In today’s Morning Jolt, a discussion of that last bit of bad economic news:

Ed chuckles about the return of the ubiquitous modifier “unexpectedly,” but I think economic reporters actually legitimately use the term here. Did anybody expect that this week was going to be the worst since last November? I thought the economy was lousy and floundering, but that we had more or less hit bottom. (Hey, you know what stops the rate of decline? Impact!) He notes, however, that this sort of thing ought to end the happy talk coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: “If the White House wonders why Americans increasingly see this President as disconnected and out of touch with mainstream America, this explains it. While more people lose their jobs, Obama keeps insisting that he’s succeeding in healing the economy. Between believing Obama and their own lyin’ eyes, voters are increasingly choosing the latter.”
When it comes to economic stuff, the first guy I turn to is James Pethokoukis, formerly of U.S. News and World Report, now of Reuters. He shares an assessment from economist Robert Brusca that might as well be read aloud by Vincent Price: “The day that optimism died. It has a time. It is sort of official: August 19, 2010. . . . The rise in the jobless claims number posts a 500K number and makes the backtracking official and really bad. . . . Optimism has died and there is a reason. Things are not getting better at even the same rate. Those seeing the economy as getting better are in a distinct and shrinking minority. . . . Brace yourself. I’m sorry to be the bearer of this bad news. This is not what I had expected. I don’t know how much it will shake markets but I’d eventually expect something that can be measured on the Richter scale.”
Then in the second verse, as Michael Jackson leads the moon-walking zombies to the unemployment line, he continues, “Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand . . . You watch the spin get ever dumber, as you endure the horror of . . . recovery summer!”
Larry Sabato observes, “When history of 2010 campaign is written, today will be worth noting. New economic [numbers] nearly guarantee bad (worse?) jobless rate thru 11/2.”