IMF Fears 'Social Explosion' From World Jobs Crisis

[Panaconda]

IMF Fears 'Social Explosion' From World Jobs Crisis

America and Europe face the worst jobs crisis since the 1930s and risk "an explosion of social unrest" unless they tread carefully, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

"The labour market is in dire straits. The Great Recession has left behind a waste land of unemployment," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's chief, at an Oslo jobs summit with the International Labour Federation (ILO).

He said a double-dip recession remains unlikely but stressed that the world has not yet escaped a deeper social crisis. He called it a grave error to think the West was safe again after teetering so close to the abyss last year. "We are not safe," he said.

A joint IMF-ILO report said 30m jobs had been lost since the crisis, three quarters in richer economies. Global unemployment has reached 210m. "The Great Recession has left gaping wounds. High and long-lasting unemployment represents a risk to the stability of existing democracies," it said.

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8000561/IMF-fears-social-explosion-from-world-jobs-crisis.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. So, history fans. What do you think government reaction will be to that remark?

2 key points in this article:

"Under French socialist Strauss-Kahn, the IMF has assumed a Keynesian flavour."
Hmmmm....

and this gem:
"The IMF said there may be a link between rising inequality within Western economies and deflating demand."
( ya think????)

[Javaman]

2. The uber-wealthy are not amused. nt

[Dover]

3. I'm hard pressed to see an immediate lifting of these collective problems

and it seems like we're in the same situation as many in this country and elsewhere - just one or two unplanned crisis away from default and bankruptcy, critical mass and the tipping point, not only economically but also as regards so many things not least of which is global warming.

The middle class is purposely being destroyed in this country while simultaneously emerging in other newly industrialized countries. Corporations can take advantage of low/no interest money to expand and merge to global proportions. Many corporations anticipated this by getting very liquid prior to this crisis and ready to bargain hunt.

I do think we will see arise in this country a new entrepreneurial class, and people who were middle class will now work for less and so some companies that went abroad for cheaper labor may return while others are hired for work abroad. But that still leaves a LOT of workers with skills no longer needed in this country, like a real estate boom that went bust with a lot of overbuilt and under utilized units (ie people).

But I have no clue what the economic plan is for the U.S. (except, very likely, the development of a larger global trading bloc with Canada/Mexico). With our dollar losing so much value world wide and unlikely to regain that wealth again any time soon if ever relative to the rest of the world, I'd say the souffle is slowly settling.

[hatrack]

4. Oh, NOW it occurs to them!

Sorry - I was laboring under the misapprehension that economics had some predictive power . . . but maybe that's only if you're listening to the results?

:shrug:

[wuvuj]

5. What we're getting....

...is the direct result of incompetent and corrupt leadership in this country for a good many years. Easy to say...but is it easy to fix?