Welcome to Molly's slice of Middle America!
I want to know more about the people who find my blog.. both about you personally and about what you think about the issues of the day. Please contact me at molly.in.the.middle.51@gmail.com or leave a comment at one of the entries in the blog.
I'm concerned about the state of our country, the state of the middle class, and the state of so many people who are struggling in this Great Recession.
I write about and for all of us; that includes people who are unemployed and struggling, the 99ers, the 99%ers, the middle class, the poor, all workers who have seen their wages and benefits threatened, all struggling people who have seen the safety net already starting to shred. I write for those who are losing hope, and others who, while not in dire straits themselves, are compassionate and caring.
I haven't lost hope yet.. I believe that concerted, united action can prevent us from becoming Third World America.
You'll find two different kinds of articles at this blog: 1. First, I comment on news events, I share links and articles, from a mostly progressive/liberal point of view. 2. Secondly, I write much about employment and unemployment trends, gathering and interpreting data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As I started writing about employment and unemployment, I became more and more interested and involved in the unemployment situation in our country. I started researching, and found much misinformation out there about unemployment and jobs numbers. So I started to add more and more information about the statistics of employment, unemployment, and jobs. I'm trying to simplify the information posted by the Department of Labor and/or the Bureau of Labor Statistics weekly and monthly, to put together data from several different reports across various timeframes, so that you don't have to pore through the reports and tables at the BLS website. I'm also trying to clear up misinformation about jobs and unemployment numbers. I welcome comments and questions about unemployment and jobs numbers.
I keep monthly data from the various BLS reports, particularly the Monthly Situation reports which consist of the "Establishment Data" (number of jobs reported by businesses) and the "Population Data" (information from the Census about who is and who is not working.) I copy this data into EXCEL spreadsheets so that I can easily make comparisons across time or between various groups. I also keep state and regional jobs data and I'm working on a JOLTS (Job Openings, Layoffs, and Turnover Survey) spreadsheet.
I believe that we have two major problems in this country right now: First, our politicans, business leaders, and many who have not been hurt by this recession simply do not understand what it is like to struggle and they don't understand the anger and frustration that is increasingly coursing through the citizens of this great country. I actually feel that many of my friends and family members don't know what it is like to really have no money, but most of them are compassionate, caring, and helpful. Seven and a half years ago, way back in mid 2007, we were also there. We were living a good, but not ostentatious, middle class existence. And then the bottom fell out, not only for us but also for the United States and the rest of the world.
Secondly, the amount of money required to succeed in politics corrupts everybody, and we need to do what is necessary to Get Money Out of politics. Until that happens, until we really have a government of, for, and by the people, we are not going to have a truly representative democracy.
I'll repeat: I haven't lost hope yet. I believe that concerted, united action can prevent us from becoming Third World America. Who is with me on that?
