Mort Zuckerman: Under Obama, the New American Dream Is a Job

◼ The most dismaying signal of a weakening economy came from the American consumer, as retail sales fell a stunning 0.5 percent in June, far below the expectation for a 0.2 percent increase. An astounding 70 percent of retailers missed their sales targets in June, reflecting the most difficult month since November 2009. - US News & World Report

What we have been living through is a breakdown of the great American jobs machine. Jobs have long been the best social program, the best economic program, and the best family program in America. No longer. The jobs are not there. Unemployment today is the worst since the Great Depression.

The unemployment statistics may be mind-numbing in the effort to portray the complexities of the national picture beyond the simple—and misleading—routine headline figures.... More at the link