The Crisis Enters Year Five - Tikkun

The current capitalist global crisis began with the severe contraction in the housing markets in mid-2007; therefore welcome to year five.  Here’s the "good news": the major banks, the stock market, and corporate profits have largely or completely “recovered” from the lows they reached early in 2009.  However, the bad news is what prevails.

The most widely cited unemployment rate for workers without jobs but looking remains at 9%. If instead we use the more indicative U-6 unemployment statistic of the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, then the rate is 15%.

At the same time, the housing market remains deeply depressed as 1.5 to 2 million home foreclosures are scheduled for 2011, separating more millions from their homes. After a short upturn, housing prices nationally have resumed their fall: one of those feared “double dips” downward is thus already underway in the economically vital housing market.

The combination of high unemployment and high home foreclosures assures a deeply depressed economy. The mass of U.S. citizens cannot work more hours — the United States already is number one in the world in the average number of hours of paid labor done per year per worker. The mass of U.S. citizens cannot borrow much more because of debt levels already teetering on the edge of unsustainability for most consumers.

The full article is available here