Can America withstand the Global Crisis?

Author: Nishant Seth

Even in the middle of Europe’s mess and the rest of the worlds for that matter, America seems to be looking up. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% last month. This is the lowest it has been in over two years. The Labor Department said that 120,000 jobs were added last month. This creates a positive outlook for President Obama as he heads into the election. With the euro zone crises and other global economic factors, many economists were initially worried how this was all going to play out. Many felt it was going to come back to haunt America again. The drop in unemployment could also be attributed to those job-seekers just giving up. This is important to be noted because lower unemployment due to less workers participating in the workforce or actively seeking jobs is not a positive thing by any means. However, one report said, “Companies have been taking on more and more temporary workers, suggesting that more permanent hiring may be in the cards…. jobless claims have fallen; and businesses seem to be getting loans more easily.” One other big question is, will our important small business sector be able to withstand the perils of global crisis. One idea that has been going around Washington is extending the payroll tax cut. The payroll tax cut would cut 160 million middle class workers paychecks by 2 percent. This would hinder job creation and growth. Extending it has the potential to create at least 600,000 more jobs. What more do you feel Obama should be doing to stimulate job creation? Do you think America is at risk in the future due to this global crisis? How well do you feel we are currently withstanding it?

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/business/economy/us-adds-120000-jobs-unemployment-drops-to-8-6.html