No doubt about stimulus

Nothing will get Congress in gear better than 600,000 lost jobs in January, 3.6 million lost jobs since the recession began 14 months ago, and a 7.6 percent unemployment rate, the highest in more than 16 years. Everybody expected a lousy jobs report, but this was ridiculous. Most every sector except health care was hit last month (manufacturers lost 207,000 jobs). There’s little for Congress to do now other than vote for the stimulus and hope for the best. From the NYT:

“Businesses are panicked and fighting for survival and slashing their payrolls,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “I think we’re trapped in a very adverse, self-reinforcing cycle. The downturn is intensifying, and likely to intensify further unless policy makers respond aggressively.”

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Since September, analysts say, economic activity suddenly plunged on almost every front. The monthly pace of job losses shot up to about 500,000 a month for the last three months of 2008, and the new report offered no hint that bottom is in sight. Last week, the number of Americans filing first-time jobless claims reached a 26-year high, with 626,000 filling out initial applications. “This is a horror show we’re watching,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center economic research organization in Washington.