A damn shame. More pink slips, layoffs, wages frozen, wages cut, hours reduced, that is the reality out there. The American Worker needs help and they need it now.
The recession is killing jobs at an alarming pace, with tens of thousands of new layoffs announced Monday by some of the biggest names in American business _ Pfizer, Caterpillar and Home Depot.
More pink slips, pay freezes and other hits are expected to slam workers in the months ahead as companies desperately look for ways to survive.
"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg _ the big firms," said Rebecca Braeu, economist at John Hancock Financial Services. "There's certainly other firms beneath them that will lay off workers as quickly or even quicker."
Tip of the iceberg, indeed.
What about families that can't pay their mortgage, insurance, as jobs evaporate, so does health insurance, in fact it is times like this that depression, sickness, worry, stress are running rampant on the American Worker. And the unemployment rate?
The unemployment rate, now at a 16-year high of 7.2 percent, could hit 10 percent or higher later this year or early next year, under some analysts' projections.
Expect that double digit this year, if things don't turn around.
Folks getting pink slips from Home Depot, General Motors, Sprint Nextel, Pfizer, Caterpillar, Texas Instruments, IBM, Brooks Automation, Microsoft (a shocker here), Intel, United Airlines and even Halliburton. But you can bet your sweet paycheck (if there is one) that Dick Cheney got all his millions out of Halliburton.
The job loss number is staggering and this is not going to get better, it will be worse. And a reminder of how this job loss across the country really is, look at this video from 60 Minutes, last night, just heart wrenching. That is the reality of what is going on. Congress get off your asses and do something, the American Worker is hurting and pretty soon we are going to be seeing families in the streets if the economy is not re-energized and I mean soon. Instead of your mug in front of the camera, DO SOMETHING.
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