Saturday, June 1, 2013

Euro-Zone Jobless Rate Hits Record

Dear Reader,
The global economic news yesterday (5/31/13) was terrible and shows signs of growing much worse. As the Euro-Zone is the world's biggest marketplace and a big part of the Euro-Zone (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) is sinking deeper into Depression, you dear reader should be aware this is happening.

What follows is a note I sent to my son Kyle in response to a 13 minute Bill Moyers video Kyle emailed to me illustrating the underlying state of the U.S. economy and I've attached my response to him and an economic update from The Guardian, a prominent British newspaper, and a Wall Street Journal piece assuring us the drop in U.S. consumer spending is just "a blip."

Keep in mind that in 2008, before the global economic collapse, few media sources or their commentators saw the collapse coming. My intent is not to alarm you but to keep you informed and to appeal as well to your sense of humanity for the severe and growing economic pain our European brethren are already feeling, as are many working class Americans:

Dear Kyle,


Your mother and I admire and respect Bill Moyers and his program. I watched what you sent in its entirety and was deeply moved by it. Thank you.

Today's Wall Street Journal stated that the Euro Zone just hit the highest unemployment levels since those records have been kept, starting in 1995 and that it is growing worse. As the Euro Zone is the world's biggest economy I wonder what the implications of this are.

They also published U.S. Commerce Department statistics that showed the first decline in U.S. consumer spending in nearly a year, and incomes virtually flat. The Journal assured us that this is just a temporary blip on the screen, but I wonder if that is so.

Through technology the world is growing ever smaller and the impact of what happens in one place impacts us all more strongly than ever before.

Love,
Dad
On May 31, 2013, at 7:48 PM, Kyle Kazan <kyle@bfpminc.com> wrote:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/may/31/eurozone-crisis-unemployment-youth-inflation-markets and http://stream.wsj.com/story/markets/SS-2-5/SS-2-243550/

1 comment:

beachfnt said...

While nobody enjoys paying taxes, it also isn't in anybody's best interest to see our country turned into a haves vs. have nots. Over the long term, this will have a negative effect on the US GDP since decimated middle class will have less to spend. The pain will trickle up.

For companies founded and headquartered in the US to pay no taxes is shameful! Sadly it is cheaper to lobby and hire expensive accountants and lawyers then it is pay a dime in taxes. While my focus is on Apple since it was in the news recently, the oil companies and farming conglomerates getting lobbied subsidies and large write-offs are equally shameful.

I'm concerned that without a vibrant middle class, the United States will destroy the ladder to the American Dream and will no longer be the meritocracy which lead it to be the wealthiest nation on the planet.

RIP Middle Class!