Politablog

The United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) predicted economic recovery for the region this upcoming year. The report released earlier this week, predicts 4.1 percent overall growth for Latin America before most developed countries begin recovering from the devastating global crisis.

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The smell of urine perforates throughout the town of unstable wooden shacks.  Garbage clutters the corridors; which are prime locations for any drug dealer or thief.  Wild dogs roam the streets eating whatever scraps they can find and leaving behind any remains.  The tourists who flock to this city are warned repeatedly to not venture into these ramshackled areas and to make sure to not stop their vehicles at night, for fear of theft.  No, this is not a description of LA in a new John Carpenter film, this is Rio de Janeiro.

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“Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.” -President Franklyn Delano Roosevelt.

Good news today! The Department of Labor is reporting that the United States only lost 11,000 jobs this past month. This is a remarkable increase in jobs gained seeing that in October of 2009 there were around 200,000 jobs lost, according to ADP (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 111,000 jobs lost).  This is quite the turn around from when there were about 700,000 jobs lost in January of 2009.
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A recent poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation – says that Americans are now shifting their blame of the economic recession from the Republicans onto the Democrats. This poll was conducted between the 13^th and 15^th of November with a sample size of 1,014 adults. The Sampling error is plus or minus 3%.
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Have you heard the good news? The Economy is “finally back in gear” according to CNN.com. The GDP is “on the rebound” according to the Commerce Department. Yes, it is true and we are all so very happy. The GDP of the United States grew at a rate of 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009, yea!

I am sure the 7.2 million people who lost their jobs during this time or the people who are dealing with the 6.3 million foreclosures have something else to say about this news. As a country we are still hovering at 9.8% unemployment, so this news can’t be heralded that much.

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The news is out. The Unemployment rate is at 9.7%; the highest rate since June of 1983 when that Rascal Ron was “our dear leader.” Overall there were an estimated 230,000 jobs lost in august and 276,000 jobs in July. This is 500,000 jobs total; equivalent to the population of the city of Las Vegas.

One of the most startling stats was that the unemployment rate for teenagers was 25.5% which is the highest it has ever been. I am not seeing any real reasons to be optimistic about this situation, especially since many States are not extending their jobless benefits.

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