I can remember learning in one of the business courses that I took in college that the stock market responds to unemployment – if unemployment is up, the stock market is usually up. If unemployment is down, the stock market is usually down. I can remember thinking that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but the professor was adamant that was a true situation. Usually when a company is struggling to make money, the stock goes down until they lay off people, causing the unemployment number to rise, which then makes the stock price go up. Does that make sense to you? Anyway, the professor said that if and when unemployment goes up and the stock market goes down, we will be in deep trouble. And strangely, that is the situation we find ourselves in now.

Stock market is down and unemployment is up and the entire country is in a state of poorly controlled panic. I heard on the television news this morning that President Bush has reversed a prior decision regarding unemployment benefits and has agreed to extend unemployment benefits longer than they have been. I didn’t hear how much longer, but it was interesting to hear the news anyway. The next several months will be interesting to watch.