The Geography of Inequality
What if we drew a map that shows metro areas across the US with job gains and losses since the height of the economy in 2004? TIP Strategies did just that, creating a striking animation of the ballooning job losses marked by the crash of the financial markets in November 2008.
On this map we also see spikes in job losses in the area surrounding New Orleans post Katrina in 2005 and in places like South West Florida and Michigan in 2007, a preview of the foreclosure crisis to come.
But this map only shows half the picture of our nation's economy. The Dow Industrial average has hit its highest points since 2008, above 10,000 for the first time in a year. As the stock markets recover job losses continue, as we see with the increase in unemployment claims in PA last month. And the job situation is continuing to feed the rate of foreclosures - up 5 percent from summer to fall, with nearly a million people losing their homes in the last quarter.
Economist are already talking about the prospects of a jobless recovery - with a return to full employment as far off as 2017. What's clear from these trends? The "recovery" is proving very profitable while not benefiting the majority of the country, and bills are stacking.
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