Take a moment and study the graphic above. You are looking at the arc of job losses during the last three recessions, 1990, 2001, and 2008-09 and counting. The graphic traces how long it took once the economy began to shed jobs until it returned to original overall number of jobs. One caveat: these are raw numbers, not adjusted for overall population increases, so the relationship between the three lines might adjust subtly if you plotted job losses per population. But the trajectories wouldn’t change.
Let that picture sink in and then come over the Metro I-4 News to read my take on the stimulus bill working through Congress and the nihilistically silly arguments the Rush Limbaughs of the world are making against it.
Bio: Billy Townsend was a longtime government, political and general assignment reporter in Polk County and the wider I-4 corridor. He wrote extensively about Polk's unique regional identity and the issues shaping it, including USF Polytechnic, the Heartland Parkway and the CSX rail deal. Billy recently left professional reporting to take a corporate writing job, but he keeps close tabs on news of all stripes (especially political news) and the changes in modern journalism. Billy's wife is Julie Townsend, executive director of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.They live with their three children in the Lake Morton area. His work at Lakeland Local is his first as an amateur hyperlocal writer.
