Berman Post

Unemployment Rate Holds at 9.6%
Brown (D) or Aide Heard Calling Whitman (R) a "Whore"
Bill Whittle - What We Believe, Part 1: Small Government And Free Enterprise
eLEGS Helps Paraplegics Walk Again
Four Weeks - Remember November
Charlie Crist's Awful Ceremonial First Pitch
Government on Our Backs

Posted: 08 Oct 2010 10:42 PM PDT

What makes this number different the the usual 'as bad as this number is, it is actually worse because of the way it is counted' is the idea that it may be half a percent low by its own metrics. Gallup's number, which in recent months has been lower then the official mark, spiked to 10.1% (from 9.4%). The story predicted that since the up tic came predominantly in the second half of the month it was unlikely to be reflected in the current number. This could me we are in for a sharp increase right after the election.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

"Nonfarm payroll employment edged down (-95,000) in September, and the unem-
ployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics reported today. Government employment declined (-159,000), reflec-
ting both a drop in the number of temporary jobs for Census 2010 and job
losses in local government. Private-sector payroll employment continued
to trend up modestly (+64,000).

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 14.8 million, was essentially un-
changed in September, and the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent."

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/well-so-much-for-recovery-summer/?singlepage=true

"The unemployment rate (as measured) remained at 9.6%, now the 14th month in a row, longest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The UNDEREMPLOYMENT rate, that of those unemployed, those too discouraged to continue looking, and those in temporary jobs, remained over 17%. The number of full time workers thrown into temporary jobs has skyrocketed over the past nine months masking the incredible job-unmaking machine these policies have created."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2Qx8RaIHOCMU2rwz6lRCaOS0ijgD9INILMG1

""We won't see under 6 percent for five years," David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, said Friday after the Labor Department reported that 95,000 more jobs were lost in September and the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent. "It's going to be a slow recovery."
...
Unemployment has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 months in a row, the longest stretch since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Congress, meanwhile, has left town until after the midterms, failing to decide what to do about wide-ranging Bush-era tax cuts that are due to expire on Jan. 1. Uncertainty over those tax cuts itself is contributing to the lack of hiring as businesses, especially small ones, attempt to figure out what their tax burdens will be next year."

To put this in the contexts of the last year; after rising to %9.5, 'fake' falling to %9.4, rising to %9.7, and then rising again to 9.8%, and rising again to 10.2%, dropping to 10%, held steady, dropping to 9.7%, held steady, held steady again, increased to 9.9%, dropped to 9.7%, fell to 9.5%, holding steady, rising a tick to 9.6%, and now holding steady.

Brown (D) or Aide Heard Calling Whitman (R) a "Whore"

Posted: 08 Oct 2010 10:14 PM PDT

You can hear the voice mail at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/07/ca-gov_jerry_brown_agrees_whitman_a_whore_over_pension_battle.html. The recording comes from a phone call Brown made after which he mistakenly failed disconnect.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jerry-brown-20101007,0,6800747.story

"In a private conversation inadvertently captured by voicemail, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown or one of his associates can be heard referring to his Republican opponent Meg Whitman as a "whore," saying she cut a deal protecting law enforcement pensions while the two candidates competed for police endorsements.

The comment came after Brown called the Los Angeles Police Protective League in early September to ask for its endorsement. He left a voicemail asking Scott Rate, a union official, to call him, then apparently believed he had hung up the phone. The voicemail captured the ensuing conversation between Brown and his aides.
...
"Do we want to put an ad out? … That I have been warned if I crack down on pensions, I will be — that they'll go to Whitman, and that's where they'll go because they know Whitman will give 'em, will cut them a deal, but I won't," Brown said.

At that point, a voice — either that of Brown or a second person — can be heard saying: "What about saying she's a whore?"

"Well, I'm going to use that," Brown says. "It proves you've cut a secret deal to protect the pensions.""