The Great Recession Job Opportunity

dave lackey

dave lackey

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Pardon me for asking such an obvious question, but has anyone discussed using the BP Oil Disaster as an opportunity to put a lot of unemployed people in the US BACK to work?

If I remember correctly, the Great Depression was an opportunity for the government to put together a huge jobs program with massive projects. What could be bigger at this point than the Oil Crisis in the Gulf?🙁
 
During the depression:
A. The president knew what he was doing.
B. The unions were not as strong, greedy.
C. There were no tree huggers, fish huggers, bird huggers standing in the way.
D. People wanted to work.
E. There were no deep pockets (BP) standing around waving money.
 
The depression was an economic and financial crisis. The BP spill is rooted in technology, and one thing that has become clear is the government no longer has enough competent technologists to stand up to BP.
A. I don't think FDR could have done much with this one, either. Obama is doing OK considering the nature of this crisis and the resources available to him.
B. The unions are strong today? On what planet?
C. True
D. Still true today.
E. The deep pockets put up a fight against the New Deal. They still are today.
 
It boggles the mind that Obama is being blamed for the s*it pile that Bush and co laid at his feet. And how on earth is the BP disaster his fault? The neocons/tea party idiots are clearly lacking in brain power.
 
It'll be a small bump in temporary jobs, but it isn't the best economics. It's kinda the equivalent of paying someone to dig a ditch and fill it back up again.
The complete moratorium on offshore drilling is putting even more people on the Gulf out of work. It seems like a knee-jerk reaction.

No one can blame Obama for the spill, but there is partial blame on why the oil is hitting the shores. He refused the help of foreign countries who offered skimmer ships, and some of the bureaucracy is impeding the cleanup (The Coast Guard didn't allow skimmer ships until they verified they had the right fire extinguishers and life jackets).
 
Ducky said:
During the depression:
A. The president knew what he was doing.
B. The unions were not as strong, greedy.
C. There were no tree huggers, fish huggers, bird huggers standing in the way.
D. People wanted to work.
E. There were no deep pockets (BP) standing around waving money.
Click to expand...

Here is a lot of myths regarding the Big Depression, which has been 'researched' by a lot of politically motivated 'researchers'. Most of them Americans. Today it is vital to see the difference between pure political propaganda and economical research.

A. It is obvious that the US president at the time had no idea of what his lack of action would result in.

B. The trade unions all over the world, not the least in USA, came out very strong AFTER the crisis. The cementing of trade union power in the 30' was the foundation of the economical growth of the ordinary man and woman up until Reagan and Thatcher. They attacked the trade unions and started borrowing money - creating the crisis we see today.

C. We shall be greatful for the treehuggers etc of today. Otherwise this would not have been called a crisis at all. Re. the oil spill situation in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.,

D. Both now and then; people want to work! This notion that the unemployed are just lazy is wrong! Since the Missisippi Delta fishermen were in the process of depleting the fish resources in the region, it could well be that this oil spill is a good oportunity to employ the fishermen otherwise for a while.

E. The pockets were much deeper then than today. - Nor is BP a good example of the deep pocket of today. BP is large, but not that profitable. We can all be glad that BP can take the blame for this disaster and stand up.

Talking of deep pockets: When is Dow Chemicals/Union Carbide going to pay up their compensation for killing 25.000 people in this gas leak disaster in Bhopal, India? So far they have paid nothing!

What is a frightening sign of today is the absolute power of the super large multi national companies. Which is also a result of the deregulation of Reagan and Thatcher. Read my lips: BP is not going to pay anything near 20 billion $ for this disaster. Not as long as Exxon got away with paying only about 500 million $ of it's awarded 5 billion $ compensation. BP's lawyers will insist on some justice in all this.
 
Ducky said:
During the depression:
A. The president knew what he was doing.
B. The unions were not as strong, greedy.
C. There were no tree huggers, fish huggers, bird huggers standing in the way.
D. People wanted to work.
E. There were no deep pockets (BP) standing around waving money.
Click to expand...

Silly me and I thought all the 'militant' trade unionist leaders were 'reinforcing' the concrete flyovers on the freeways.
 
President Obama tries to appoint a LABOR representative to the LABOR Relations board and gets blocked by the Senate.

Unions in the US have been demonized so thoroughly that many otherwise Liberals consider them a bad thing.

I don't know the statistics, but I would bet there are more undocumented workers in the US than UAW members and Teamsters combined.

To say Unions are strong in the US now is laughable. They have been in decline in parallel with the increasing polarization of wealth in this country at least since the early 80's.

p.s.- Which contracts got renegotiated during the recession? It was the labor union UAW's, not the bonus contracts for AIG execs.
 
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Job opportunity

Job opportunity

More than ten Norwegian companies with more than 1000 Norwegian (plus several thousand employees from a range other nations, ranging from Russia and China to France and UK, are employed by BP (deep sea robot operators and dril support ships) and the US Coast Guard (oil recovery) in connection to the Mexican Gulf Oil Spill Operation. More than 30% of Norway's total oil recovery equipment is now employed in the Mexican Gulf. The Norwegian minister of energy is now visiting the ships and being informed about the operation.
 
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