Wake up America! Searching through a couple bags of trash for gotchas isn't solving the problems of the economy or our national security.

Wake up America! Searching through a couple bags of trash for gotchas isn't solving the problems of the economy or our national security. Wake up America!


While John McCain and the Republicans focus on the symbolism of the contents of a few bags of trash someone told them might be left over from that DNC convention event with 80,000 people attending, Americans deal with the reality of the country's unemployment rate in August rising to 6.1 percent with a loss of over 84,000 jobs. That's right, picture the jobs of every person in that packed stadium as having disappeared and them being added to the unemployment lines in August.

Americans deal with the reality of the Feds taking over the country's two largest home mortgage institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and the citizens of this country being asked to chip in and pay for their losses on top of the losses we've already endured in the value of their own homes.

Wake up America! Searching through a couple bags of trash for gotchas isn't solving the problems of the economy or our national security. Wake up America!

Wake up America! American are dealing with the reality that unemployment rose among almost all demographic groups, but women were hit hardest, with a rise of 0.7 pp to 5.3 percent. This is equal to the high for the last downturn in September of 2003. Black women saw their unemployment rate jump by 1.6 percentage points to 9.1 percent. The unemployment rate for blacks overall rose by 0.9 pp to 10.6 percent. The unemployment rate for Hispanics jumped by 0.6 pp to 8.0 percent, the highest level since reaching 8.1 percent in July of 2003.

Wake up America! Workers at all educational levels had an increase in their unemployment rates. Workers without high school degrees had the largest rise, with their unemployment rate going up 1.1 pp to 9.6 percent, the highest level since October of 1994.

Wake up America! While most sectors lost jobs last month, manufacturing was hardest hit with a loss of 61,000 jobs, driven by a loss of 39,000 jobs in the auto sector. Over the last year, the auto sector has lost 129,000 jobs, or 12.9 percent of total employment. Retail trade lost 19,900 jobs, driven primarily by a loss of 14,100 jobs in auto and auto parts stores.


Wake up America! Searching through a couple bags of trash for gotchas isn't solving the problems of the economy or our national security. Wake up America!