The crisis and the media

There are an abundant number of types of crises. Personal, academic,emotional and there are also economic recessions. As I battle through my own personal selection of crises,(aleviated now by the good news that at last my scribblings have a follower,--thanks Shaq, nice of you to drop in on me.---Ican't help wondering about the anomolies of this particular recession. It is not, apparently, like any previous recession. According to the P.P. it's all Zapatero's fault although personally I don't believe that Z.P. was involved directly with granting junk mortgages to Mexicans in the U.S,A. So, having discated that particular theory as political claptrap, let's think more deeply about it. Not everyone is in crisis. With prices lower than ever, consumers should be able to consume even more than they have been doing for the last few years of plenty.Civil servants,secretaries,lawyers ,doctors ,teachers, vets,mechanics plumbers, shoe repairers, shop assistants,butchers,bakers,ironmongers,gardeners,policemen,firemen,ambulance and bus driversand a long etc SHOULD BE BETTER OFF NOW than they have ever been and that is A LOT of people. So why are they not out there spending money and making those economic wheels go round and round? What are they afraid of? Perhaps if these good citizens were not constantly being depressed with doom and gloom forecasts from the predominately right wing media, they might just open those wallets and get it all moving again.

O.k. there are certain sectors that are plunged into the depths of despair. Notably the construction industry which was obviously going to be the fall guy due to the enormous corporate corruption which created and maintained the housing boom for six or seven long years. That had to come to an end one day with or without the economic recession. Result.. 4 million unemployed. Hoiwever ,unemployment never really dropped below the million mark even in the good years so the recession has devoured 3 million jobs and not 4. How then can 3 million jobs be created? By this I mean real jobs, not just temporary "PlanE" type of jobs. Well, I have at least a partial solution to that one.

In England the regulations governing permitted opening times in retail establishments have, to all intents and purposes, disappeared. If you want to go to the supermarket at 4am there is nothing to stop you. You want to buy some C.D s or a pair of fashion boots on a Sunday,,,no problem. Here,the archaic laws of Sunday opening are so hopelessly out of date that they should be scrapped immediately. How many PERMANENT jobs could be created by permitting 24/7 opening in all retail establishments? Of course some small businesses would protest. They could however compete by working as hard and opening as many hours as the Pakistanis do in their small businesses. I've never heard one of them complain, nor,in that respect, have I ever seen one close from 2 til half past five for the siesta. If you can't beat them, join them.I estimate that well over a million PERMANENT jobs could be created by this one measure.

This would of course change our lifestyles to a certain extent. If we could do the weekend shopping in the early hours of a friday morning for example, our Saturday mornings would be free to do other things creating more work for the service industries who offer us so many attractive leisure possibilities.

Time, unfortunately does not permit any more at this juncture but as soon as I can I will explain why another million jobs are not being created right now