Economy still far from recovery

Every once in a while it's good to get a stern reminder that Nevada remains far from recovery.

We get that this morning from R-J business writer Jennifer Robison who tells us that the real unemployment rate for Nevada in 2012 was  20.3 percent.

For a good explanation of how this number is calculated (it's called the U-6 number), click here.

It's a stark reminder that the monthly numbers we see reported don't begin to tell the story of misery caused by joblessness. What economically challenged politicians of this age don't understand, I think, is that in their world of injustices, they forget to account for the worth of work.

The greatest injustice in America is not having a job.

There's no feel-good answer from government that can fix it. You either get the economy going, or you do not. Giving the unemployed a make-work job or a paycheck for doing nothing makes things worse in the long term, not better.

So keep an eye on the U-6 unemployment number. It's the best indicator of how things are going. And right now things are not going well.