The US unemployment rate seems stuck at about 9.5 per cent

The US unemployment rate seems stuck at about 9.5 per cent and the collapse Whatever the benefits then, there are doubts about how much good this will do now.Is it the level of interest rates that processed is holding back the US economy, keeping unemployment high and output way below capacity?Are banks not lending more because they lack the funds?

Not really.Rather, as in New Zealand but only more so, it is caution on the part of households and businesses.The spectacle of the central bank throwing caution to the winds is unlikely to change that.The last decade's boom - the era of reckless lenders and feckless borrowers - and the subsequent bust, cast a long, cold, dark shadow.

The US unemployment rate seems stuck at about 9.5 per cent and the collapse in house prices has left one mortgage in four "under water", where the property is worth less than the amount owing on it.This makes American workers processed less mobile than they would normally be.