I'm glad some people here at Finance Globe agree with me on the media's serpentine way of generating more clicks and selling more papers, further poisoning the economic atmosphere.

We live in an "Information Rich" society. You would have to turn off your TV, PC, Cell Phone, Skytel, Car Radio, stop taking the Newspaper, Turn off the TV in your job's breakroom, etc., to escape the reality of what is going on around us. How many of can remember when you got the day's news at 6pm from NBC, CBS or ABC ? Now you can get it from your Blackberry or your Skytel with just a punch of a few letters in a matter of seconds.

I'm sure you all have heard that BOA will lay off 35,000 people in the next 36 months. I will assume its because of the redundancy of positions from absorbing Merrill Lynch and Country Wide.

Polarization is hard to do in the 21st century when it comes to information.....

I agree with FG.

I totally agree KellBell. The numbers are misleading and we have to turn off the TV to feel better. First off, I don't trust the media and the numbers. When they say that numbers don't lie, the are not referring to people and the press. I really feel that the media added so much fuel to the fire, and we would not be here if they didn't exist.

This is from a blog that one of my distant cousins wrote:


We're in a recession. There's no bottom in sight; news gets progressively worse each month. Every industry has its hand out, looking for money from a government that is bloated and wasteful. It's not like the government is sitting on a "lockbox" of funds, it just has printing presses that can transform cotton + linen fibers, and ink, into $100 bills. Need $80 billion? we'll just keep those presses rolling -- no surprise that the Bureau of Engraving & Printing is hiring] http://www.bep.treas.gov/hr/document.cfm/95/248/3099 .

Looking at reported jobs figures today. CNN reports that the "economy lost 533,000 jobs in November, bringing the year's total job losses to 1.9 million. November had the largest monthly job loss total since December 1974." December 1974 was 602,000.

The headlines are that job losses are the "worst in 35 years." Sells a lot of papers. But maybe a little more perspective is needed -- in 1974, the population of the United States was something around 210 million. Today, the population is just over 300 million.

I'm not arguing that we should be happy with today's number; it's not good and worse than expected. It may be the largest number since 1974, but it's only about half as bad as 1974 in relation to population. Maybe even less than that if you consider that there were likely more single income households in 1974 (stay at home moms vs. working moms) than in 2008.

This isn't an attempt to be put a rosy spin on things -- today's equivalent of that December 1974 figure would be about 875,000 jobs, who knows if we're headed for that. If our news sources did a better job putting these things in perspective, it might generate less panic.

I wonder if the reporting of bad news is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy]

Hey everyone . We all anticipate that there will be some really tough times ahead, and it will take at least several years to get back where we need to be. Friends, family and lover(s)... will heal our souls We just have to really look hard for the things that are really important to us and shrug off the rest. We all have to know that times ahead will be rough.

Just buckle down, we're all in this ride together

Now Meya if you change your mind or happen to visit ATL, be sure to let me know so we can hook up and have a girl's night out.

Hey Meya when I was on unemployment in 2004 I got $1600+ a month from EDD. This was based on a salary of $78K

That was a good amount to keep you from falling down out here, but right about now, it will put you in a shelter and probably $50 per week for groceries:worried:. Everything is so high.

Listening to you guys story and from the way the economy is going, Atl has been pushed back until further notice. Smcc and a few others was telling me that things has changed down there, I am listening and nailing it to my brain at the same time, trust me.

I have to agree with you Charonh. When I used to come to Atlanta to see my Granddaughter people would speak to me, i.e. "Good Morning", "How are you today?" etc.. It used to blow me away because you never saw that in the East Bay.

People in NorCal worried about one thing, themselves. I used to work downtown in SF and I would go out at lunch to 5th and Market (Meya you know where I'm talking about) and watch the out of towners come in to sightsee and revel in the SF Tourism vacuum.

Being here three years Charonh original Georgians still display the same kind of hospitality its just been somewhat tempered because of the "I" attitude that has saturated this community.

Your right Charonh, Atlanta has become the L.A., SF, Chicago, Boston, Ny, that everyone tried to escape from. My feeling Charonh is that if the economy turns itself around amd a lot of these Metropolitan Cities come back to life and offer opportunity, you will see more people leave the ATL area.

Your outlook on Atlanta is still being preserved, it just became somewhat "vanilla" with all the diversity that now resides in the "Jewel of the South"

Hey Meya when I was on unemployment in 2004 I got $1600+ a month from EDD. This was based on a salary of $78K

You know Meya I had to leave the Bay Area for Atlanta because of the unemployment issues in California. You know how it goes, "California is the first state to feel the problem and the last state to recover from it" People came to Atlanta because it was supposed to be the "land of opportunity" but now unemployment is at 5.7% here and people are looking for work. I know how hard it is in the Bay Area Meya but I love Northern California and when the opportunity arises I will be back. When times get tough in the Bay Area people are ingenious in cutting back and making ends meet no matter what. I have talked to many people who have relocated here from Cali and all of them say the same thing, "I just ran out of options or else I would still be there"

I've lived in Atlanta all of my life. Once upon a time, Atlanta, truly was the land of opportunity, I literally could quit a job one day and have another the next day, houses built on plenty of land ;property values high, you could get a really nice home for 85K, etc, but times sure have changed and not for the better. No offense, but I truly liked and loved living in Atlanta, before everyone started moving here. There used to be a sense of family and values, people spoke to you when passing in the street, neighbors looked out for one another, but now everything has changed; everyone seems to be in a rush, houses are being built close together, next door neighbors barely speak, you name it. What's funny is Atlanta has become everything people were moving here to get away from. It really saddens me sometimes.

Something everyone needs to read when you have a chance

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-12-11-jobless_N.htm

I know for all of us who still have a job, in whatever capacity, your counting your blessings.

For those looking for work don't let the article stem your spirit, the moment you brought God into the picture, he has been working in the background to find you stable employment.

At this rate, how many of you think that Obama's plan for putting people to work dealing with the infrastructure of this nation will put people back to work? Of course those with that type of background will benefit greatly and nothing wroing with that but how about the person who was working in Middle Mgmt ? With all the construction people out of work this idea will put many of them back on the payroll but white collar employees will be left out.

Then there is retraining. But retrain doing what? Even the Health Industry now is feeling the pinch and what was the old saying " there will always be somebody sick?"

I know Alternative fuel has been a hot topic and that will provide jobs but enough to offset the current unemployment rate?

Good Morning America had a special where they created a job fair in Jacksonville FL. and 2000 people showed up initially to talk to 70 companies regarding employment. I noticed the people in line and it was from the CEO who came down in his Benz to the blue collar worker who caught the bus in hopes of getting in line early.

My job has a hiring freeze, will not pay any raises in 2009, will not contribute to the pension or 401K plan. They have done everything but have layoffs. Hopefully everyone who is still working that their employer is taking whatever necessary steps needed to keep one and all employed.

That I am not sure about. I know when my husband files he got 4 something also, I just am not sure about the max. Sorry!

They have been approved here in California also, my sister's boyfriend received a letter int he mail last week.

Meya what is the max you can get in California? In NY/NJ the max is $405

They have been approved here in California also, my sister's boyfriend received a letter int he mail last week.