will severely hurt the local economy, you ve heard that argument, right? we ve been looking at how many jobs may be at stake and pretty solid numbers here, desiree? that s right. the louisiana mid continent oil and gas association came up with these estimates. they re saying look, if you ve got 33 idle rigs, each rig risks up to 1400 jobs. now, those jobs not only include the folks that work directly on the rigs, but the people who support those jobs. sailors, chefs, caterers, construction workers, cleaning. now what that translates to is up to 46,200 jobs that would be at risk. and if you calculate that each worker gets an average of $1800 per week, well that totals up to $990 million per quarter. as a possible in loss in wages, tony. you wonder if big oil would be willing to sort of put for the life of the moratorium, if
economy. got you. i want to get back to that, but ryan, two-thirds of the economy is based on spending, and if spending continues to slow, and it slows because people don t have jobs, and they don t have any real equity in their homes, what that doesn t speak to being able to get out and innovate and coming up with the next big thing. at the end of the day, spending comes from the generation of ideas. if i have an idea and i can combine that with needs of society and yeet a service, peel will want to spend money on my service that generates a real need. that comes from business enterprise and ideas like advanced battery manufacturing, things needed to increase sustainable energy or alternative energies. tens of thousands of gallons of oil being pup. ed into the ocean, there is something that will give us an idea. is there money to follow those ideas? is there money that will chase
sideways. i don t think we will see the 8% unemployment rate fll 2011 sometime. we have to sustain ourselves. while the government is pumping stimulus into the economy and the fed is establishing monetary policy, we have to use the stimulus. we need to go to community colleges. go and educate yourselves, spend your money wisely, put money in a emergency fund in case you do get laid off. all these things are done as we stimulate the economy so we can sustain ourselves as we come out. checking other big stories. one day after president obama picked general david petraeus to replace general stanley mcchrystal as the top commander in afghanistan, the focus schiffs to getting him confirmed. the senate promises speedy hearings. the president says this is a change in personnel, not policy.
expert john adams. christine, let me start with you. if the collapse in housing and all the predatory greed-driven practices that led to the collapse and you think about the jobs that went away with the collapse, if the collapse has us in this malaise, can we break out of it if housing doesn t come back and come back soon. that s a good question, tony. the pmi group, mortgage insurance group, say the last seven sessions haven t ended without a recovery in the housing market. property sales and home sales. and you know, hugh johnson, another key economist he also tells us, look, whenever you get out, you really have a solid recovery when consumers start to spend or the housing market improves. and the numbers this week have not been that great for the housing market. new home sales down 30%. we ve never seen a home number that low. people buying new homes down 33%.