The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 3/8/9
Mississippi’s unemployment rate jumped to an alarming 9.2 percent in January. When February numbers are released they probably won’t be much better.
Nationally, the latest numbers show an unemployment rate of 8 percent with many experts predicting the rate will soon hit double digits. They are staggering statistics that provide irrefutable proof of the economic suffering occurring in many American households.
Some people – once able to meet mortgage payments but now struggling from month to month just to put food on the table – are suffering in silence. While so many Americans are out of work and on the verge of losing their homes, it’s more than a little jolting that President Barack Obama’s plan to jumpstart the economy has become so entangled in Washington politics. And it’s certainly disappointing that the political posturing has reached poor Southern states headed by Republican governors who ought to be securing every dime they can get.
