So I'm using a new textbook in my first-year comp course, and I really, really like it. It explains the concepts very well, and includes some thought-provoking readings. Today we discussed a little gem from 2004 by Bruce Nussbaum, called "Where Are the Jobs?", which first appeared in Business Week. Basically, Nussbaum talks about the "jobless recovery" (remember that phrase?) and says that it's not offshoring that's to blame for job loss, it's productivity. He claims that recovery is inexorably followed by job creation, but the relationship is not linear. Here's my favorite paragraph:

We also know where the benefits of rising productivity are going: higher profits, lower inflation, rising stocks, and ultimately, loftier prices for houses. In short, productivity is generating wealth, not employment. Corporate profits as a share of national income are at an all-time high. So is net worth for many individuals. Consumer net worth hit a new peak, at $45 trillion -- up 75 percent since 1995 -- and consumers have more than recouped their losses from the bust.

Bwa-ha-ha . . . I dunno, perhaps I should be more charitable, but did anybody ever believe that crap? I remember joking with Emil about the term "jobless recovery." How could it be a "recovery" if it was "jobless"?

And the goal of a recovery is "ultimately, higher prices for houses"? Cracks me right up. (Almost as funny as the New York execs who are panicking because as their hedge funds dry up, so does their sense of self-worth. (No, really, there was a NY Times article about this yesterday, interviewing shrinks in Manhattan.) Like, maybe they should have pinned their self-worth on being a good friend, spouse, parent? On personal integrity? On loyalty and honesty? Sorry - no ROI there, I guess . . . )

I wonder if Mr. Nussbaum ever stops to remember that productivity wasn't generating "wealth" - it was generating "debt." How did so many get so fooled by so few??

These are certainly interesting times.