Sunday, February 7, 2010

The Producers are being shelled

Whenever the banksters run amok, the Producers get hurt.  And its MUCH more than folks losing jobs and facing financial ruin, it is people with highly useful skills who risk losing those skills.  This is a social disaster.
The Great Recession: Will Construction Workers Survive?
By KEVIN O'LEARY / LOS ANGELES Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010
The middle and working-classes have been hammered by the Great Recession and no industry has taken it more on the chin than construction. Nationally, unemployment fell to 9.7% in January, but in construction it jumped to 24.7% from 18.7% in October. In many regions, union officials report 30% of their members are unemployed or "riding the bench." "In the previous 14 years, I had not been out of work for more than one week," says Pat O'Connor, 57, a Connecticut carpenter. With no work since July, O'Connor says, "It is a bad dream turning into a nightmare. Is construction dead? It's just horrible right now. No one expected this. It's a depression." He has a mortgage and is worried he will fall behind and lose his condo. "When I go to bed, I keep the TV on just so I have the noise. If it gets silent, I get a panic attack." more

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