Let's say 7.8% is correct. If the labor force participation rate was the same as when obama took office the rate would be well over 11%.

We probably witnessed another Ripley's moment. The sad part is that everyone from the leadership down to the lowly clientele of food stamps, gamed disability payments, and government released arbitrary data points is locked into the vast array of rackets that constitute our national life, and the truth of their failure thresholds is too terrifying to entertain. In a very serious time, we are just not a serious people. Anything goes and nothing matters.

If you believe what's coming out of Obama's labor department, then you deserve to have him as a president. They 'play' with the numbers every time they announce them. It will not change my vote!

What I believe is that the last time the republicans controlled the White House this country was losing 750,000 jobs a month. While President Obama has been in office we have been gaining an average of 140,000 jobs per month.
do you really believe that Flipper Romney, as the outsourcer-in-chief, would help the middle class in job creation? If you do I've got some real estate you'll like too.

Ah, the Jack Welch conspiracy theorists are here. The man who was known to cook a few books himself. Take off your tinfoil hats people, the numbers are real. Forward progress is good, denying it for partisanship is short sighted and selfish.

There's a margin of error around every statistical sample. There's no real difference between 8.1, 7.8, 8.0... anyone who has taken stats up at PVMHS can tell you this. So no, the new number is just as bad as the previous numbers.

We need to fix this ASAP so that the left-wing bloggers can get out of mommy & daddy's basement and start becoming productive members of society.

I'm in my own basement blogging and working (remotely from my office), well paid too. Sorry to burst the bubble of the ludicrous liberal stereotype you own.

Obama loses debate. New job numbers come out. Minions eat this up and their Messiah has saved America.Forward my a$&

Tsk tsk tsk. Sounds like sour grapes from the republicans. Numbers change daily as does Mr. Romney's narrative.

What happened to HOPE &CHANGE? HOPE-there is no hope. CHANGE-is all we have in our pockets.

Nope, won't change how I vote. Obama 2012!!!

Our economy has grown consistently over the last 4 years, unemployment has consistently decreased, Dodd-Frank bill to regulate wall street was passed, credit card companies have been regulated, women are closer to being paid equally-Ledbetter, DADT is done, gays are safer, birth control is free w health insurance, health isurance co's have been regulated, Osama Bin Laden is dead, the Iraq war is over, etc,etc,etc. All done with the guidance of our President despite the obstinacy of a Republican party whose top priority is Obama's defeat. I will vote for Obama without any hesitation. If you're voting for Romney without being in the top 1% good luck because the top 1% are the only citizens he cares about.

5:15 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
5:14 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Diane, for the first time ever, we fought a war without even telling Congress, and we used unmanned drones to kill US citizens. We're still in Afghanistan, Gitmo is still around, we are still trying prisoners of war by military tribunal, and we have expanded the Patriot Act to allow the President to peak at the sites you visit on the internet. The Bush tax cuts for the rich are now the Obama tax cuts for the rich; indeed, President Obama extended the cuts for the 1 percent and defended this on the grounds that it would be irresponsible not to do so. Unemployment has risen and stayed risen-- the number of people looking for work has fallen because people are giving up. And we still do not have universal healthcare or healthcare inflation contained. If this is a victory, it is a pyrrhic one.

Ron, you forgot to mention that there is a scandal brewing that may eclipse watergate when it all shakes out. The cover up is usually worse than the crime but in this case I Don't think so as we have four dead Americans. I imagine Romney will steam roll over Obama in the foreign policy debate as he did in the previous one even though Martha Radiditz is moderating, you all remember her don't you? She invited Obama to her wedding and Obama appointed her then husband to head the FCC. Thats how to keep it fair don't you think? Imagine the screaming you would hear if it were reversed and you had conservative moderator who had Romney at her wedding and appointed her husband to head the FCC. Us conservatives would have to walk around with cotton in our ears to drown out all the liberal whining. I know..... I won't hold my breath worrying about that happening.

I didn't forget about FaF -- I just ran out if space to remind Diane of all the great things that have happened these past four years. Did I mention that US suicide rates have set new records in 2010 and again in 2011? Or that the labor force participation rate for men is the lowest it has been since 1948? Or that the three groups most likely to commit suicide are 1) white men over 75, 2) white men 45-54, and 3) white men 35-44 in that order?

I'm pretty sure that Diane will have some talking point to explain that this is all an anomaly and that the past four years have actually been fabulous.

Diane, lay off the kool aid.

Buzz, Obama 2012, yeah right ? We had eight years of an idiot in the White house who was clueless followed by another inexperienced idiot who is clueless and his vice president is a pathological psychopath, a heart beat away from clueless. We have an opportunity to tap into someone who will be a domestic president and one who will put his emphasis on the economy and Buzz says, Obama 2012, Ah Duh ! Drink some more DUFF Beer BUZZ :-(

Buzz is the 47

%

Tell me more about his wedding ring! The one with the inscription of, "There is only one God Allah"!!! We all know he is not a Christian and is a Muslim! That should tell you enough right there. Never mind about his shady past that he has paid millions of dollars to keep a secret!

Latino Unemployment is 9.4% or 2,300,000 people. That is too high.

Black unemployment is 13.4% or 2.4 million people. That is too high

The minute you cite a gov't hand-out as 'free', you lose all credibility. It is the intellectual equivalent of an excited obama voter in 2008 proclaiming that obama is now going to pay for her mortgage and her gas--or a credit card bill an, and in the next breath say that the money comes from obama. I cannot wait to cast my vote for a return to sanity and maturity and real hope. I suspect our allies feel the same.

Has Romney been consistent enough about any topic or issue to know what he stands for? Would you have preferred to let auto makers to go bankrupt? What is it about Romney's vision that is attractive? Are you confident about a man who does not understand fundamentals like arithmetic? Convince me of anything Romney will do to make this country better.

Diane, the auto makers refused to give up anything to save themselves. While the rest of us took pay cuts, lost jobs, and lost homes the auto industry flew three private jets to Washington to ask for our money to save them so they wouldn't have to give up their own. The auto unions were just as bad, refusing to give up any benefits gained during the good times to carry them through the bad.

No

First, interest on my retirement savings went from a little over 5% down to a little under 2% and it is projected to drop even more.

Second, cost of fuel for heating and auto, have more than doubled, cost of electricity has increased every year with attacks on coal producers.

Third, the cost of food has increased 30%, and more on what staples.

Fourth, worth of my house has dropped over 20%, yet the taxes increased each year.

Five, costs of all maintenance products up, Paint went from about $27 per gallon to almost $50 per gallon for the same product due to regulations added by the government. Plumbing and electrical stock prices have gone crazy, not to mention the cost of wood.

Six, even though my income has gone down, my income taxes have gone up per dollar of income.

So, I have worked all my life, paid my taxes, done the right things to save faithfully for retirement and now I am being attacked for being a responsible part of society by those that have not.

The result, my cost to live have increased substantially. Give me a break. How about having the Government reduce its spending and get out of my pockets. Everything that the current Administration has done has negatively impacted my life in retirement and now they want to attack the younger folks coming along behind me. Instead of increasing government jobs at an astronomical rate. Make some well paying private sector jobs for our nation without feeding me a line of BS.

This is how democrats create jobs. Notice that cost of a gallon of paint has nearly doubled?
http://www.epa.gov/evaluate/impact-eval/index.htm

And you are naïve if you think the cost increase wasn't an intentional way to get people to use less paint.

Also the current administration and the EPA have no interest in seeing gas prices drop because the high price helps them push their high mileage vehicle agenda. I would not be surprised to find that they are covertly taking steps to keep the prices this high. At the very least I'm sure they are not going out of their way to bring them down.

@Sean Ward
I do not disagree on the gas situation. I may be naïve, but I am not stupid. More like a way to spend more tax dollars to validate the worth of the EPA and other government agencies on studies for which we already know the answer. Buy 2 quarts of paint you can buy a gallon for the same price, Economics 101. Also, it is a way to promote waterborne products which are supposedly cheaper, cleaner, less hazardous, etc, etc, etc, but are not as durable and long lasting to the applied applications, Chemistry 101. Everything this administration has done has been to promote their agenda of implosion.

Republicans spent eight long years destroying the economy (record surplus turned into record deficit) under Bush, and now they've spent the last four years doing everything to hinder Obama from fixing it! GOP = Grand Obstructionist Party. They hate Obama more than they love their own country. Romney is just another Republican tool, who will say or do anything just to get elected! First he's for universal healthcare, then against it, will deport illegal immigrants, won't deport illegal immigrants, doesn't care about the 47%, does care about the 47%, will give tax breaks to millionaires, won't give tax breaks to millionaires, doesn't support a woman's right to choose, does support it, likes guns, hates guns, likes gays, hates gays, etc., etc., etc. Romney is pathetic!

@Jean Inglis
Sorry to Burst you bubble but Democrats controlled the Congress during Bush….How about talking Barney Frank and the Fannie and Freddie problem, oops, sorry more Democrats. When did the Republicans take over the House? Who has controlled the Senate since and including Bush? Try again to blame Bush, same old story with Democrats, say it long enough and maybe people will believe it. Get off the liberal KoolAid.

Ah, Jean invokes the, "Ah but Mom, they did it, too!" defense. At what point di Democrats and their supporters accept personal responsibility, or does that never happen? We've added an additional $6 trillion to the federal debt since 1.20.09. Most if that happened when the Democrats controlled the executive branch and both the Senate and House. Forget a balanced budget - we have not had a BUDGET at all since the Democrats took control of the Senate. What brand of personal responsibility is that?

I won't even touch on the fact that on three occassions Barney Frank rejected attempts to regulate government intervention in the housing market - burying legislation that would very likely have mitigated the sub prime crisis that led tothe financial market meltdown.

Certainly, there are many to blame for the present crisis, and a substantial portion of the blame does lie with the previous administration. But that is not going to solve te problems we now face, not least of which includes an underfunded entitlement crisis that will see the federal debt blow up to $40 trillion in 2022 unless we own it now and fix it. These are the President's own numbers, not mine. It will take adjustments to both the revenue and expense side of the equation, and sensible leaders from both parties need to work together now to address it.

OH, by the way, I am an Independent, and an informed independent thinker through research and true facts from the records, not just from hearsay liberal propaganda. You keep on thinking that way, it is your right. Here is something for you to think about..

Poll: Will Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney win the majority of female votes in the November election?
• Yes 1063(81%)
• No 219(16%) (this is you)
• Undecided 44(3%)
• Other 4(0%)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/polls/2012/oct/10/will-gop-presidential-nominee-mitt-romney-win-majo/results/

Majority of female votes? No way. Majority of white female votes? Likely, but not certainly. Normally, white females are the swing demographic that decides national elections. Will white females decide this election? We'll see.

I posted what was there...who knows at this point. With Hispanic American and Black American women unemployed and underemployed as well as all other races of women in the same boat, we will see.

What makes the American Dream so appealing is that anyone can achieve it with hard work. You cannot socialize the American Dream because trying to give it away before it is earned cheapens it both literally and figuratively. People do not respect things that were handed to them as much as they do things they worked for and paid for themselves. You can also not remove the possibility of failure because without that possibility there is no reason to give it everything you've got. If you are just going to get it all one way or the other it is human nature to take the path of least resistance.

Here are the past serveral years Avg Unemployement Rates (taken from the Bureau of Labor Statstics. Whoever the next president is they need to focus on getting America back on track.
Year Annual
2002 5.78
2003 5.99
2004 5.54
2005 5.08
2006 4.61
2007 4.62
2008 5.80
2009 9.28
2010 9.63
2011 8.95
2012 8.17 (9 months of data)

@BTM
Democrats held a clear majority in both the House and Senate during Bush Sr's presidency. Bush Jr had a slim Republican majority in the house until 2007 when the Democrats gain a 233-198 majority. The Senate was split 50-50 at the beginning of his first term and 49-49-2 at the end of his second term. The democrat party had control of both the the House and Senate, starting January 4th, 2007, when the recession began. The democrats kept control until the voters chose the republican party to reclaim the House starting on January 3rd, 2011, after the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency.

Real clear facts....sorry away from computer so I could not get back to you sooner.

Also @BTM
The Times was read every day by President Ronald Reagan during his terms in office. In 1997 he said:

The American people know the truth. You, my friends at The Washington Times, have told it to them. It wasn't always the popular thing to do. But you were a loud and powerful voice. Like me, you arrived in Washington at the beginning of the most momentous decade of the century. Together, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. And—oh, yes—we won the Cold War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times

You as well as others should read the whole story........sorry I had to split this up but over the limit the first time posting.

OOPS: One Large State Didn’t Report Jobless Figures and Feds didn't say which state so infact more cooking of the books and numbers.

http://conservativebyte.com/2012/10/oops-one-large-state-didnt-report-some-quarterly-figures/

A lot of gamblers out here. Those who vote for Romney are gambling that he can force the economy into something it isn't. We are doing much better than many western countries without all the austerity measures, thanks to President Obama.

Unemployed women exceed 10%

World News says those jobs have been created in the government not private sector.

Firstly, there is no such thing as a Christian Muslims by definition of Muslim/Moslem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim.

Second, I would rather have a Mormon than a dubiously labeled Christian like Obama who was a member of a so called Christian Church whose Pastor preached a doctrine of sedition and civil unrest. I suggest that you read the section labeled Modern Mormon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon .

Third, based on all that I have read and from documented statements Obama has made, he is not a Christian.

So for my wife and me, it is not a question of color, religion, race, sex, or any other political wedge/hot button..….It is the fact that Obama has driven this country deeper in debt, has made no appreciable gain as to bettering the US economy, has attacked our Constitutional Liberties and has used every divisive wedge/scare tactic to promote class warfare and civil unrest.

In real plain English, in this election the only lucid choice is, Romney/Ryan 2012.