Political Quotes

“around midnight last night I was in conversation with the President and some others, and the President indicated that this morning, unemployment numbers would come out, and they would be somewhat scary. That was absolutely true. At 8:30 this morning, the unemployment numbers were reported for January, and they hit a 16-year high of 7.6 percent. That is averaged across the United States. Some places are much worse than that. My State of Nevada is an example. We are the fifth highest unemployed State in the country. Some States now have over 10 percent unemployment. Mr. President, if this were the top and we were headed down, that would be one thing, but it doesn't appear that is the case. It appears unemployment rates are going to get higher and higher. The business crisis is growing worse and worse, housing problems have become more complex and more difficult, and the lending freeze has not passed. Small businesses are shutting their doors. In a Las Vegas paper today, to use an example, a book store in Henderson, NV--the second largest city in Nevada--had closed. The people had invested their entire life's savings in this little business--$350,000--and they are broke and the business is shuttered. This is happening all over the country. In January alone, 600,000 people lost their jobs. In Nevada, the unemployment rate is now over 9 percent. Leading economists are now comparing today's crisis to the early years of the Great Depression.”