A Time of Shattering Realities

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decrease to 10-Month Low

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decrease to 10-Month Low. First time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest since January, a sign the labor market is deteriorating more slowly as the economy emerges from the recession.

Yes, let the good times roll. The business community continues to dig through the economic manure pile looking for that pony! They choose to forget that unemployment benefits have fixed time limits, nor do they count the numbers whose benefits have already been exhausted. They count only the total number and pretend that it is reality. But, what is reality? As Christ asked, "What is truth?"

MOUNT AIRY, Md. — "A home-improvement worker and school janitor who apparently was struggling to survive the recession killed his sleeping wife and two children before turning the 12-gauge shotgun on himself, Maryland State Police said Saturday."　

In Las Vegas there have been three murder-suicides in the past twelve days. These are acts of desperation that are happening in every city in America and yet it is treated as strictly local news.

The Labor Department said that overall job losses in September were 263,000 after job losses in August were 201,000; that is almost half a million people in two months. Meanwhile, government officials admitted this month that they have probably underestimated job losses by 824,000.

"Investigators believe the deaths occurred Thursday night or Friday morning. Shipley said Jennifer Dalton failed to report to her part-time job at a veterinary hospital in Damascus, prompting co-workers to try to contact her starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday. No one answered their calls or came to the door.

'A family friend called 911 at about 5:30 p.m. Friday after spotting a body through a rear window of the split-level house,' Shipley said."

Charles Dalton was a self-employed cabinet installer who ran his business, Imagine Millwork, out of his home. He also worked the night shift as a maintenance worker for Montgomery County schools. The house, on a corner lot in a modest, middle-class neighborhood, had a "For Sale" sign out front. It had been on the market for at least a year, according to neighbors.

Kenneth Matthews, a security worker who also runs a carpet-cleaning business out of his home a few doors down, said Dalton had been scraping by in the weak economy. "He was struggling, just like me," Matthews said.

"We're probably running about 40 percent of where we were last year."

Nonetheless, economists surveyed by Bloomberg in September estimated the U.S. returned to growth last quarter after contracting in the first six months.

"Growth next year probably won't be strong enough to 'substantially' bring down unemployment, which may remain above 9 percent at the end of 2010," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers.

"Companies looking to add staff include Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy Co. The world's largest electronics retailer last month said it plans to hire more seasonal holiday workers this year to help meet demand for Internet-connected flat-panel televisions and mobile phones."

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