Whew! Aren't you glad our president and his liberal Congress passed that $787 billion dollar stim bill last Feburary?

Why just think how bad it would be now if we hadn't pumped all that money into the coffers of unions and other Obama supporters. Sure makes me get a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside when I think of all those jobs that have been created - and saved, of course. Don't forget the saved jobs that will certainly keep the unemployment rate from rising above - what was it? - 8%.

Oh. No, wait...

The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September, the Department of Labor said Friday in its monthly economic appraisal.

While the pace of the job losses has slowed significantly since the peak of the recession last winter, the unemployment rate, which measures the number of people actively seeking work, continues to climb, and economists do not foresee relief until well into next year.

"There's no doubt that the slashing and burning of jobs has abated quite a lot," said Allen L. Sinai, the founder of Decision Economics, a research firm. "The economy is recovering, but it is a very soft recovery."

The agency also revised September's losses to 219,000 from 263,000.

Dean Baker, a director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said he did not expect declining unemployment rates until next spring. "We may be looking at very high levels," Mr. Baker said, "barring a policy response, for several years into the future."

Isn't this New York Times piece by Javier Hernandez hopeful and optimistic? Shorter Hernandez: "Hey! It could have been worse. And it's going to get better soon - well, not soon but eventually, it will. So don't blame Obama - not his fault."

In fact, if you read Mr. Hernandez's entire piece, you'd think things will be right as rain before you know it. Funny, never seemed to see this kind of writing on the economy when Bush was in office, Then it was doom and gloom - even with the unemployment rate around 5%. Now it's twice that and marigolds are blooming in our economic garden.

You would have thought American business had sloughed off all the jobs it was possible to cut by now. I guess not. The question is, how high can the jobless rate get? Remember, it only reflects people still looking for work, not the other 8% who have given up looking. The real unemployment rate is nearly 18% if you factor in those who only have part time or temporary jobs.

All I can say is, keep up the good work, Democrats. And don't worry, the New York Times will always have your back.