Someone did a graphic novel looking at the current unemployment situation:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/11/17/lottery.unemployed.man/index.html?hpt=C1

Better use of their time then me.

Reminds me I've got to see about establishing residency in this state so I can actually collect unemployment after my next job.  Nature of my situation prevents me from searching out anything past temp level/low level employment.

Never collected unemployment before.

All the same... the comic sounds kinda dumb.  Some of it sounds interesting, but I could see how it could fall into the "quick blame with no real solutions" angle.

Additionally, we actually do have a very good "Ladder".

Something like I wanna say 50% of people in the lowest quartile aren't there in 10 years... and the same is true for the richest people.

Heck, you should know "quality education" doesn't solve anything.

To help "Unemployed man" you need.... jobs.  Not to tax someone else more so everbody can go to college and we have just as many if not more unemployed people, but they have degrees!

Personally, I'm interested in the idea of getting rid of corporate taxes and just adding on a VAT for companies like Europe.

Instead of taxing someone becuase their buisness HQ is here... tax them on the products and buisness they do here.

It's easy to pick up and move jobs overseas.

Not so easy to pickup and not sell your products in one of the biggest markets in the world.

Heck, maybe even have a slight discount for people who have their companies here.

Doesn't make sense that we tax companies for being here... and providing a service in creating jobs and such

yet don't tax companies that sell here... when they can sell here due to our laws.

Wouldn't hurt to overhaul unemployment either so the unemployed could get a job working for their goverment for unemployment.  Like 20 hours a week or something.

Would allow you to keep something on your resume, stay busy so you aren't as hopeless, feel like your contributing AND keep you used to working. 

Maybe it's me, but when you go a couple months without work, you kinda gotta "relearn" all that job ettiquite.

...who are you have a conversation with?

No one.  

Just thought up two additional ways i'd try and lower unemployment.

I like to think up solutions to problems, I dunno.

There are lots of ways to lower unemployment.

Problem is, the government seems to want to create it artifically, then tax people and companies for the creation of these artificial jobs.

Jobs grow organically. They also reduce organically. Likewise, they can grow and reduce artificially. Only difference is that the government is hellbent on growing and reducing them artificially, which causes more problems over the long term.

I do agree that one of the major issues is taxation of corporations...Businesses for that matter too. The business I co-own is having a nightmare with the new Obamacare mandates, and dealing with tax structure. When you have to deal with things like that, it makes it more difficult to hire. Sadly, for internet-based work, its much more efficient to hire someone in another country, and let them deal with their paperwork, than it is to hire someone here, and deal with our paperwork :-

What will happen if they implement a VAT tax in the United States, is that it will either drive more economic activity underground, where it won't be taxed, or it will end up resulting in a decreasing in consumption on the part of consumers here, and cause even more economic stagnation.  Look for stuff like videogames to go in the over $80 range, with all the taxes added at the different places value is added.  To offset loss revenue by getting rid of corporate taxes, the VAT tax would be around 20%.  Well, outside of maybe requirements put on employers, there really isn't much other costs associated with hiring, at least from a tax perspective, outside of unemployment and social security.  Of course one could choose to get rid of social security and the other social benefits.  Who needs to retire anyway.  And who needs unemployment insurance.  We can have people be homeless or live with family members.  The rest is able to be written off the taxes.

Ok, well, where I am the train company taxes employers in the country to pay for the trains they don't use.  It is a commuter tax.  THAT is a burden to hiring. 

In regards to the rungs, I would be interested to see anyone argue that today the economy isn't more of a casino than it has ever been.

Oh, one thing Europe does have that isn't in the United States is nationalized health care, so companies don't have to cover health costs directly.  Unless one wants to think NO ONE should have health care, or somehow totally privatizing it is going to work, then you will face issues trying to have people covered by health care.  Under the "Obamacare" debate, a government run health insurance play was offered as an alternative, but it got shot down from big medicine and others for the status-quo.  End result is now you have mandates and so on to have to provide health care.  Considering World Health Organization placed American health care slightly above Cuba, not sure the status-quo is a good thing.

Anyhow, in my case, I am currently on Medicaid.  I do want to hear about this mythical mobility about.  For me, the only way I see anything happening is if I hit the lottery of the free market and one of my several projects takes off.  Well, unless one considers me working part-time janitor with a Masters degree progress (that being after my leg gets fixed up). 

Every problem within the economy exists as a result of several unresolved conditions within the economy and each of these conditions have several special interests who are benefiting from the condition is some way. Until you stand up to the special interest groups and resolve the underlying conditions the problem can not be resolved in a meaningful long term fashion.

Or to put it another way, to build an economy which had at its corner stone the stable and productive jobs that our grandparents had it would require some significant change to the government, its role in the economy, and a citizen's relationship with the government. These changes would result in significant resistance and backlash from bureaucrats, unions, corporations and individuals who are benefiting from the current state of the government; and no politician currently in power would be willing to spend the political capital to make these changes until the economy is in crisis and they have to be made.

Why?

Why would it drive up prices when we aren't raising taxes in any way.

We're still getting the same tax money, but from more spread out companies.

Foreign products may go up slightly, but american products should drop in price.