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The fall in consumer spending, the largest since December, is in part the result of the end of the government’s cash-for-clunkers program on August 24. Economists have said that this program, among others, accounts for much of the increase in third-quarter consumer spending and GDP.

The idea that hysteresis happens to economies is one that economists don't like to think about. They prefer to consider economies as yo-yos tethered to the sturdy string of the business cycle, moving up and down from growth to slowdown and back. But from time to time, things do snap.

“People 54 or younger are losing ground financially at an unprecedented rate in this recession,” the article reports. It notes that “household income for people in their peak earning years—between ages 45 and 54—plunged $7,700 to $64,349 from 2000 through 2008, after adjusting for inflation.” Only workers born before 1955 have seen even a marginal increase in their incomes since 2000.

When short-time workers and non-registered unemployed are included in the jobless figure, the rate rises dramatically. In Germany, those officially counted as unemployed rose by 52,000 in June to total 3,460,000. When one includes the jobless who are not counted and the underemployed, the figures rises to nearly 6 million.

The so-called “alternative” proposed by the Democrats was a slightly less severe program of $11 billion in budget cuts. The Democrats propose cutting $4.5 billion from K-12 education, $2.8 billion from higher education, and $2.6 billion from health and human services.

By abandoning the richest and most populous state to its own devices, the Obama administration has directly contributed to the crisis now unfolding. Trillions are handed out to private banks, but when it comes to the world’s eight largest economy on the verge of bankruptcy, no money is available.

As California collapses, executives at Goldman Sachs and other banks are anticipating record bonuses, returning to business as usual.

The deal also contains a clause obliging the Clairoix unions to desist from solidarity action with workers from other Continental sites. The Courrier Picard explains that the agreement signifies that “Continental promises to abandon legal proceedings against those responsible for the material destruction of the factory entrance on April 21 in exchange for a joint trade union commitment not to destroy or block any Continental sites in France or abroad.”

In the spring of 2008, the two main French trade union confederations, the CGT and CFDT, signed the “Common Position” with Sarkozy and the Medef employers’ federation. In exchange for enhancing the legal and financial position of these two unions, the state obtained the passage of an extremely regressive law, deregulating worktime protections, slashing pensions, and ending the 35-hour workweek. The role of “far left” parties such as LO and the NPA was to promote fundamentally fraudulent “national days of action” protests by public sector workers, organized by the same trade unions that were formulating the social cuts.

Rapporten viser til at ansatte i de konkurrerende selskapene opplever arbeidsløshet, sosial dumping og dårlige arbeidsvilkår.

• I Tyskland fjernet Deutsche Post 21 000 heltidsjobber i perioden 1999-2006.
• I New Zealand ble antallet heltidsansatte bortimot halvert mellom 1987 og 1997.
• I Nederland ble antallet heltidsansatte redusert fra 40 000 til 24 000.


Rapporten peker på et mønster som gjentar seg: Heltidsjobber blir deltidsjobber, som er mer fleksible.