The Watauga Democrat reports unemployment was up in 86 out of 100 NC counties during December, a month typically associated with seasonal hiring. 73 counties had double-digit employment rates. Graham County fared the worst with 17.6% unemployment.
Thinking how bad things would be if government weren’t creating and saving jobs, I wondered if government was practicing some form of Keynesian “high-unemployment layoffs” analogous to “deficit spending.” Deficit spending was supposed to create prosperity, but the national debt has increased monotonically since about 1940. Common sense says digging deeper puts you deeper. Politicians, however, say ignore the evidence that our philosophy isn’t working. And so, it is my place to shut up and celebrate double-digit unemployment as an achievement in jobs creation.