If higher unemployment is the tradeoff to fear of inflation, what does that mean for you and I?

Hat tip Rebecca for this link to the Curious Capitalist

Invariably, when we start debating jobs programs and stimulus spending, people start talking about the long-term problem of government spending. It raises our national debt, and could cause inflation down the road. But what is often overlooked when inflation is brought up, is that not doing anything about high unemployment can have really bad long-term ramifications for the economy, perhaps even worse than inflation. Here’s why:

First of all, it’s not just upward mobility that is at risk. I wrote a story back in January about high teen unemployment and that what is at risk is not just whether teens will have to cut out trips to the mall. Without entry-level jobs, young workers can’t gain work experience. The result is a lower skilled workforce that results in longer-term productivity for the US economy in general.

And what the Journal and I pointed out is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the problem the high unemployment rate creates. The Atlantic had a story in their March issue about the much broader effects that high unemployment will have on American society.

Read more here