James Surowiecki Quotes

For those unfortunate enough to experience it, long-term unemployment - now, as in the 1930s - is a tragedy. And, for society as a whole, there is the danger that the productive capacity of a significant portion of the labour force will be impaired.

While some people are certainly seeing economic benefits, many others are unemployed, underemployed, without health insurance and struggling to make ends meet.

This crisis of long-term unemployment is having a profoundly damaging impact on the lives of those bearing the brunt of it. We know this thanks to a series of careful studies of the problem conducted in the depths of the 1930s Great Depression.

Long-term unemployment is particularly costly to those directly affected, of course. But in addition, because of its negative effects on workers' skills and attachment to the labor force, long-term unemployment may ultimately reduce the productive capacity of our economy.

After the break up of the municipality and the loss of his income my father lost health and spirits.

Being unemployed has so many real and palpable ramifications but there are also psychological side effects which you can only understand if you've truly lived through it.

It's heartbreaking to see so many people trapped in a web of enforced idleness, deep debt, and gnawing self-doubt.

Unemployment is of vital importance, particularly to the unemployed.

The shock of unemployment becomes a pathology in its own right.

In the richest country in the history of the world, this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000, but health insurance premiums are higher, food prices are higher, utility bills are higher, and gasoline prices have doubled. Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before.

People internalize, from the jail to student loan debt, to credit card debt, to unemployment to the whole collective. It manifests itself in many ways, in people's home lives, domestic stuff.

Poverty is clearly one source of emotional suffering, but there are others, like loneliness.

Being out of work for 13 to 15 years is no walk in the park.

You lose your individuality a huge amount when you have no money, and I certainly had that experience.

Prolonged unemployment is a tragedy of broken lives, broken families, foreclosed homes, and life without health insurance.

When you are raised, as John Edwards was, in a small town like Robbins, North Carolina, you get to understand poverty and unemployment, or inadequate health care, first-hand by seeing the daily struggles of your friends and neighbors.

People blame themselves for their own layoffs…. We ignore the effect on mental health. Every person in this society who is laid off is told that they lack value…. We undermine public health.

People without jobs cannot be expected to behave in a lawful, measured way.

Unemployment is painful.

Millions of middle-class Americans, in free fall during the economic collapse that began around 2008, have had a taste of what it means to be poor.

Financial problems cause distress and loss of self-respect.

Poverty is more than a material experience; it's a psychological state as well, one that is infused with anxiety. And decision-making is very complex because every decision you make has an impact on your future and survival.

We've created the class of folks who are unemployed for longer than a year that it's very, very difficult to reconnect to society.

I was the poorest kid in my school, poorest kid in my town, poorest family. That stayed with me forever.

Being out of work is very depressing. But luckily I haven't been there for a long time.