Here at the blog formerly known as Citizen Cohn, we bring you the bad news as well as the good. And so we must draw your attention to the latest state-by-state statistics on unemployment -- and, specifically, the unemployment rate in Michigan. It's up to 10.9 percent, the third consecutive month that it's risen. The story seems to be the same across the Great Lakes region.
As noted here previously, the precipitous drop in unemployment in this part of the country has been one of the better, if under-appreciated, economic stories of the last year -- testimony to a rebound in the manufacturing sector bolstered, in part, by the government's rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. And, for the record, the situation is still markedly better than a year ago, when unemployment in Michigan was 12.4 percent. But this is obviously sobering news -- and a reminder that the economy needs a lot of help.