Unemployment Reaches Record High in Euro Zone

[ErikJ]

This is what Hartmann has been talking about today. So much for austerity.

FRANKFURT — Unemployment in the euro zone rose to a new high in March, according to figures released on Wednesday, which came a few days before crucial elections in France and Greece, and which are likely to intensify calls for an easing of the region’s austerity drive.

Unemployment in the 17 countries that belong to the euro zone rose to 10.9 percent in March from 10.8 percent in February, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency. In March 2011, the rate was 9.9 percent, a number that illustrates the deterioration of the area’s economy during the past year.

The monthly increase, the 11th in a row, translates into more than 17 million jobless people, and is in line with other recent indicators showing that the euro zone economy remains distressed. Manufacturing in the zone hit a 34-month low in April, according to a survey of purchasing managers released Wednesday by the research firm Markit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/business/global/unemployment-at-record-high-in-euro-zone.html?emc=eta1

[byeya]

1. The economic theories of John Keynes were put into practice during

the Great Recession and they worked. People went to work and the infrastructure, including parks, greatly benefitted.

Those in charge of the political economy have seen fit to disregard this historical experience and continue with supplyside/moneterism policies which have been shown to be failures. The majority are hurting while the few are benefitting.

Like Henry Ford was reputed to have said during the Depression: "You know times aren't that bad if you have money."