This morning, tens of thousands of Americans woke up to the news that their jobs will be cut - this is on top of the 2.6 million jobs lost last year when President Bush was in office.
- Wall Street Journal: Sprint Nextel to Cut 8,000 Jobs, Suspend Certain Employee Perks [1/26/09]
- CNNMoney.com: Caterpillar to cut 20,000 workers [1/26/09]
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Home Depot to lay off 7,000 [1/26/09]
- Bloomberg: GM Ohio, Michigan Shift Cuts to Eliminate 2,000 Jobs [1/26/09]
Economists agree the picture remains grim for America's workers and families.
- In a survey of economists released today by USA Today, unemployment is expected to peak next year at 8.8 percent - the highest since 1983.
- The National Association of Business Economists January 2009 Industry Survey, also released today, predicts the “worst business conditions since the survey begain in 1982, confirming that the U.S. recession deepened in the fourth quarter of 2008.”
This week, the House will vote on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, working from priorities shared with President Barack Obama.
With the economic recovery plan, there will be 4 million more jobs and an unemployment rate that is 2 percentage points lower by the end of 2010 than without the plan according to prominent economist Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com and former adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. [1/21/09]
Unprecedented accountability and transparency measures are built in to help ensure tax dollars are spent wisely. $550 billion is strategically targeted to priority investments; $275 billion in targeted tax cuts will also help spur economic recovery.
