The following story about DHL from 60 Minutes is absolutely heartbreaking. And people really think we can fix the economy with tax breaks? This is going to get a lot worse.

The Minnesota recount saga still hasn’t ended, but Coleman is already moving on? Hrmm… Last session’s senior senator from Minnesota Norm Coleman, still battling Al Franken to be seated in the Senate, has taken a paid job as a consultant to the Republican Jewish Coalition, which harshly attacked Obama last fall, its executive director, Matt [...]

As we’ve heard from nearly every circle, including Obama’s, is that it’ll get worse before it gets better. This news seems to bear that out. From Bloomberg… More than 20 companies said they were cutting jobs, ranging from Amonil SA, Romania’s second-biggest fertilizer maker, to Fiat SpA’s Magneti Marelli auto-parts division. Hertz, the second-largest U.S. [...]

There seems to be a lot of resistance to the idea of a stimulus package because the employment numbers aren’t nearly as bad as those during The Great Depression. But you have to look at the numbers in a historical context if you want to understand the entire story. From Reuters: Figures collected for Reuters [...]

Yesterday’s job numbers were hairy, but we have to remember that the underemployment numbers were far worse, and that’s the true measure of where employment is at the present time. From Wash Post: The fine print of yesterday’s report from the Labor Department showed that a broader measure of joblessness — which includes people who [...]

Looks like all that money and influence peddling won’t stop Dems from pushing this hot button issue off to the side for a while. From WSJ: It hasn’t been much noticed, but the political ground is already shifting under Big Labor’s card-check initiative. The unions poured unprecedented money and manpower into getting Democrats elected; their [...]

I think this has a lot more to do with the fact that this has been spun as free money as opposed to giving these companies loans (GM and Chrysler) or at least access to lines of credit (Ford), but nonetheless… From Wash Post: Overall, 55 percent of those polled oppose the latest plan that [...]

With the startling new unemployment numbers coming out this week, it’s a good time to focus on what this actually means to the individual people. New York Times takes a look at the 275 workers who were recently laid off when the Archway cookie factory had to shutter its doors in the fall… About 10.3 [...]

The following video includes an analyst from Forbes casually predicting that the official unemployment number will increase 50% from the current 6.7% to 10%. This speaks to the idea that we haven’t hit bottom yet and it’ll get worse before it gets better. However, underemployment is nearly double the current unemployment number at 12.5% and [...]

Say hello to the New Deal 2.0. It’ll be bigger than anything we’ve ever seen and it’ll effect everything, from schools to electric grids to mass transit to public works to hospitals. Also, government buildings will finally become energy efficient and hopefully serve as a model of how Washington can lead on issues instead of [...]

It’s the worst one month loss in 34 years. From NY Times: The decline, the largest one-month loss since December 1974, was fresh evidence that the economic contraction accelerated in November, promising to make the current recession, already 12 months old, the longest since the Great Depression. The previous record was 16 months, in the [...]

Another major U.S. company has announced upcoming layoffs. AT&T plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs, 4% of their workforce. But the layoffs are not all recession related. This is also about changing consumer habits: The new cuts come as AT&T finds itself pulled by two currents at once. Not only is the recession leading businesses and [...]

And it’s all infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. What we’re seeing is indeed the New New Deal and if it worked once, it’ll work again. The weekly “radio” address… Obviously I’m in favor of this, especially with the layoffs that will come from the Big 3 restructuring their business models, be it via a prepackaged Chapter 11 [...]

The Physicians Foundation has released a report chronicling the growing frustrations of primary care physicians in America. The report indicates that as many as half of the nation’s primary care Family Medicine and Internal Medicine doctors may consider quitting in the next three years. Why? The answer is pretty simple: too much bureaucracy. There is [...]

Take a look… 1.2 million jobs lost just this year alone? I didn’t realize it was that high. He’ll be able to pass his stimulus legislation with ease.

I blogged about it earlier, but I think this is pretty much the full video of the speech… The line everybody will be remembering? “It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everybody’s mind. And it’s easy to spell. J-O-B-S. Jobs.” Compare that with McCain’s new strategy, which seems to be “Fight”. No [...]

In this podcast we offer a preview of the third and final presidential debate between Obama and McCain as well as an overview of the state of the campaign. We also discuss our most recent election projection and the polling trends during the last week. Additionally, we criticize both campaigns on their respective weaknesses and [...]

And we haven’t even felt the effects from the credit crunch. From MarketWatch: For the week ended Sept. 27, seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose 1,000, to stand at 497,000 — the highest since late September 2001. The higher number reflects claims following the damage wreaked by Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana and Hurricane [...]

Labor Day was once an important day to recognize the contributions of working Americans (and reward us schlubs with a day off). The holiday is now treated as an end-of-summer celebration complete with barbeques, beer, pennant races and Fantasy Football drafts. But allow me to take one moment to link to this Chicago Tribune article [...]

Here’s a snip from Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday night: That’s why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women — students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive. Have you ever noticed [...]