It Isn't a "Recovery" When There

is 10.2-percent unemployment. It's just happy talk nonsense to get consumers to spend money and get the economy jumpstarted.

I have said a bazillion times there needs to be governmental programs to get the economy kicking up again.

More from the article:

When discouraged workers and underemployed ones are factored in, a more broadly defined unemployment rate stands at 17.5 percent. Some 35 percent of the jobless, about 5.6 million Americans, have unable to find work for more than six months.

Many economists had expected unemployment to hit 10 percent this year, but few thought the rate would reach that by October. After Friday's sharp jump, they began revising job forecasts down.

Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, thinks that the jobless rate could hit 11 percent by mid-2010.

"Unemployment is rising while labor force is declining. Once labor force begins to rise, this will add to unemployment, as many coming back in will be unemployed," Zandi said.

It's a mess out there with no end in sight.