Oops, Can't Find Those Green Shoots

It appears the green shoots of economic recovery might be withering a bit. Today's announcement of job losses for June is sobering, much less the percentage that isn't receiving wide coverage, that well over 16% of Americans are unemployed. That means, the 9.5% plus another 6% or so who are chronically unemployed, not just on unemployment. Yikes. It think that is something like 3 out of every 10 Americans are without employment.

These are not good numbers. I think recession doesn't quite describe what we are in right now. We have not seen these numbers since 1948, when the deployment after World War II reeked havoc on the economy. And in fact, the numbers are even worse since it doesn't appear there is any job creation despite the stimulus spending (do you think really the money is going to help states and municipalities fill in their budget deficits? Nah...).

Hold on, though, these numbers will probably get a little worse.