He's in a deep depression then. If two people lose their jobs making paper clips in Lawton, OK he tells us about it. We have a national unemployment rate of 5.4%. There is a lot of affluence out there. Some people aren't making it, but most are.
In my neck of the woods, people are buying huge houses, big SUVs, plasma tvs and living better than 99% of the rest of the world.
Willie is a depressed guy looking for hardship and stoking anxiety. He should run the Kerry campaign.
What is the TOTAL unemployment rate --- what is the percent of people in the population who are over 18 and not working, or not working enough to provide completely for their families?
Statistics don't give the whole picture: If you are 18 and work 10 hours a week and earn $6 an hour, and your parents provide you a home and health insurance and you can pay your own way on the rest, then you would be fully employed --- but if you 30, unmarried with 4 kids from fathers who don't pay child support, work 40 hours at $5.15 an hour and the government gives you $500 a month housing subsidy, several hundred in food stamps, Medicaid, WIC, etc then you aren't fully employed.
If the government ended all welfare programs right now --- how many people could make it --- that would be a better measurement of our employment situation.