Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in at least three states in recent days amid an unprecedented crush of thousands of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits, and other states were adjusting their systems to avoid being next.
About 4.5 million Americans are collecting jobless benefits, a 26-year high, so the Web sites and phone systems now commonly used to file for benefits are being tested like never before.
Even those that are holding up under the strain are in many cases leaving filers on the line for hours, or kissing them off with an “all circuits are busy” message. Agencies have been scrambling to hire hundreds more workers to handle the calls.
Just print lots more money like the Germans did after WWI. Paper and ink are cheap.
The news about the economy is continually getting worse and worse, however, there are industries out there that are actually flourishing despite the current climate. Recession, as it turns out, hasn’t hurt retail, discount, and food industries that bad at all. In perhaps one of the most interesting, but not surprising corollaries, video game sales have been steadily rising with the unemployment rate.
Some of the things in this article on the payday loans blog about industries that do not need emergency cash is somewhat surprising though.