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Friday, February 6, 2009

Creative Explanation of Today's Economy

A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook about today's economic distress and a creative argument about what it is going to take to fix it.

The unemployment numbers posted today show that national unemployment is at 7.6%, and at 8.7% for North Carolina. Locally, the county I live in and neighboring county are at 9.2 %. While I agree that that is really high, it is slightly exaggerated.

From living here, I can truthfully attest that there are many people who are collecting unemployment, and very happy doing so. Martin and Washington counties' economies are based on agricultural production. There is very little manufacturing here, and those that are in manufacturing probably work in another county but live here. The price of cotton was depressed this year so that affected farmers and the people they employ.

Even those that work at the normally reliable Domtar/Werehauser facility in Plymouth were in for a shock yesterday as 185 people got walking papers.

There are only so many people that fast food joints and wal-mart can employ or hire before they reach capacity. Also, while this area may have a ready workforce, how much of that workforce is actually ready to work?

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