and causes an ever downward spiral into a deeper recession than the one we are already in. However, there is a solution – PAY CUTS/FURLOUGH DAYS. Or as the saying goes “shared sacrifice”. Yet how does the City Council, with a straight face, ask for “shared sacrifice” from its City employees, when it just increased the compensation of the new City Mgr by $44,000 (or whatever the actual figure is – some say closer to $30,000)?
It’s wrong to highlight salaries of individuals in discussions like this. I think you should apologize to Mr. Talon and never belittle individual hardships like cancer.
The last four weeks demonstrated the need to go back and find ways to Work Together to solve our problems – the alternative to that is very dangerous.
The idea of shifting truck staff from 4-3 sounds like a reasonable idea and it probabaly could be done without resorting to layoffs. There is probabaly adequate turnover (retirement) to accomplish the change over 2-3 years and in the meantime overtime reduction could absord some of the slack. The last thing Davis should do is start laying off people. If every community across the country resorted to layoffs the result would certainly be another major economic contraction.
ERM – I think we have been coming out of The Recession but the inept political “process” of the past four weeks has shaken the economic confidence worldwide and that may take us down again.
Our new city manager could voluntarily take a salary reduction the minute he comes in the door.
Mr. Toad,
Just a clarification. What did you mean by the”figure of speech”” putting his hands into people’s pockets”?
This figure of speech to me has always implied that the referenced individual was in some way cheating or taking something of value,usually money, from someone else. I am not sure how that applied to David’s blog and from the tone of his response, I suspect he didn’t see the relationship either.
Having asked that, I would add my opinion to those already expressed that I would prefer to see opinions expressed in a more respectful manner all around. I do not see how singling out individuals, name calling, stereotyping or derisive commentary such as “lol” or “give me a break” adds anything to the discussion and only serves to stir up an emotional response when clear heads with a willingness to consider all opinions might be a better strategy for learning and problem solving.
Elaine,
I agree with you about the apparent disconnect with the information put forward with regard to an economic recovery by some economists, the government, and the media and what we see in our daily lives. What does amaze me however, is that many seem to be surprised about the failure of a rapid turnaround, continued high unemployment, and a “double dip” recession.
I am admittedly very unsophisticated in my knowledge of economics. But what amazes me is that so many seem to have been caught of guard by our current economic state. I clearly remember in 2008, multiple news programs and interviews of economists on NPR ( commute listening) that indicated that this was likely to be a very prolonged recession with a projected even longer time to employment recovery ( with more than one analyst predicting around a ten year lag to full employment) and many stating that they felt we would be looking at a “double dip” recession. While there is very little that I can do about this as an individual except vote my conscience and donate, I would have hoped for, not a cure, but more realistic planning and information from our elected officials, and more patience from a pubic that has had a false expectation that everything was always going to improve, meaning materialistically, in our society which seems to continue to hold material improvement as our most important indicator of success.
I remember from the early 90’s when there was a backlash against a congressional pay raise. Vic Fazio authored the bill for the raise., I imagine they thought his seat was safe enough to lead on the issue and he was the party whip at the time. Two congressmen were riding in the elevator, I forget which ones they were. One of them, freshman, had just made a floor speech denouncing the raise. The other, a more senior member, told the freshman “Don’t you ever put your hand in my pocket.” I have often remembered that and tried not to get all uppity about how much money someone else made. People make what they make and others should be careful when condemning the income of others and keep their hands out of their pockets.
Mr. Toad,
First thanks for the clarification. I definitely see your point of view. And I wonder how far you would extend it.
Should we, as tax payers, not question the use of taxes to pay what we see as excessive salaries ? Should we not express our discontent if we feel that corporations while exporting jobs pay their executives huge salaries while effectively economically devastating communities here ? Should we not point out that we feel that there is overcrowding in the prisons and that we feel that the solution is less incarceration and not the building of more prisons because that will take money out of the pockets of the corrections employees? How about those who making their money by frankly exploiting the labor of others. Should we remain silent about slavery or
sweat shops ( yes, they still exist) because it will take money out of the pockets of “entrepreneurs”. Just where would you draw the line ?
Draw it where ever you like but remember we are all susceptible to this type attack. You see you left out doctors who one could argue make too much money. So you can see how it feels. I think we should be careful when attacking someone’s salary and understand what we are saying when we argue that someone else is making too much money. Personally I try not to go there.
Labor is most of our City’s budget so I think its hard to get away from discussions of salaries, though I agree focusing on specific individuals (unless prominent) is probably best avoided.
However I think our firefighters would be wise to listen to Alphonso above and try to work out something vis a vis crew size. Its going to happen; better if firefighters can get on board.
1.Sustained 9+ percent unemployment with many populated areas having sustained unemployment greater than the Great Depression era.
2.People continuing to lose their houses and businesses to foreclosures.
3.Consumer and business confidence at sustained all time lows, even though surviving businesses restructured and became profitable again… and have held on to their cash due to the uncertainty caused by the business-hostile regulation-friendly tone in Washington.
4.Deficit spending increases causing a debt trajectory leading to US to insolvency.
5.Continued failures in winning the UN-approved war in Afghanistan.
6.Continued failures to address the dismal state of our US public education system.
7.College and healthcare costs continuing to skyrocket.
8.401ks continuing to be wiped out by wild swings in the stock markets.
But, we have gotten rid of DADT and more states are legalizing gay marriage… so I guess Obama, the most polarizing US President ever, is a success to his supporters. This is evident from the recent Gallup Poll that has Obama’s total approval rating for Dems being 72% and for Republicans, 13%.
This reminds me of a partisan joke…
[quote]The Democrat jumped from the skyscraper and said “I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay” all the way down. The Republican said exactly the same thing, but refused to jump.[/quote]
Dow Jones Industrial average closing price.
Jan 19, 2001 10,558
Jan 19, 2009 8053
August 4. 2011 11,371
Not a partisan joke.
[i]”City employees who hope they are going to ride out this council and hope for better days are in for a strong dose of reality. In June, the council approved a budget that will cut 2.5 million dollars in personnel costs from the budget.”[/i]
None of the labor groups HAS TO CHANGE ANYTHING by September 30. DCEA is operating on the terms imposed on them and all of the others have valid contracts which are effective until at least June 30 of next year.
[i]”The hope of council is that concessions can be made before a self-imposed September 30 deadline to avert layoffs.”[/i]
This ‘hope’ is not legally binding. If the council finds that the labor groups want to keep all of the provisions of their contracts until they expire, the council can wait until the start of the 2012-13 fiscal year to impose its changes.
[i]”The reality is that layoffs are coming, as are more cuts.”[/i]
One thing to note about cuts: Davis effectively has a seniority system when it comes to laying off employees for budget reasons. (The seniority is not based on the time someone is on any one job or in any one department, but rather counts all the time on all jobs worked for the City over the course of a career.) So if employees are laid off under the plan David Greenwald is discussing, they will mostly be younger and lower paid personnel.
Alternatively, some higher-paying administrative jobs might be discontinued in a reorganization. I would imagine, though I do not know, that any such changes would be subject to either collective bargaining or at least consultation with the labor groups. Some of the contracts specifically say that alternatives to layoffs must be also considered.
[i]”Many experts and analysts are talking about double dip recession.”[/i]
The number you need to watch to know if we are going to have a double dip is the ‘housing inventory’ number. From what I understand, this number keeps getting worse, as banks try to sell off their inventories.
[i]”In the meantime, a proposed water rate increase threatens to worsen the economy. First, the impact on businesses could force some out of business, while reducing the bottom line for others. That threatens to further cut into sales revenue.”[/i]
I look at this from the opposite direction. The problem for local businesses, esp. restaurants, is that the higher water bills will impoverish every household in Davis by roughly $1,000 per year. That is $1,000 households will no longer spend to dine out or shop for new merchandise.
[i]”We have gotten the sense that at least some employees are not taking this seriously, that they believe somehow that the council is going to back off the $2.5 million in cuts. The reality is, that $2.5 million is actually just the beginning.”[/i]
It seems to me the large turn-out of employees at the recent budget meetings of the CC suggest they are taking this seriously. It is their livelihoods which are on the line.
Mr. Toad… note the word “sustained”. Note too that you are reflecting the “I’m okay” message by deflecting comparison (and blame) back to the Bush era.
Here is the DOW performance during Bush’s terms before the 2008 crash… and don’t forget that little 9-11 problem we had.
20019590.93
200210112.54
200310662.52
200411242.41
200511853.84
200612498.52
200713178.26
Conservatives seem to want everyone to believe that the world started 1-20-2009. By this one measure the DJIA Obama actually looks pretty good.
Here is the graph that our elected officials need to study:
[img]http://moneymorning.com/images2/DistressedHousing.jpg[/img]
Instead of borrowing money to pay for more public works projects–such as the sidewalk bulb-outs in Davis which were largely paid for by the Obama stimulus plan, Congress and the president should devise a new scheme to encourage and incentivize investors with lots of capital to purchase all of the houses which are foreclosed or under-water.
One way to do that would be to set a zero percent capital gains tax rate for those who buy these properties and re-sell them for a gain within the next 10-15 years.
Another incentive would be to set the net property tax on such properties at zero percent for the next three years. The amount of property tax owed to local and state government for that period would be paid by the federal government.
A third element of ridding the housing market of excess inventory would be to eliminate the mortgage tax deduction on the purchase of new housing. That would encourage buyers to purchase the existing inventory.
Obama should have prioritized the absorption of the housing inventory when he came into office. He mistakenly thought what we needed was better sidewalks.
Obama should have done lots of things different and so should have the Republicans.
[i]”Obama should have done lots of things different and so should have the Republicans.”[/i]
So, do I understand that you do not approve of Obama and congressional dem’s at this point?
When Bush left office he had a 60% approval rating from Republicans and a 7% approval by Democrats. This made complete sense given the economy of the country. Here were are almost three years into the Obama miracle and his party is giving him 72% approval ratings… just recently down from his consistent 80+ approval ratings from Dems.
Obama is the most polarizing prez ever:
[img]http://www.cscdc.org/miscjeff/ObamaRate.jpg[/img]
[i]”Obama is the most polarizing prez ever.”[/i]
I think that fact is due to circumstances beyond the control of Obama himself. I think it is much more of a reflection of the fact that since the early to mid 1970s:
1)the Democratic Party, which had included a great percentage of conservatives from the South, has since lost all of them to the Republicans; and
2) the Republican Party over the same period shed almost all of its northeastern liberals and urban seculars.
So what we have now in the Democratic Party is a much more left of center party (though the center line itself since 1970 has shifted to the right). And what we have now in the Republican Party is a much more clearly right of center party.
With the two parties much more distincty ideologically than they used to be, succeeding presidents have become more “polarizing.” And when times are bad, as they have been for all of the Obama years, this polarization appears to be more stark.
If the economy rebounds, Obama will suddenly seem less polarizing among the partisans. But that polarization says more about our country and the way our parties are orgnanized than it does about the man who is president.
I just discovered that Obama owns the highest sustained unemployment numbers that our country has seen since the Carter Administration. So why do Dems still love him so much?
“I sure know what matters to the president, and a brief survey of his first two years would reveal it rather baldly. “Non-argumentative reasonableness” so far has prevented a second great depression, rescued Detroit, bailed out the banks, pitilessly isolated Tehran’s regime, exposed Netanyahu, decimated al Qaeda’s mid-level leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan, withdrawn troops from Iraq on schedule, gotten two Justices on the Supreme Court, cut a point or two off the unemployment rate with the stimulus, seen real wages for those employed grow, presided over a stock market boom and record corporate profits, and maneuvered a GOP still intoxicated with failed ideology to become more and more wedded to white, old evangelicals led by Sarah Palin. And did I mention universal health insurance – the holy grail for Democrats for decades?”
— blogger Andrew Sullivan, a conservative supporter of the president.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/12/mr-president-ignore-frank-rich-please.html
Rich: That is a reasonable explanation for some of the difference. However, this sustained economic downturn is unprecedented. This president would be seen as a profound failure in just about every other era. I cannot understand why people keep hanging on to him. Democrats still seem to hold labor.
A little example of his economic ineptitude and partisanship… his visit to Alcoa to trumpet their investment of capital to increase and improve production and create jobs… and then his subsequent threat to change the IRS accounting rules on corporate jets… thereby decimating an industry barely hanging on which is over 50% of Alcoa’s business supplying aluminum to aircraft manufacturers. If you are Alcoa management you are saying “not again until this guy is gone from office”.
Okay Don… you found one “conservative” (as claimed by the mostly liberal media) that will jump with the Dems and shout “I’m okay” until he smacks the ground. His quote is Huffington Post esk’… not anything near what I would expect any good conservative to write.
I read he is moving to Newsweek… a magazine that has grown so far left it slides off the counter into the trash by itself.
The issue is the economy. It sucks. It has sucked since Obama took office. It sucks after him throwing trillions of new spending at it. It looks like it will continue to suck for years to come. All of this on Obama’s watch yet he is still the da man for so many Dems. I just find that fascinating. I wonder what would be the case if we were a white Democrat with a Texan’s accent. Could we be seeing “affirmative action” approval ratings? I would like to think not, but then why are more unemployed recently made homeless people not mad at him?
In 1964, a white Democrat, with a Texan’s accent, did pretty well with , if I read the Klanspeak correctly ,”affirmative action” approval ratings .
Either they don’t blame him (I don’t ) or they think the alternative looks much worse (I agree). Regardless, public sector unemployment is the next shoe to drop. I think it’s regrettable that current fiscal policies (spending cuts) are likely lead to higher unemployment as the public sector jobs are lost. Federal revenues sent directly to state and local governments to sustain employment would soften the blow.
I am more concerned about the unemployment numbers than I am about the stock market or the housing market.