Pretty pictures. Pretty depressing
I was given links by a friend showing pictorial depictions of the current Armageddon we are calling a recession.
The first struck up a more optimistic note, pointing out that compared to the Great Depression all the statistics show a much less apocalyptic trend. I think it is useful for reminding us to keep things in perspective, and not to panic. That’s not a bad advice in the current climate.
It also illustrates a key weakness of many economists; this is no consolation to the millions of people who have lost their jobs. Their loss is only compounded by the fact that while the recession may not be as dire as it was in the 1920’s and 1930’s, it is still bad enough there is a distinct shortage of jobs. That means those who have and who do lose their jobs now are probably in for a long period of hardship and unemployment. The fact that there is not as high a proportion of people in such a predicament is hardly a consolation to anyone.
The second article illustrates this point. If you look at the interactive map, you will see that almost no area of the country has been spared.
We can only hope that reminders such as this one of the human loss, a loss shared by the entire country, might spur the business leaders and politicians to behave better than they have.
I doubt it, but we can hope.
[...] Speed10’s Weblog placed an interesting blog post on Pretty pictures. Pretty depressingHere’s a brief overviewI was given links by a friend showing pictorial depictions of the current Armageddon we are calling a recession. The first struck up a more optimistic note, pointing out that compared to the Great Depression all the statistics show a much less apocalyptic trend. I think it is useful for reminding us to keep things in perspective, and not to panic. That’s not a bad advice in the current climate. It also illustrates a key weakness of many economists; this is no consolation to the millions of [...]
Topics about Jobs » Archive » Pretty pictures. Pretty depressing
March 25, 2009 at 1:58 am
[...] Speed10’s Weblog added an interesting post on Pretty pictures. Pretty depressingHere’s a small excerptI was given links by a friend showing pictorial depictions of the current Armageddon we are calling a recession. The first struck up a more optimistic note, pointing out that compared to the Great Depression all the statistics show a much less apocalyptic trend. I think it is useful for reminding us to keep things in perspective, and not to panic. That’s not a bad advice in the current climate. It also illustrates a key weakness of many economists; this is no consolation to the millions of [...]
Topics about Climate » Archive » Pretty pictures. Pretty depressing
March 25, 2009 at 6:50 am