You know something is wrong when the unemployment rate in major holiday destinations persist at high levels. Typically, these areas have what economists refer to as seasonal unemployment – so that during the off-season (when the holiday makers are back home) there is very little labour market activity but once the vacation period begins there are many jobs and people. I have lived in various surf locations for many years and one such location had a steady-state population of 1000 or so residents and on Boxing Day this swelled to 25,000 and that new population endured for the ensuing holiday period (until the Australia Day weekend – January 26). Many of the surf crew and musicians would take jobs during this period and work very long hours (the surf was typically bad during the summer anyway) and use the savings to eke out an existence for the rest of the year – sometimes also accessing unemployment benefits sometimes not. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics published a bulletin (September 7, 2010) for the Cape Cod area which is one such major holiday region in the US. The situation there is dire and requires an immediate policy response from the US government. Unfortunately, this issue appears to be off the policy agenda. Well, until this week at least. A Democrat from Ohio has introduced a “full employment bill” which aims to eliminate the US central bank (good) and restore the US government’s currency sovereignty for keeps. The problem is that it goes down some dead-ends and avoids facing up to the real issues. So it is a well-motivated full employment bill – sort of!