* Have your guys calculated what the employment numbers would look like if we didn’t have continuing cuts to the public sector? I think that goes directly to the gist of the President’s statement that the private sector was doing OK– I think his point was that most of our unemployment weakness now is due to public sector layoffs.

* How much would it have cost to extend stimulus to have prevented those layoffs? How much extra tax $$$ would they have been bringing in? How many additional (multiplier?) jobs would have been created and how many extra tax $$$ would those have brought in? In short, had we better supported the non-Federal public sector with Federal stimulus dollars, would it have paid for itself?

* If the housing sector righted itself, and there were additional jobs from construction, how would that change the employment picture? How does that play in to DeMarco’s refusal to adjust mortgages?

The one area I have seen no one get into detail on is the hard number impact of the housing depression on the UE.

If 1.5-1.6M new housing starts is the norm in a decent economy and we have been averaging 500K, latest stats showing that is now around 750K annualized what is that gap adding to the UE on its own? Also related jobs for furnishings et al if housing and related is 17% of the economy?

This and public sector jobs are the boat anchors on getting UE down.

Thanks for answering this question.