Monday, February 8, 2010

Unemployment reaches 24.7%


I'm the online editor of a few small magazines that you've never heard of. One of them deals pretty much exclusively with the construction industry, and as my daily tasks dictate, I end up posting a few different news items on the topic each day. I've often commented to coworkers that I hate doing the news for that particular magazine because invariably, every week I have to report on the massive layoffs and skyrocketing unemployment of the construction industry, which, in itself, is largely responsible for the unemployment numbers of the general American public. Just today I reported that the construction industry's unemployment reached 24.7% in January with little or no recourse in sight aside from stimulus-funded highway projects.

Michigan basketball is shooting 29.3% from three-point range and 41% from the field in total. They're 4-7 in the Big Ten and 11-12 overall. There is no hope in sight, especially with the departure of DeShawn Sims and at the end of the year and the possible loss of Only Other Scorer, Manny Harris.

The point being, I'm getting kind of tired of writing this, as I'm sure you're tired of reading it. The 2009-2010 season is hopelessly dragging out. The team hasn't shown any quantifiable improvement since maybe (maybe) the win against a slumping UConn team. The rest of the season has been plagued by poor shooting, poorer decisions, no defense, a lack of coaching, and various other inconsistencies.

One interesting thing I've learned about the construction industry, is that its activity can be pretty accurately charted because of its relation to the architecture field. For example, if the architecture industry is going through a down year, it may not be so for the construction industry. But the following year, when those projects are to be built, the construction industry meets the same decline the architecture industry had the previous year. The basketball team, however, has no such chartables, but the predictions of the team next year all point to dire. This is bad. The future of the basketball program, at least the immediate future (the next three years or so) looks really dangerous.

Terror level has been upgraded to Amaker-minus. We're in trouble.

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