So why haven't we heard anything about the economy ...

and all of the lost jobs. I recently voted on msnbc about what were the top issues for there subject today. There were many I could have voted for but I wanted to make sure that they brought up the economy. I was watching a segment earlier on their show and I heard a woman from texas and she was spouting out all of the repug talking points about stand behind her leader,commander and thief blah,blah,blah.

Then at the end the reporter said its all about Iraq,Iraq,Iraq. Yes, we are interested in Iraq but the Bush admin and the repugs want to hide what is really going on in this country and there are many that need to be discussed by both parties and we can't let them keep having debates without discussing the economy and how this country is falling apart in more ways than one.

"The Economy" is the 2008 stealth issue. The media does not provide good coverage because they serve the interest of the corporations that own them, not the public. Except for Edwards, I don't see the candidates addressing it.

Right now, there's a significant amount of denial about the state of the economy. But as more ARMs reset, gas prices go up, and with it, the cost of living, as people see the dollar devalued even more, by the time November 2008 comes around, people are going to be very angry. If candidates don't start talking truthfully about it, NOW, they're in for a big bad surprise.

bush is playing with the numbers. I have seen and heard of many layoffs,downsizing and outsourcing over the years but they keep saying the jobless rate is 4.5 percent. That is a lie and the crime rate is up. I also was angry when this guy Snow was running one of the cabinets that had to do with commerce he ran some railroad and then he stepped down after he got what he wanted and now he has bought some part of Chrysler.

So say Repubs in the Great Lakes State.

I have a real estate license (I'm mostly into investing, and helping my hubby with his computer companies, but I do have a license). I'm in good ol' SoCal. I'm a retired social worker, so I LISTEN to the neighbors. The gal next door is losing her house. The one around the corner is in foreclosure; it's only a matter of time until the notices go up next door (she had been renting it for several years, due to her job being up north).

We bought our houses for around $350,000. They range from 3,900 square feet to 4,900 square feet. They did go up to between $750K and $800K. Now, they are selling around $650,000 to $700,000. We have about five or six just on our block for sale.

We've always kept our mortgage at half of the current value (or lower), because I always felt very cautious.

I'm hearing fairly consistently how much trouble middle class people are having holding onto their homes.

We are inland, about an hour and a half north of San Diego.

sub-primes are only going to increase and become worse. It will take at least a decade to put our economy back together barring further substantial destruction of our nation's economy by corporate america, congress and the WH.

and any investor should be prepared to hang onto that real estate for awhile. More and more people will be renting, with extended family living together, in the future.

and the economy added 132,000 jobs last month. Who knows where those jobs were or what they paid. When the curtainis pulled back on this mess, I think a lot of people are going to be amazed at how they've been had.

dropped from the unemployment rolls. Many are committing crimes or are homeless.

so BS propaganda will continue to flow from the likes of cnbc and fox news. The American consumer added another 9% to the total consumer credit card debt while they watched their house values continue to decline. bush jr. wants to hang on for the next 18 months so he can dump HIS economic disaster off on the next administration, just like his worthless father did to Clinton.

if you're one of the top 1% that is, for the rest of us, it pretty much sucks....

This 4.5 % is a lie , I don't how they figure this and who knows what these new jobs are , most likely min wage service jobs that replaced better pay jobs . They never mention the jobs that no longer exist , just the number of new jobs .

I can't find a job to save my life here in southern calif , there is always some sort of catch or the job really does not exist .

young,energetic, bachelors, master etc...and if you have one or two or three of these they always want more.

so I guess that settles it. If we are paying more for everything how is that good.

...and they're trying to distract you while they take your last buck on your way down.