Matt Yglesias

16 Responses to “Seven Year High for Jobless Claims”

1. MagnoliaFan Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 am

   Who wants to stand idly by? Seriously, who wants to just stand and watch as the economy burns?

   I was very happy that the House rejected the Paulson Plan — not because I enjoy financial collapse, but because it was a shitty bill!

   Now the Senate has added an exemption to the excise tax for wooden arrows, and suddenly it passes! Hurrah!

   Bullshit.

   All I want is a decent goddamn plan. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently, so. I understand that this is a serious, urgent situation, but that doesn’t mean we need to approve a piece-of-shit plan.

2. Njorl Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am

   I understand that this is a serious, urgent situation, but that doesn’t mean we need to approve a piece-of-shit plan.

   If critical elements of Congress decide so, it does indeed mean that.

3. Bob Oso Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 11:31 am

   Matt,

   You said, “But for new jobs to be added at a rate that’s fast enough to make up for the jobs that are being lost, people whose businesses are in a position to expand need to be able to get loans.”

   Please explain how this bill will do that.

4. kafka Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 12:19 pm

   “…try to stabilize the housing market….”

   You can’t “stabilize” the housing market until prices have fallen enough so they’re 2.5 to 3x median incomes, their historical norms.

   And by the way, what’s wrong with that? I mean, whatever happened to all the “affordable housing” advocates that used to run around D.C. You know, people like Barney Frank.

5. rmwarnick Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm

   Most economic experts seem to agree that the bailout bill won’t do much (or anything) to solve the credit crisis. We could re-capitalize financial institutions by buying an equity stake, but the politicians are not proposing that.

6. soonermick Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 pm

   MagnoliaFan captures my anger, and Bob Oso and Kafka make good points. I am not sure I have ever called my congressman’s office before, but I have called three times over the past week registering my disgust with this bill.

   Matt, the media has again been reckless in their failure to inform the American people while at the same time magnifying the hysterical claims of the corrupt power brokers. No responsible voices are allowed on TV to question the rush to this bill. They probably think they are doing what is best for the country by treating us like children, but they are really just getting played. And now you are joining in their worst practices.

   There are plenty of ways to “do something” that do not involve just giving away $2000 per citizen to the worst of the banks (now several hundred more of tax breaks to Friends of Congress after the Senate version). This is a criminal waste of money at a time when there is a lot more pain to come with or without the bill. There are even pretty convincing theories that this bill could make the credit crisis worse.

   I read you every day, and enjoy what you have to say, but you would be better off not speaking on this issue and just offering periodic links to Nuriel Roubini, Barry Ritholtz, Yves Smith, and others who understand the credit markets better.

   Thanks

7. majun Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:16 pm

   The major stock market indices are now down below the point they were at when Bush took office in January of 2001. It looks as though for the next few months or so we will be shedding 400,000+ jobs a week and given the credit crunch and housing bust I would imagine that job creation isn’t gonna make up much of that difference.

   The possibility exists that on January 19, 2009 Bush will finish out his full eight years in office not only with the markets lower than when he came in, but with a negative job creation record. Last time I looked, several months ago, he was just over the five million net jobs created. With losses averaging just a little less than half a million per week and 15 weeks left to go, Bush could still pull this out and be the first President since Hoover to have a negative job creation record, on top of negative growth in markets. But he will have gone Hoover one better since his record will be over eight years not four.

   Bush’s presidency will go down in history all right, no problem with his legacy, it is already set in fast drying cement. His will be record breaking presidency and these are records I sincerely hope no president ever challenges again during my lifetime or my children’s lifetimes.

8. soonermick Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   Sorry, I was overly harsh. Rereading Matt’s post makes it clear that he is not necessarily playing the apologist for the current bill.

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