That's one side. Hey, I'd take a short furlough too, if my company offered it, although things would be tight.

The other side, though, is people who are absolutely desperate, who can't afford the slightest drop in income and are barely hanging on as it is. There are a few folks like that in my neighborhood--the husband gets 10 hours cut from his schedule and they don't know how they're going to pay the electric and put beans on the stove. Behind on their rent, behind on their cable bill, shelling out $$$ for the one thing that keeps them sane (nicotine, now with a cruel, regressive tobacco tax), it's not a pretty picture.

And it isn't just poor people anymore; someone else I know had to take a 40% pay cut and empty his 401K to keep the family afloat. How do you claw your way back from that, at age 50? After a lifetime of good old American bootsrapism (first person in his family to go to college, worked in a warehouse to pay his way, became a highly skilled engineer and VP of a company yadda yadda--you "play by the rules" and the rulers nail you anyway).

Instead of a robust plan to address the problems head on, DC chose to do it on the cheap, with the emphasis on the trickle ecomony approach. Prop up the wealthy and everyone will benefit! (That didn't work with Reagan and it isn't working now).

What I find inexcusable, is that Obama would include the Republicans in the debate to begin with. Why would anyone want their imput? It was their irresponsible policies that lead to the economic melt down in the first place.

Maybe Larry Summers is genetically predisposed to be poor at math?

All those newly unemployed people will be first in line at the polls to vote democrat.

Calculated Risk has a graph that also puts the absolute number of 500K in some context:

http://calculatedriskimages.blogspot.com/2010/08/weekly-initial-unemployment-claims-aug_19.html

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week...

Today was a case where the optics failed miserably.

On the way out the WH door to the 10 day Martha's Vineyard vacation, after the release of these numbers, all he could muster was a slap at Rs over the pending small business bill in the Senate.

Nothing addressing the 800 lb gorilla and anyone with any situation awareness knows that that bill will have zero impact on jobs.