More jobs gone: Missouri feels economic sting

It’s been another rough week.

One expert who closely tracks these things says the Midwestern economy is “teetering on the edge of recession” and points out specifically that Missouri has lost 15,000 jobs so far this year and will likely lose more.

Missouri has more manufacturing jobs than many of its neighbors, but the auto industry is ailing in this sour economy. Chrysler this week said its closing one plant in St. Louis and shutting down a shift at another. Total: 2,400 jobs.

Closer to home, GM and Ford have Kansas City area plants, and both report plummeting sales. GM was off 18 percent in June, and Ford was off 28 percent. Notably, sales of Ford’s signature product – F series pickup trucks – were 41 percent lower in June 2008 than in June 2007.

Ernie Goss, the Creighton University economics professor who oversees the month-to-month Business Conditions Index, calls it “a regional economy teetering on recession with excessive inflationary pressures in the economic pipeline.”

There are other concerns:

* Prices for corn and other commodities are up – good news for farmers but not everyone else. Flooding has wiped out some of this year’s crop, adding to price pressures that continue to roll through the economy.

* The experts are declaring stocks to be in bear territory, led downward by skittish consumers and the ongoing financial services industry mess and credit crunch.

* Nationwide, employers have cut jobs overall every month so far this year. Construction, manufacturing and financial services are the hardest hit.

* The biggee, at least in the eyes of many, is oil. It’s above $140 a barrel – compared with around $100 at the beginning of the year. Gas at $4 a gallon gets everyone’s attention.

So the government should do something, right? What, exactly? The tax stimulus checks seem to have helped some, but that’s a one-shot deal. The Federal Reserve is caught between the desire to goose the economy and the vital, long-term need to keep inflation from getting out of control. Besides, the Fed has been busy bailing out large financial services companies and keeping that crisis from getting worse.

The bumpy ride isn’t over.