From the terrifying and depressing graphs file

[jpgray]

The last time this statistic was so low, it was 1985, when a smaller percentage of women actively sought employment. Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong have articles up on this:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/notes-on-the-un-recovery/

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/08/august-jobs-report.html

[Oceansaway]

1. the Bush recession...nt

[grasswire]

2. holy crap

my jaw dropped to the floor

[customerserviceguy]

5. And when you cut off the first 57 percentiles from that graph

It drops to the floor, too.

I'm not saying that the situation is not serious, but some people think that graphs cannot lie, because they're based on numbers. But, they are meant to be pictoral images of numbers, and when looked at from different "angles", they can show totally different things.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. It's like pouncing play-doh on a neutron star

Not much bounce.

[girl gone mad]

4. No recovery in sight.

[bvar22]

6. Don't Worry!

We are slashing Government Spending and "Trimming Entitlements",
and don't forget the NEW "Free Trade" deals!!!

Things'll pick up as soon as the Austerity measured Kick In.
Guaranteed,
and if you don't like Eating Your Peas, Sarah Palin is waiting!

[mmonk]

8. +1000

[eridani]

7. A lot of that is due to boomers taking Social Security at 62 after being--

--forced out of the labor market.