From The Ramparts

Massive Layoffs Reported

Massive Layoffs

MASS LAYOFFS IN APRIL 2005 In April 2005, employers took 1,274 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of
Labor reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a
single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 136,837,
on a seasonally adjusted basis. (See table 1.) The number of layoff
events rose by 80, and the number of associated initial claims increased by
5,989 from March. In the manufacturing sector, 395 mass layoff events were
reported during April 2005, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 63,121 initial
claims; both figures were higher than a month earlier. (See table 1.) From January through April 2005, the total number of events (seasonally adjusted), at 5,053, and initial claims (seasonally adjusted), at 536,359, were lower than in January-April 2004 (5,465 and 564,097, respectively). - Bureau of Labor Statistics 05-27-05

While Joe and Jane Sixpack were crankin’ up the ol’ grill for the holiday Bar B Que or heading for the shore many of their neighbors were sweating out where there next meal may come from. Seems like the news on the labor and employment front isn’t so good. 136,837 AmeriKKKan workers were laid off in April. According to a press release dated 05-27-05 from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics this represents an increase of layoffs from March. When you consider the fact that auto giants like General Motors and Ford are in deep financial trouble (their stocks have been reduced to junk status) this could trigger even more massive layoffs in the auto industry; things aren’t looking so good. No wonder Bush’s approval rating has plunged to an all time low. It seems folks aren’t as stupid as ol’ Dubeya and Co. think. Any time things start impacting white folks’ pocketbooks and their children’s lives ( US Army and Marine recruiters are under increasing stress as they failed to make their quotas of securing cannon fodder for Bush’s wars for oil and empire for the last three months in a row) their opinions of their “leaders” tend to go sour. I wonder if the rogues and scoundrels who plotted and executed the theft of the 2004 election pondered what would happen when the consequences of Bush’s reckless policies finally manifested themselves. Not only are more and more people out of work, and more folks filing for unemployment insurance; even those who are working and working longer hours at more and more supplemental jobs are finding it harder to make ends meet and keep their heads above water. Not only are folks working longer and harder, their dollars aren’t going as far and their debt load is getting heavier and heavier with no reprieve in sight. Perhaps the 2004 exit pols were correct, there is a great deal of discontent with the Bush administration. Maybe now folks will realize the election was rigged, especially when you consider a state like Ohio which is suffering from massive layoffs and rising unemployment insurance claims (15,288 last month) supposedly went for Bush!
Don’t the Do- Dos on Wall Street, Madison Avenue and the beltway get it? Are they so arrogant and insensitive they think their cohorts who run the media mind control apparatus can divert people’s attention from their personal bottom lines forever? Are they that out of touch with the masses they can’t hear the rumblings of discontent and anxiety percolating under the din of the mind numbing propaganda doublespeak and spin? It doesn’t help the situation when the millionaires in the US Senate pass legislation that helps the top one per cent of the population pay even less of their fair share of taxes while putting added burdens on the rest of us or when they sneak and pass legislation like the Real ID Act of 2005 without discussion or debate. The US Department of Labor’s Bureau of labor Statistics released their Mass Layoff Summary just before the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Did they think folks would be so preoccupied with the long weekend they won’t notice? Did they think the corporate media would deep six the report or suppress it like they do most news that contradicts the White House Bizarro World picture of reality? People know their paychecks aren’t going as far as they used to. The AmeriKKKan public may not be as comatose and indifferent as the ruling elites think. The elites may fool them over and over but eventually the people will smell the stench and realize the urine and BS are not the rain water and manna from heaven they have been told. The question then becomes what will the people do to the culprits, how will they exact justice given the results of the last two presidential elections?

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posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 7:33 AM