PoliBlog

Brother, Can you Spare a Dime?

OK, I know that there are folks out of work, but the current unemployment figures are hardly at historically high levels. However, Bob Hebert seems to think that the End is Near:

You want shock and awe? Come to New York City, where jobs are hard to find and the budget (as residents are suddenly realizing) is a backbreaking regimen of service cuts, tax increases and that perennial painkiller, wishful thinking.

The biggest wish, of course, is that the national economy will suddenly turn around and flood the city and state with desperately needed revenues. Meanwhile, the soup kitchens and food pantries are besieged.

And there kinds of quotes always annoy me, insofar as you could find someone to say something similar during the best of times. There is always someone who isn't doing well:

"This is the worst situation I've been in," said Alfonso Shynvwelski, an unemployed waiter who stood in a long line of people waiting for food at the Washington Heights Ecumenical Food Pantry on Broadway in upper Manhattan. Mr. Shynvwelski, 36, has worked at a number of upscale restaurants, including the Russian Tea Room, which has closed. He's been unemployed for a year.

This isn't to say that there aren't people who are suffering, but if the goal here is to evaluate the overall economy, a macro-view must be taken, not a micro-level, woe is he, approach.

And in regards to state-level budget problems--that is largely the result of states overspending during the boom of the 90s.