Some silver linings in an otherwise horrendous cloud
Friday, December 5, 2008 at 08:56AM Ok, so today's news that the economy shed another 533,000 jobs in November is not good. It was the largest monthly loss since the early 70s, and unemployment now stands at 6.7%, the highest level since 1993.
But I'm still seeing some silver linings here. For one thing, it will force the Fed to move even more aggressively to cut rates for borrowers and force down mortgage rates. Until people start buying homes again, the economy will remain in free-fall. There's no excuse for not dramatically moving on rates.
Beyond that, it almost guarantees an auto bailout to the tune of $30+ billion. Irrespective of what you think of bailout politics, that $30 billion will be good for the economy, and good for jobs ... at least in the short run. It also strengthens President-Elect Obama's hand in negotiating as much stimulus recovery as possible (if that was ever in doubt).
It's just going to re-double/triple the efforts of Bernanke, Obama and Congress to do everything possible to stop the bleeding and get the economy on strong footing again. This is beginning to feel like a Marshall Plan for our own economy.
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