"When will we return to full employment? The maximum likelihood estimate is, basically, never"

KRUGMAN: OK. So on the first half of that question, I only know what Jan tells me.... We're looking for rising unemployment over at least the next few months.... I would have guessed that we probably see unemployment continuing to rise, right up to the end of 2011.... And as for when we return to something that looks like full employment, I think the maximum likelihood estimate is, basically, never.... There's nothing visible on the horizon that will cause that to happen... no policy... aiming at returning to full employment... no technology that will drive a large amount of business investment. Historically, in the aftermath of large financial crises countries recover by having a huge exchange rate depreciation, which then leads to an export boom, but since it's basically the whole advanced world that's caught up in this, and there aren't any other planets to export to, that's not going to happen....

he last time we had a global financial crisis, the recovery to full employment was accomplished by a coordinated, large fiscal expansion, known as World War II.... We ought to be doing everything you can. We ought to be having quantitative easing, we ought to be having another round of stimulus.... You'd have to have... stimulus big enough to bring capacity utilization back up to a high enough level that business investment really starts going again....

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/10/three-very-smart-economists-being-very-gloomy-about-americas-foolish-choices.html

http://www.cbpp.org/files/10-6-10bud-panel-02.pdf

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/blucher-neighhhh/

It seems to me that those hurt by this recession are going to just be forgotten and those who make it through and those who are wealthy will have a smaller economic pie with the wealthy owning even a larger percentage than they do now.

Half the political spectrum want to do this as a matter of religious faith as if god speaks to them and the other half works for the wealthy and needs their crumbs to exist.

democratic leaders absolutely support guest workers, even now

In our system full employment is not desired. Without a stable pool of unemployed, workers can demand more for their labor. The larger the unemployed labor pool, the lower the wages can drop. I also know this was true back beyond the depression, when Upton Sinclair was a literary force to be reckoned with.

I am 64 and I remember the 60's as being a period were there were still a great number of unskilled positions to be had if you were white.

And if you wanted to learn a trade such as electrician or tool maker or welder you could go to trade school. My dad worked at NCR for 46 years as a welder. The factory was in Dayton Ohio and there was a union and a lot of benefits including recreational parks and golf courses for the white workers.

Sweda had an electronic cash register and NCR was going to copy it and enter the world of computers and electronics. The majority of the workers were doing piece work building mechanical machines. They were about to lose there jobs unless they were willing to be retrained. What they did was go on strike. NCR then hired the president of their plant in Japan to dismantle the Dayton facility and spread it all over the world. The jobs went away. So did Frigidaire, Delco, Chrysler Air Temp, GM and every other large manufacturer in Dayton. That's when I got my accounting degree. I was working then when there was so much unemployment and I am working now. I can't say that I am smart but more lucky then anything else. Except I learned from the NCR strike that I was never going to remain unskilled. We will never have many unskilled labor jobs in this country and it is hard to change when you are our age.