Mortgage Mess Hits Real Economy

Stocks are in broad retreat today on the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly Employment Situation Summary.  As Jeannine Aversa of Associated Press writes:

Employers sliced payrolls by 4,000 jobs in August, the first such decline in four years and a stark sign that a painful credit crunch that has unnerved Wall Street is putting a strain on the national economy.

As usual, the MSM is writing about the summary’s Establishment Data, the change in employers’ payrolls, rather than the broader Household Survey.

And the Household Survey has shocking news.

Jul-Aug Change Civilian Labor Force -340,000 Employment -316,000 Not in Labor Force 592,000

These are shocking numbers.  And let’s face it.  They are probably just the beginning.