The cure? "The answer to all opponents to the reduction of hours of labor could well be given in these words: that so long as there is one man who seeks employment and cannot obtain it, the hours of labor are too long." -- Gompers
"The full employment policy by means of investment is only one particular application of an intellectual theorem. You can produce the result just as well by consuming more or working less. Personally I regard the investment policy as first aid. In US it almost certainly will not do the trick. Less work is the ultimate solution (a 35 hour week in US would do the trick now). How you mix up the three ingredients of a cure is a matter of taste and experience, i.e. of morals and knowledge." -- Keynes "In place of the pompous catalog of the 'inalienable rights of man' comes the modest Magna Carta of a legally limited working-day, which shall make clear 'when the time which the worker sells is ended, and when his own begins.' Quantum mutatus ab illo!" Marx On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 6:04 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > NY Times, February 15, 2009 > Rise in Jobless Poses Threat to Stability Worldwide > By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ > > PARIS — From lawyers in Paris to factory workers in China and bodyguards in > Colombia, the ranks of the jobless are swelling rapidly across the globe. > > Worldwide job losses from the recession that started in the United States in > December 2007 could hit a staggering 50 million by the end of 2009, > according to the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency. > The slowdown has already claimed 3.6 million American jobs. > > High unemployment rates, especially among young workers, have led to > protests in countries as varied as Latvia, Chile, Greece, Bulgaria and > Iceland and contributed to strikes in Britain and France. > > Last month, the government of Iceland, whose economy is expected to contract > 10 percent this year, collapsed and the prime minister moved up national > elections after weeks of protests by Icelanders angered by soaring > unemployment and rising prices. > > Just last week, the new United States director of national intelligence, > Dennis C. Blair, told Congress that instability caused by the global > economic crisis had become the biggest security threat facing the United > States, outpacing terrorism. > > "Nearly everybody has been caught by surprise at the speed in which > unemployment is increasing, and are groping for a response," said Nicolas > Véron, a fellow at Bruegel, a research center in Brussels that focuses on > Europe's role in the global economy. > > In emerging economies like those in Eastern Europe, there are fears that > growing joblessness might encourage a move away from free-market, > pro-Western policies, while in developed countries unemployment could > bolster efforts to protect local industries at the expense of global trade. > > Indeed, some European stimulus packages, as well as one passed Friday in the > United States, include protections for domestic companies, increasing the > likelihood of protectionist trade battles. > > Protectionist measures were an intense matter of discussion as finance > ministers from the Group of 7 economies met this weekend in Rome. > > While the number of jobs in the United States has been falling since the end > of 2007, the pace of layoffs in Europe, Asia and the developing world has > caught up only recently as companies that resisted deep cuts in the past > follow the lead of their American counterparts. > > The International Monetary Fund expects that by the end of the year, global > economic growth will reach its lowest point since the Depression, according > to Charles Collyns, deputy director of the fund's research department. The > fund said that growth had come to "a virtual halt," with developed economies > expected to shrink by 2 percent in 2009. > > "This is the worst we've had since 1929," said Laurent Wauquiez, France's > employment minister. "The thing that is new is that it is global, and we are > always talking about that. It is in every country, and it makes the whole > difference." > > In Asia, any smugness at having escaped losses on American subprime debt has > been erased by growing despair over a plunge in sales among major exporters. > On Thursday, Pioneer of Japan said it would abandon the flat-screen > television business and cut 10,000 jobs worldwide in response to sagging > demand for consumer electronics. > > Millions of migrant workers in mainland China are searching for jobs but > finding that factories are shutting down. Though not as large as the > disturbances in Greece or the Baltics, there have been dozens of protests at > individual factories in China and Indonesia where workers were laid off with > little or no notice. > > The breadth of the problem is also becoming apparent in Taiwan, where > exports were down 42.9 percent last month, compared with a year ago, the > steepest plunge in Asia. > > Chang Yung-yun, a 57-year-old restaurant kitchen worker, was laid off when > her employer closed in mid-November. Her son, an engineer, has been put on > unpaid vacation for weeks, a tactic that has become common in Taiwan. > > "The greatest fear for our people is losing jobs," Taiwan's president, Ma > Ying-jeou, said in an interview. > > Calls for protectionism have resonated among a fearful public. In Britain, > refinery and power plant employees walked off the job last month to protest > the use of workers from Italy and Portugal at a construction project on the > coast. Some held up signs highlighting Prime Minister Gordon Brown's earlier > promise of "British jobs for British workers." > > Unemployment in Britain is expected to rise to 9.5 percent by the middle of > 2010, from 6.3 percent now, according to Peter Dixon, an economist with > Commerzbank in London. Germany's jobless rate could rise to 10.5 percent > from 7.8 percent, he added. > > In France last week, President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed to supply low-interest > loans of 3 billion euros, or $3.86 billion, each to PSA Peugeot Citroën and > Renault in exchange for an agreement not to lay off French workers. > > To a greater extent than in past European downturns, highly trained > white-collar workers are pounding the pavement, too. Naomi Runquist-Ohayon, > a trademark lawyer, has been looking for work in Paris since the beginning > of the year, after losing her job in December. > > "This is a new experience for me," said Ms. Runquist-Ohayon, 39, a Swedish > native who has lived in Paris and London and speaks fluent English, French, > Swedish and Italian. "In London, I never had to really look. Recruiters or > headhunters would call me or I would call them. It's not so easy now." > > Half a world away in Colombia, Jaime Galeano, 40, is in a similar > predicament. As a bodyguard in a country notorious for drug-related violence > and kidnappings, Mr. Galeano thought his profession was immune until he lost > his job last year. > > "The conditions for finding a job are terrible," he said. What is more, his > age is now an impediment, with a ministry informing him that only applicants > under the age of 32 would be considered for new positions. > > "After turning 35, a person is worth nothing," Mr. Galeano said. > > Even India, whose startling rise to the forefront of the global economy was > portrayed in the hit movie "Slumdog Millionaire," has hit a wall. About > 500,000 people lost jobs between October and December 2008, according to one > recent analysis. > > In New Delhi, Tarun Lamba lost the first real job he ever had about a month > ago, when he was laid off as a sales manager. Mr. Lamba, 24, said he knew > bad news was coming because it had been weeks since he had written a truck > loan. If he has to, he said, he could join his father's business, selling > clothes. But he hopes it will not come to that. > > "The cycle has to keep running," he said. "We had a boom period one year > ago, now we are in a recession, and after some time the boom will come > again." > > Many newer workers, especially those in countries that moved from communism > to capitalism in the 1990s, have known only boom times since then. For them, > the shift is especially jarring, a main reason for the violence that > exploded recently in countries like Latvia, a former Soviet republic. > > "For the young generation, aged 20 to 24, this is the first time we've had > this," said Valdis Zatlers, Latvia's president. > > The ripples from the slowdown in Europe, North America and Asia are also > being felt in Africa as migrant workers abroad lose their jobs and find > themselves unable to send money home. > > Since his last temporary job as a metalworker in Paris ended three months > ago, Ignace Abdul has halted the monthly 200 euro payments he had been > sending to his wife and three children back in Senegal. "Between 2004 and > 2008, I worked nonstop," Mr. Abdul, 30, said in an interview in a bleak > Paris unemployment office. "Right now, there is nothing." > > Reporting was contributed by Keith Bradsher from Taipei, Taiwan; Heather > Timmons from New Delhi; Simon Romero and Jenny Carolina González from > Bogota, Colombia; and Maïa de la Baume from Paris. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Sandwichman _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
