Mayor of Chicago: Prepare For Mass Layoffs; “It’s Going to Be a Very Frightening Economy”

November 13th, 2008

“There’s going to be a crisis come along on the 21st or 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.”

Colin Powell

Via: CBS2:

Mayor Richard M. Daley says the economic woes in Chicago will get much worse, and more local workers could soon be getting pink slips.

As CBS 2’s Joanie Lum reports, the news is especially alarming because the discussion concerns not just city jobs, but the private sector. Thus, it seems the City That Works is about to become the city that gets laid off.

Mayor Daley says chief executive officers told him huge layoffs will impact the city this month and into the new year. He also says city, county and state governments should be prepared for their revenue to fall dramatically because of the souring economy.

In addition, the federal bailout plan is changing, and the big three automakers are all warning they could go bankrupt, and lawmakers say if the auto industry goes down, the huge number of jobs lost would cause more house foreclosures.

On Wednesday, Mayor Daley joined with local gas company officials to announce new programs to help low-income customers pay their heating bills.

He disclosed that corporate leaders are telling him they are planning huge layoffs in November and December, which will leave many Chicagoans out of work.

“This is going to be all year, so it’s going to be a very frightening economy,” Mayor Daley said. “Each one tells me what they’re laying off, and they’re going to double that next year. We’re talking huge numbers of permanent layoffs for people in the economy. It’s going to have a huge effect on all businesses.”

The mayor said the gravity of the situation cannot be underestimated.

“We never experienced anything like this except people who came from the Depression,” Mayor Daley said. “When you have that many layoffs early – and they’re telling me this is only the beginning of their layoffs – that is very frightening.”

Mayor Daley also warned that local governments will be in jeopardy and may not have enough money to meet payroll, although he is not worried about paying City of Chicago employees.

One Response to “Mayor of Chicago: Prepare For Mass Layoffs; “It’s Going to Be a Very Frightening Economy””

  1. Peregrino says:

    Compare to http://www.infowars.com/?p=5938. When computer dweebs and buzzcut daytraders make billions overnight on fluff like google and tenth generation derivatives, it should come as no surprise that there is a yang to that yin. But living out of a car up on blocks is good for you, if it doesn’t last forever. I don’t think you want to know about the people who have been living their whole lives in garbage dumps in Guatemala for generations, a condition proudly brought to you by industrialized civilization so bravely defended by our courageous troops.

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