Song in my Head: Here comes the sun.................................The Beatles

In Season: holiday bazaars, coronal mass ejections, impeaching this 'miserable failure', devastating fires in Southern CA, phallic fungi


Jobless Recovery? Um... Isn't that like a Lifeless Revival?


Jobless Recovery. It reminds me of a tasteless joke that went something like:

The doctor walks into the waiting room where a very nervous family is waiting.
“How is he doctor?”
“The operation was a complete success! We transplanted the heart, replaced the lungs, and put in a new liver.”
“So he’s going to be okay?”
“Your husband? Oh not at all. He’s stone dead, but the operation went great!”

Scott Bateman writes a great cartoon this week about rising consumer confidence. People are getting less nervous about spending money… on food. Ha ha ha ha *cough* *hack* *wheeze* he he he wooo. via Ojingo

Wampum is just as pessimistic and asks "Has the rebound peaked?"

And The Bureau of Labor Statistics report this:

Employers initiated 868 mass layoff actions in September 2003, as
measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the
month, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a sin-
gle establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 82,647.

While Emma asserts that unemployment figures are not the sole merit on which to base employment statistics, she is equally pessimistic.

For those of us living on federal disability, our checks will be raised by 2.1% in January, 2004. This article in Newsday claims the average person will get $19 a month more. BUT...............

But many recipients won't keep it for long, because much of the gain will be wiped out by a 13.5 percent boost in Medicare premiums announced the day before that will also take effect next year. The hike -- the third largest in the history of the program -- will lift Medicare premiums $7.90 to $66.60 a month.

I'm screwed.