Friday, October 02, 2009

Not Good Times

Our unemployment rate:


Have a great weekend!

25 comments:

rob said...

point of order, g:tb's unemployment rate is 0%. who's this 'our' of whom you speak?

i'll grant that our ratio of work performed to hours employed is considerably less than the national average.

T.J. said...

I don't "work" here at G:TB to discuss the same things I discuss at real work.

Geoff said...

Michael Moore told me last night that "real" unemployment rate is more like 20%. Then he never explained what that meant. So...chew on that.

The most interesting stat I've come across in this realm is: The unemployment rate in the manufacturing is the highest of any sector. At the same time, the sector with the highest rate of new facility construction is...manufacturing. How does that work? Much like James Cameron warned us, the machines have begun to take over.

zman said...

Hockey stick graphs are good, right?

zman said...

Moore was probably referring to "under-employement." Which has to be hard to determine and measure.

rob said...

stop watching michael moore, geoff. you're only encouraging him.

TR said...

I think Rob hates liberals as much as Geoff and I hate conservatives.

rob said...

i hate irrational extremists of all stripes.

Geoff said...

Michael Moore's new movie fascinates me if only because I can't figure out who he thinks his audience is...other than Bill Maher.

And for the record, when I left the Dept. of Labor the unemployment rate was under 5%. So clearly, I was not the cause...and I could potentially be the solution.

Under employment is an awesomely horrible statistic. I'm sure Moore is factoring that in as well as those who have stopped looking for a job and those who never really looked in the first place. And you know what--that number is still no where near 20%.

I don't hate true conservatives but there's only three or four of them left. What I hate are contrarian, smug douchenozzles who root for their political party like its a college football team. There is no consideration of the issue--just of the other side's position and how to combat it without regard to implications or outcome. I'm pretty sure Rob and TR agree. Do the Dems have their heads up their asses with how their attempting to reform health care? Clearly. But they are right to be trying and the GOP position, which is some combination of "status quo" and "Well what we really meant was tort reform...and status quo" is bordering on irresponsible. Conversely, on something like cap and trade that's the classic solution in search of a problem. Its all crap. I'm just glad to be a cog in this on-going deterioration of society. I get paid every two weeks.

rob said...

this is exactly how i feel:

"What I hate are contrarian, smug douchenozzles who root for their political party like its a college football team."

people who root for the president (any president) to fail because it's better for their party are pure poison - the opposite of patriots. and the elites who foment this sensibility in people who don't know any better are messing with dangerous forces. shit almost makes me want to move to kansas somewhere so i don't have to hear about it every day. but then my daughters couldn't learn about evolution. fucking nutters.

Geoff said...

For the record, my mother still doesn't believe in evolution...and she thinks the president was born in Kenya.

Geoff said...

Greek lighting...

The College Delly is under new ownership after a less than amicable transition between Jerry Tsitsidopoulos and the partnership of Dean Tsamouras and Ed Odom.

Tsamouras owned and operated the Delly from 1975 to 2007. In 2007, Tsitsidopoulos purchased the restaurant’s name, inventory and furniture from the previous owner. Tsamouras maintained ownership of the property and building.

Tsamouras and Odom reclaimed the restaurant Sept. 19, Tsamouras was reportedly displeased with Tsitsidopoulos’s management of the Delly.

Tsamouras is suing Tsitsidopolous for unlawful detainer, which is loosely defined as the unlawful possession of property. It is typically used to evict tenants who fail to pay rent. Court documents indicate that
Tsamouras is suing Tsitsidopoulos for $618,000 in unpaid rent, as well as $5,206.14 in interest, fees and damages. The rent requested was for the period of August 2009 to August 2017.

Tsamouras and Tsitsidopoulos were unavailable for comment.

“[Tsamouras] is not a mean man,” Odom said. “If [Tsitsidopoulos] had been cooperative, there wouldn’t have been a lawsuit.”

Odom declined to comment any further on the case, as his name is not listed as a plaintiff.

Although the Delly’s new owners have yet to obtain a liquor license, they expect to be back in the swing of things soon.

“Business has been real, real slow because we can’t sell beer,” Odom said. “We’ve dropped the prices on all the sandwiches by $1 to $2.”

rob said...

dry homecoming! sweet.

rob said...

greek lighting is so much more tasteful than track lighting.

Geoff said...

And Grease lighting.

T.J. said...

It's automatic, systematic and hydromatic.

zman said...

Greek lighting, Greek heat(ing).

Shlara said...

I get enough of the R/L debates and extremists in my real job too.

Can we talk about something more relevant, like Letterman's extortion situation and the fact that he slept with SEVERAL staffers, not including the woman who's now his wife. Can you imagine the cat fights in his office???

TR said...

My last time to the 'Burg was for the game under the lights against JMU in 2005. Great golf outing, tailgate, exciting game, and then....the extended contingent of Pi Lam alumni and their friends and spouses accounted for about 99% of the entire crowd of the College Delly. This was on a Saturday night. It was so depressing trying to explain to my wife, a U of Maryland grad, that the place used to be fun. And the night before at the Green Leaf wasn't remotely crowded or rocking either. Brutal.

rob said...

very few public figures would play this extortion thing the way letterman did last night. i don't know whether to applaud his huevos and comic genius or question his sanity. or all of the above.

zman said...

I always thought that people wanted to be rich and famous entertainers precisely so they could sleep with their staffers. No?

Geoff said...

The creepy part about the Letterman thing was the audience, which didn't seem to be able to identify his level of seriousness. There was laughter at inappropriate times and I'm pretty sure this was not intended to be a humorous endeavor. A simple "I'd like to briefly mention something serious for a moment here" would have done the trick.

Mark said...

I'm with Zoltan. My girlfriend was shocked that Letterman had conducted multiple affairs. I'm not sure why. People either become famous so they can do whatever (people, drugs, etc.) they want or once they become famous are so constantly blown by everybody around them (figuratively) that they then think they can do whatever (people, drugs, etc.) they want without any backlash

Its the American dream.

Whitney said...

I love that I am getting my breaking news from G:TB on a consistent basis now. (Knew nothing of the Letterman thing 'til now.) Hungover Fridays this is always the case. Gheorghe: it's the new Daily Show for uninformed idiots like me.

Greg said...

Also we lost the 2016 Olympics to a third world country.....