NewlyFunemployed

Morning Coffee Reads - the F-cked Edition

2010-07-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

File under 'Republican Transparency'

Today's Progress Report email has a story about the cost to extend the Bush tax cuts - something that is overwhelmingly supported by Republicans.

"...extending tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 per year would add $678 billion over 10 years to the growing deficit. Debt-service costs alone would amount to "$1.7 trillion over the 2009-2019 period."

A little further down in the Progress Report email is mention of a USA Today report that points out that the expiring unemployment benefits are estimated to save the federal government $34 billion through November. And of course Republicans have no intention of extending those benefits.

In a nutshell, to restate the obvious, the f-ckin' Republicans won't support an extension of unemployment benefits that help the middle class/working poor but they can extend tax cuts that help those who make over $250,000 a year. And I'll leave it to you to read the Progress Report to address Republican hypocrisy when it comes to the deficit.

In more f-ckin' economic bad news: foreclosures abound and are expected to reach one million this year.

F-ckin' Right On. F-ckin' why the clean f-ckin' energy revolution is f-ckin' here.

Oil Spill Charity "F-Bomb-A-Thon" from UnF--kTheGulf.com on Vimeo.

And step one... a f-ckin' cap on carbon, like f-ckin' BP should cap that f-ckin' well.

And in more WTF news: Money continues and continues to corrupt. And it's f-ckin' acceptable. It's "business as usual" to go to a fundraising lunch sponsored by Wall Street in the middle of the financial reform debates. F-ck that $h!t. That's totally not f-cking okay.

Oh and the chicken came before the f-cking egg.

Monday Morning Cafe' Con Leche

2010-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

We are the champions! Somos los campeones! Felicidades a España! Que emocion! (photo: courtesy of El Pais)

To keep things in perspective and to remember good and evil live side by side, bow your head for those who perished in the awful terrorist attack on soccer fans in Uganda.

Halliburton 'defrauded' American taxpayers. They didn't defraud. The money was 'lost in the sofa.' $1.4 billion plus lost in the sofa? What this says of the media and the state of truth-telling.

And Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's 'contribution' to truth-telling. She should be careful because for every lie a woman tells, she gets another wrinkle.

Another voice speaks in the income inequality causes recession corner.

Another interesting tidbit:
An effort to put solar on the world's iconic buildings.

Justice For Oscar Grant And Everyone

2010-07-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

View my pics I took.

My Only News Today

2010-07-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

The only thing that I feel like I can write about/talk about today in public is the Mehserle verdict. I am obsessed.

The skinny: Yesterday, Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter with a gun enhancement for shooting Oscar Grant on New Years Eve 2009. Sentencing - a possible range of 2 to 14 years - will be on August 6th. Today, downtown Oakland is sweeping up the glass from broken storefront windows.

Yesterday, I went downtown at 6pm to listen to what the speakers had to say and it was clear that everyone who was there was not satisfied with the verdict. The crowd was peaceful until I left around 8:00pm. When I got home and turned on the TV, I heard reports of a looted Footlocker and people arrested for failure to dispersed. And then the damage increased. Now, I want to be clear. This was not a riot, even though taggers wrote "Riot for Oscar" on a wall. Graffiti, broken glass and stolen hair extensions and sneakers do not a riot make.

Do not lump everyone together like it was a free for all. It wasn't. Most people who were arrested were for failure to disperse - a peaceful arrest. And youth protesters tried to stop the looters.

Shame on those who looted and caused property damage, as they did nothing except to further the cause of the proverbial man, of the broken system.

As for me, I'm sad, guilty and mad. Sad because so many feel like the system doesn't work for them. Guilty because it probably works for me - I say probably because I'm a white female, but you can never be sure even if you're a white male. And mad that the system doesn't work for everyone - how is it that in a case where race was a factor, there were no African-American jurors - that perspective is necessary - has your momma ever told you to how to act with the cops? told you to put your hands where they can be seen and say yessir, nosir and be as polite as you can? mine didn't, but ask a black teenage male if his mom has and bet the answer is yes; how is that we live in a world where someone could consider a man face down and subdued by two officers a threat; how is it that even tazing someone in that position is an okay thing to do. I'm mad at the MSM who sensationalizes a dent on a car like it's the worst thing that's happened to Oakland and reports nothing about justice. Did anyone, anyone, anyone report on what happened at the half a dozen youth centers around the city? The family does not think justice is served (and frankly neither do I) - I want more reporting on what justice looks like.

Morning - eh, Lunch - Coffee Reads

2010-07-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

NEWS

The Congressional Budget Office says the American Power Act (Kerry-Lieberman proposal to address climate change) would put a $19 billion dent in the federal deficit over the next 10 years. And yes we must do something about climate change, because it IS real. And dirty air does cause health problems. And yes, this is a bi-partisan issue or should I say a non-political issue.

Banks that have repaid TARP loans from the government report more than a 10% return. That's way better than I'm getting from my bank. Meanwhile foreclosures continue to loom and the government's loan modification program isn't doing much to help.

Wall Street needs a defender. Give me a break. Reshma Saujani is running against Carolyn Mahoney to represent Manhattan in Congress. Saujani us "the only candidate who understands how stressful and difficult the past few years have been for some of the wealthiest people in America." As my friend Dave G. was fond of saying: 'look for sympathy in the dictionary - it's between shit and syphilus.'

SOLUTIONS?

From The Nation, a prescription for curing the economy - reduce income inequality (which was also, according to the author, the cause of the economic crisis - and a vision for what America should be -

a country where every neighborhood features safe, well-paved streets, excellent schools, functioning mass transit and a healthy environment....

And from a moderate deficit hawk, a "Jobs Now, Deficits Soon" package, sensible tax reform:

cutting payroll and corporate taxes now -- and offsetting this with phased-in tax hikes on dirty energy and consumption, to take effect only once jobs and growth are back on track.

coupled with spending initiatives

extend unemployment benefits... [and] help states avoid the layoffs and cutbacks that will further dampen consumption.

CURIOUSITIES

My superhero has

iron-containing structures... to help them sense the Earth's magnetic field independent of their motion and posture, and thus identify their geographical position;
ability to reproduce via cloning;
ability to track up to 30 absent members of their family by sniffing out their scent and building a mental map of where they are;
photographic memory;
fast adaptation to environment;
close its mandibles at an incredible speed... allows them to jump enormous heights for their size.

The late great George Carlin (who I had the fortune to meet in person) on euphemisms.

Morning Coffee Reads

2010-07-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

BP has plenty of company with trouble oil wells - 27,000 unregulated abandoned wells in the Gulf, mostly from the 1940's. My favorite sentence:

Oil company representatives insist that the seal on a correctly plugged offshore well will last virtually forever.

Yeah, and I believe the oil company representatives.

All of Oakland (and LA) are paying super close attention to the Oscar Grant murder trial by former BART policeman Mehserle. Emotions are high. Many plea for justice and peaceful protests.

And more from the 'can't we all just get along files. Mideast peace??

Cool: Testing a 24-hour solar plane

Picking the winner of today's World Cup game - Paul the Octopus - only 75 minutes 'til game time.

Happy 70th Birthday (wow) Ringo! Means I'm a pup.

Park Bench Capitalism.

PAY & SIT: the private bench (HD) from Fabian Brunsing on Vimeo.

Stuff That Caught My Eye (and Ear)

2010-07-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's a catch 22 being underemployed - you have time to read all your emails and be up on the news and you spend a lot of time reading all your emails and the news.

What caught my eye today and why

In the 'Sinking Low' or 'Make Me Want to Vomit' category: Chrysler is advertising to the Tea Party

Ultra Important:
Response to conservative diss on climate change as too expensive to tackle. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face - it's so big it's hard to wrap your head around, but gotta happen and we gotta do something about it. Solving this problem also offers one of our best opportunities, i.e. to create an economy based on clean energy instead of fossil fuels. We're trying but some people just don't want to cooperate. Fannie and Freddie are blocking loan programs that help people go solar. Fannie and Freddie need their collective fannies smacked. But that's another story.

Deflation scares?

The Depression-era cratering of wages and prices was disastrous because it rendered companies and consumers less able to pay their debts.

In 2010, companies are holding $1.8 trillion (yes, with a T). What are they doing with all that money stashed under the mattress - come on guys and gals, create some jobs.

Why we need campaign finance reform: Dems decision to regulate Wall Street means campaign contributions are drying up. Is anyone surprised that Wall Street donates money to Senators and then the Senators decide not to regulate them and then they engage in risky behavior? People wake up - it's our fault - we let this happen. I repeat, louder this time: WE NEED CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM.

Inspiration: I listen to KCRW (originated in Santa Monica) on iTunes because, well, let's say I like the station a real lot, more than other stations. Today, Matt Holzman interviewed Diana Nyad who at 60 is going to swim from Cuba to Florida. Right On.

Maybe I would have stayed in my economics Ph.D. program if I had Ken Rogoff as a professor. He co-wrote a book with Carmen Reinhart that looks at 800 years of economic downturns. His favorite economist joke:

A drunk on his way home from a bar one night realizes that he has dropped his keys. He gets down on his hands and knees and starts groping around beneath a lamppost. A policeman asks what he’s doing.

“I lost my keys in the park,” says the drunk.

“Then why are you looking for them under the lamppost?” asks the puzzled cop.

“Because,” says the drunk, “that’s where the light is."

More than Half Touched (Sometimes Punched in the Gut) by Recession

2010-07-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

It's been six months since my last post. I stopped writing because I got a pretty good contract gig which has now ended. Back to being unemployed or underemployed, rather - which for a short term is okay - a very short-term.

What inspired me to write again is the fact that nothing's changed on the unemployment front. In fact it might even be worse. A new Pew Research Center report found the recession has hit 55% of American adults - through an unemployment spell, a pay cut or trimmed hours or forced part-time hours.

Some of the more interesting results:

Whites are more pessimistic about the economy than blacks and Hispanics even though the latter groups are more likely to be unemployed than whites.
People are saving more - 62% of Americans cut back on spending since December 2007. This has got to be a good thing - America's had a negative savings rate for a long time - something that's unsustainable.
Congress might not have to officially raise the retirement age as some have suggested. That might happen all on its own.

Among adults ages 62 and older who are still working, a third say they have already delayed retirement because of the recession. And among workers in their 50s, about six-in-ten say they may have to do the same.

And in the name of blatant self-promotion, listen to this story (by me) that aired on Marketplace about a good friend of mine who's trying to scrape by ... and is still trying to scrape by in this oh so fabulously f*ck#d up time.

Unemployment becomes unemployed

2010-01-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

In many states unemployment funds either have run out of money or will run out of money in the next six months.

Twenty-fives states are bankrupt and nine will probably go bankrupt.

States are borrowing from Uncle Sam' some states are cutting benefits or considering raising unemployment taxes. No matter which way you look at it - not good.

On the bright side, this happened in the 1970's and we got through it and recovered. We just need to recover - NOW.

The Boon-Bane of the Unemployed

2010-01-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Time, time, time.

Boon: I've been sick and didn't have to go to work in driving rain and wind.
Bane: I was sick.

Boon: Lots of time to read, blog and complete projects that I've always wanted to do.
Bane: Lots of time to procrastinate.

Boon: Middle of the day visits from friends.
Bane: No bane here - love visits from friends.

Weighing it all out - boon's way better than the bane.

Looks like I'm not going to have so much free time after all. I've gotten a bunch of gigs in the last couple of days that will keep me busy for a few months.

Yeah!

Stimulus and Jobs Update

2010-01-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

The White House released a report today that contradicts an Associated Press report that came out on Monday.

An Associated Press analysis of stimulus spending found that it didn't matter if a lot of money was spent on highways or none at all: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless. And the stimulus spending only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, the analysis showed.

The White House report - of course - positively spins the unemployment and economic growth effects of the stimulus. In the report:

Following implementation of the ARRA, the trajectory of the economy changed materially toward moderating output decline and job loss. Indeed, real GDP began rising in the third quarter of 2009, and job losses in the fourth quarter were one-tenth their size in the first quarter. The decomposition of the GDP and employment change by component or sector suggests that the ARRA has played a key role in this change of trajectory.
The two CEA methods of estimating the impact of the fiscal stimulus suggest that the ARRA added between 2 and 3 percentage points to real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2009; between 3 and 4 percentage points in the third quarter; and between 1½ and 3 percentage points in the fourth quarter. These estimates are broadly similar to those of a wide range of other analysts.
The CEA estimates that as of the fourth quarter of 2009, the ARRA has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by 1½ to 2 million.

One thing to note is that not all of the money has been released.

As of the end of December 2009, $263.3 billion of the original $787 billion, or roughly one-third of the total, has been outlayed or gone to American households and businesses in the form of tax reductions. An additional $149.7 billion has been obligated for projects and activities, which means that the money is available to recipients once they make expenditures.

So the question is - who is right? If we didn't implement the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would unemployment be that much worse? Or was the money another government waste?

Schedule, Schmedule

2010-01-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

I'm trying. I really am. But for some reason or another I can't seem to get out of bed when my alarm goes off at 7:30am. It's not that I don't have anything to get up for, I've got plenty to do, productive and otherwise. I just don't have to get up at 7:30am for any particular reason except this schedule that I've imposed on myself so that I can feel guilty about not doing it. Not going to happen - I'll get there - eventually.

Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy the flexibility of working at home - taking care of the pooch, watching movies as I type email inquiries, getting fashion advice from Rita Wilson and Oprah, and listening to the eclectic college station from UCBerkeley - KALX. And my email inbox is clean. I read it all, including this nugget from a flavorpill email. It comes from Charts Bin - a site that posts charts and maps from statistical data. You can't embed them yet, but the site's worth a gander. Charts range from morbid (suicide rates per country) to depressing, like this one Percentage of People Having Sex Weekly by Country.

Okay, time to make the donuts - at least until 5:00pm. Wednesday is yoga night.

Photo credit: atelier_tee / CC BY-NC 2.0

California Dreamin' Turned Nightmare

2010-01-12T19:04:00.000-08:00

Eleven California counties - mostly inland - made the top 20 economically stressed counties, according to the Associated Press.

The least stressed - the middle of the country. Take a look at that map again that I posted a couple of posts ago.

The AP also reports that the stimulus funds didn't make a dent in unemployment - it could have saved jobs, though.

President Obama is said to be focusing efforts on job creation with more stimulus plans.

Sunday Spin

2010-01-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

Christina Romer - chairperson,Council of Economic Advisers, i.e. White House economic adviser - appeared on CNN and ABC this morning. According to a Washington Post email I get, they have quite different takes.

Here's the headlines:

CNN: State of the Union
     Romer: December jobs report a 'disappointment'

     versus

ABC: This Week
     Job losses moderating, Romer says

Is this just The Washington Post trying to confuse?

Here's what WP chose to quote in their email.

CNN

"An important fact is GDP not only needs to grow, it needs to grow at about a normal rate, like at 2.5 percent to actually bring down the unemployment rate," Romer said. "So the thing we're going to be looking for is, do you see that kind of robust GDP growth?"

In the meantime, targeted actions like tax incentives and encouraging at least temporary hiring must be in place now, Romer says, to assuage the economic impact.

FYI: GDP grew at 2.2% in the third quarter of 2009 - the latest available number. You'd think WP would mention that in the email.

ABC: This Week

White House economic adviser Christina Romer said despite lagging job numbers in December, a broader look at job losses shows an steady improvement in the American job market.

"I think it is important to put them (the losses outlined in a December jobs report) in context, because they are, I think, still part of this overall trend towards greatly moderating job losses," Romer said.

Romer sees an improving GDP as another sign of steady progress for the economy.

"GDP, which grew in the third quarter of last year, is going to grow even more strongly when we get the numbers for the fourth quarter," she said. "And I think ... if you look at basically every forecast, they are saying steady GDP growth over 2010."

So the two headlines aren't necessarily at odds with each other. You can be disappointed that the job losses are moderating (instead of creating jobs), but the person who wrote the headlines should be careful about choice of words.

Crazy Map

2010-01-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

The darker the map gets, the higher the unemployment rate. Watch and weep - unless you're one of the 6 million or so that lives in Kansas, Nebraska or the Dakotas. That's less than 2 percent of the U.S. population.

Job Numbers - Decade in Review

2010-01-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

The Good News: We have more jobs than we did at the beginning of 2000 - 129,000 more.

The Bad News: The population grew by about 25 million in the same time period.

You do the math.

Dashed Hopes

2010-01-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

Bummer, bummer, bummer. More jobs weren't created. We didn't even stop the bleeding. But at least it's down to a trickle. But that is worse than everyone thought. The pundits were just wrong or believed that by saying the job market is recovery that it would be true. (Alas, visualization will NOT make it happen.)

The economy lost 85,000 jobs. The unemployment rate stayed pretty steady, but that's because people are giving up... or maybe since December is a really tough time to find a job because people are too busy partying and making merry.

Benefits: Mid-week Skiing

2010-01-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

If I could get a job that offers mid-week skiing as a benefit, I'd take it in a sec. Oh wait, I don't have a job and can go mid-week skiing. And I did (so good excuse for not blogging yesterday.) Now if I could figure out a way to make money not having a job.

Tomorrow morning, December unemployment numbers come out and the powers that be are cautiously optimistic that the hemorrhaging of jobs has stopped and may is healing. After all, the unemployment rate did dip in three dozen states. But the scars will take a long time to heal.

Booboo #1 Job Dissatisfaction: Time had an interesting piece about how dissatisfied Americans are with their jobs. Only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs compared to 48% in 2008 and compared to 61% in 1987 the first year of the Conference Board's survey.

One clue that may explain workers' growing dissatisfaction: Only 51% now find their jobs interesting — another low in the survey's 22 years. In 1987, nearly 70% said they were interested in their work.

That and wages suck.

Booboo #2 Long-term Unemployment: Last month the unemployment news was better than it's been in a long time - except for the number of people out of work for more than 6 months.

Almost 5.9 people million last month had been out of work at least 27 weeks and were still actively looking for a job, up from 5.6 million in October.

That December number is something to look for tomorrow.

Catching Up with a Little Humor

2010-01-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

posted on Slate 12/28/09 and 12/07/09 respectively

New Years Resolution: blog, blog, blog and blog some more

2010-01-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Those of us lucky enough to have massive amounts of time on our hands and many things that could fill those hours will understand my predicament.

I'm a Jane-of-all-trades-Mistress-of-none kinda girl. Leaving the merits and disadvantages of being either aside, suffice it to say that I don't have a laser focus on any one interest, but many varied hobbies and a long list of projects that I intend to complete with all this new found freedom (some of which will hopefully turn a penny or two or millions.)

However, the operative word here is complete. In order to make progress toward completing projects (as in actually keep up with a blog) instead of dabbling in many things, I've made a schedule. If I can come close to sticking to it, I'll be fine and hopefully accomplish something - like making a living as my own boss. It's a flexible schedule - it should be, my time is my own. There's two 3 hour blocks in the morning and afternoon that can be moved around.

To start 2010 and take advantage of being funemployed, I'm setting my alarm for 7:30 am - a reasonable hour, not atrociously early and not procrastination-late.

7:30-8:30am - morning puttering: shower, walk the dog, coffee, breakfast
8:30-9:00am - read/respond to email (now it gets tricky)
9:00-9:30am - blog (yes, I blew today, but am trading time blocks)
9:30-noon - work on assigned freelance projects
noon-1:00pm - look for new work
1:00-2:00pm - lunch, surf internet, run errands, do a quick blog post
2-5:00pm - new venture time: send our resumes, develop new projects, pitch new stories, write a blog post, i.e. indulge in projects.

I'm hoping that I'll get so engrossed in my new projects that they'll lapse into the evening because work won't be work, but something I love.

My goal is to do this four days out of every five. After all, what good would unemployment be if I didn't take advantage of midweek skiing?

Unemployed Humor

2009-12-10T17:03:00.001-08:00

Courtesy of Comedy Central - but I can't imagine anyone actually owning this joke

\Why did the blonde get fired from her job at the M&M factory? She threw away all the "W&W's"

Terrible Tuesday

2009-11-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Icky news.And right before Thanksgiving.

The Federal Reserve doesn't see unemployment dropping anytime before the end of next year, well they say it will drop a little, like in the 9% range instead of the 10 percent range. A bunch of economists looked through their crystal ball and say that unemployment will bottom out in March. Hope they get some help from Merlin.

My adopted state of California now has an unemployment rate of 12.5%.

In none of the official estimates do they talk about the people who have stopped looking for work or who are underemployed. That number's more like 17.5%.

Then there was the news today that one out of every four homeowners, that's a quarter of the pie, owe more than their houses are worth. And last week we found out that mortgage defaults are hitting highs.

Are we in for a double dip?

And what does that mean if you're a young, black male? You're already living through the Depression, albeit with a flatscreen, but even ESPN can't cure the blues.

President Barack Obama told reporters yesterday that job losses were his top priority. He's counting on increasing exports to Asia to create jobs here. I love Obama, but he's kinda takin' a back seat here, not to mention relying on other countries' consumers to get us out of our mess. He better do something or he's going to have egg on his face/pie in his eye.

Another One Bites The Dust

2009-11-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was the first to learn that another friend of mine will be laid off after Thanksgiving. Like me, she wasn't that surprised or disappointed. She had been earning a paycheck, but wasn't challenged. She has the tools and connections to land back on her feet in no time. Time will tell if I do, but so far, so good.

I've lost track as to how many that is this year, but we're working on dozens if you count the colleagues at NPR West whose programs were canceled, the friends that can't find work, not even a menial job at a convenient store - and those whose companies just couldn't stay afloat.

Many of them have found some work, some are even following their dreams. A news friend is singing opera and pursuing a theater career. If you're going to be poor might as well be happy. Another friend has become her own boss.

But yet another is staring at the computer screen doing nothing. Another has to move out of her warehouse space and figure out if she wants to leave town or not.

I'm not sure who to believe: the usual trustworthy Warren Buffet who says that yes we will create jobs because that's what we do or the prescient professor, Nouriel Rubini (he predicted the banking fiasco, but so did I) who says that we've got another year or so of job losses.

Rubini and others are calling for more investment and job creation by the federal government, the 21st century version of digging ditches, 'shovel-ready' projects like fixing bridges and roads and building stuff. Thing is that I don't really see myself digging ditches, although I want to learn to weld. I can't see my friend who will get the axe after Thankgsiving digging or welding.

Obama To Rescue Jobs

2009-11-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

Time to bring together big minds to solve the lack of jobs. In December, Obama's having a job summit to talk about job creation.

Running to the dentist, so that's all you get. Read the article. You have time, you are unemployed.

Friday the 13th

2009-11-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

or as John Sherffius from the Boulder Camera puts it - Black Friday

Unemployed Criminals

2009-11-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

It's hard to find a job. Even more so if you have a criminal record. So what to do - try to get your record 'expunged' - try to wipe the slate clean. The Wall Street Journal reports that states are cleaning records at a rate of 33-50 percent higher than the year before.

Don't worry, we're talking ex-cons, petty theft (or not so petty), minor drug infractions, bar fights, that kind of thing, not violent criminals. And many of the crimes happened when the person was young, carefree and careless, like the guy who was rolling a joint as a teen and bumped into an undercover cop or the guy who threatened two other bar patrons...WITH A HAIRBRUSH.

PS to Unemployment News

2009-11-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

As I continue to play catch up, I found this tidbit from Calculated Risk that digs deeper into last week's unemployment numbers. The news doesn't get better.

In the 1960's women entered the workforce, in the 1970's there was lots of fluctuation in the Employment-Population ratio (percentage of the population in the workforce.) The 1980's saw a growth in this ratio of 6 percentage points from 57% to 63%. And during the last 20 years or so, it has revolved around 62%. Now we're back to the 58.5% we saw in the 1980's.

The trend has been for people to return to the workforce anywhere from six months to a year after the recession has been declared over. So once three to four percent of the population decide to return to the workforce, there will be that many more people looking for a job. It's not necessarily a correlation that the unemployment rate will rise by that much, but it probably will rise.

Roughly calculated, the percentage of part-time workers as a percentage of the number employed is one percent higher in the 1980's - more evidence that the unemployment rate is undercounting what's really going on in the labor market.

And retail sales and hiring are basically flat since last year, so don't expect an end of the year/Christmas bonus that will make things better.

Happy Tuesday morning (8min left on the west coast 'til afternoon.)

Time and Still Procrastinating

2009-11-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

When you are unemployed, you have all the time in the world. Time to do the NYT crossword (check), time for a megasuduko puzzle (check), time for cooking dinner for all your friends so that you can win a $250 gift certificate to your wine club. But of course there wasn't enough time since Halloween until today - count it - 9 days to actually enter the contest. There's actually tons of time until there is no time left. The deadline is November 9th. The blog never said what time. I still have 1 hour and 40 minutes to post my entry. So what can I do to procrastinate another hour, just to squeeze in in the nick of time? I'm too tired to think of anything. It's been an exhausting four days (Kali is home, resting comfortably, but still not eating.)

Here's the recipe for the Twisted Oak Culinary Cluck. I'm using a simple but delicious dish that I learned to make in Spain.

Rice In The Oven - Arroz al Horno (sounds better in Spanish.)

1 1/2 cups dry rice
3 cups chicken stock/water
1 head of garlic - remove all the white papery stuff from all of the cloves, leave the skin closest to the garlic
2 carrots - peel and cut in 1 inch chunks
1/2 red pepper cut into 1 inch square pieces
1/2 can of garbanzo beans
1 medium onion - cut into 1-1/2 inch chunks (I usually 1/2 then cut in sixth or eighth)
1-2 roma tomatoes sliced
1 medium potato, cut into 1-1/2 inch cubes
6 chicken legs
8oz morcilla de cebolla* - cut into 1-1/2 inch rounds
Fino or dry sherry (the cheap kind is fine)
Salt to taste

In a 3 quart pyrex dish or clay cookware pour the stock. Add the rice so it is distributed evenly.

Add the garbanzo beans.

Add salt to taste.

Arrange all of the chunks of vegetables so they are distributed in the stock.

Add morcilla (make sure it is under the broth so that the flavor soaks through)

Arrange the chicken legs for a nice presentation.

Bake at 375 degrees for an hour, lightly pour (or heavily) the sherry all over the dish (kind of as you would balsamic vinegar, but you don't have to worry about putting too much.) Bake for another 20 minutes to 30 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.

To serve, make sure everyone gets at least one piece of all the different goodies.

To properly eat, squeeze the garlic out of the skin and mash up the garlic and morcilla into the rice.

Serve with slices of baguettes, a diced tomato/cucumber salad and a bottle of 2004 Twisted Oak The Spaniard.

Serves 6.

*I use morcilla de cebolla from The Spanish Table in Berkeley but they have other locations and mail order.

One Good Thing About Unemployment

2009-11-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

You have a lot of time.

Time especially comes in handy when your beloved 15 year old dog gets ill and you have to go back and forth to vets for four days. This is why on a blog about unemployment, I didn't cover Friday's 10.2 percent unemployment rate - highest in decades and the cry about worst joblessness since the depression. Somethings are more important, like laying out $2K for your beloved companion. Fortunately, she is doing better and will recover, unlike the job market. Like I said, somethings are more important.

Back to business with a quick recap of some of the implications about the unemployment numbers.

From Brookings:

In "New Unemployment and Productivity Numbers are Bad News for Job Seekers" Brookings analysts conclude that even though the economy is doing better, companies aren't hiring, but making their workers work harder. Yeah for those who are employed. You still have your paycheck, but are working for the man harder and harder and harder so you can be more stressed and have less time for your loved ones and furry friends.

The New York Times lists a bunch of quotes from economists that can be summed up as advice to the Obama administration to do more. To be fair on Friday, Obama signed legislation that will extend unemployment benefits and the tax credit.

John Nichols of The Nation points out that the real unemployment rate is 17.5%. WHAT! Yep, you have to include all of those people who have gotten discouraged and stop looking for work. Unemployment figures only count people who look for work, but can't find it. Economists have a term for people who have given up - discouraged workers. And if you include those people, unemployment rises big time. Nichols joins the call that Obama and the Dems must become the party of jobs and start investing in America to create jobs. Sounds very Keynsian, even though he has fallen out of fashion since the Reagan era.

I'm going to look on the bright side of things for now - yeah for time.

More Federal Help on the Way - Phew

2009-11-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Today, the federal government took the first step in extending unemployment benefits with the Senate voting to extend benefits for 14 weeks and up to 20 in the worst hit states. California?

Good thing I applied yesterday. I'll have almost a whole year of eligibility on unemployment. Time to party, party, party. Or at least sleep late, my expenses are more than my benefits. To make up the difference, I'll try to work some. This morning, I pitched Marketplace a radio feature on the lengths a friend of mine goes to earn a little cash - legally. Her next 'venture' - moving a bed from SF to Las Vegas. Hopefully, they will take it!

Unemployment is Stressful

2009-11-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press has a cool interactive map that tells whether or not a county is under more stress as measured by unemployement, foreclosures and bankruptcies. Alameda Country where I live, the stress level rose (bad) by more than 5 points this year to 14.73, but went down (good) by almost a half a point last month (due to a reduction in the unemployment rate - wait 'til I file.) In comparison, the stress level was 6.75 in October of 2007 before the recession started.

Celebrated Halloween in Style

2009-11-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, was my official last day of work.

I celebrated by going all out on Halloween weekend dressed as a homeless polar bear (waiting for photo): stopping traffic on Market Street in a critical mass bike ride; a bike joust at the Vulcan Lofts complete with O.F.D. competing for head jouster; dinner, champagne and fabulous dance party where I apparently had a REALLY good time; an afternoon beer, a surprise call from a friend inviting me for sushi and a movie (and a sleepover) ;) and ending with tamales and a Dia de los Muertos parade in the Mission.

And this morning, I slept in 'til 11am.

Oh what fun it is to be unemployed.

Now it's almost Wednesday and I didn't do sh!t today. No resumes, no cleaning, no job search, no working on my zillions of projects floating through my head. I did walk the dog, clean out my email box (the ultimate procrastination tool) and make a healthy dinner.

And panic sets in. California lost almost 3/4 of a million jobs. Unemployment rate in the SF area hovers around 11%. Will I work again?