Figures

A convergence of bad economic figures over the past 24 hours:

1. GM loses $15.5 billion in the past quarter, as consumers turn away from gas-guzzlers.

2. The unemployment rate hits 5.7%, the highest in 4 years, as employers trim jobs for the seventh consecutive month.

Well, it's not bad everywhere:

Exxon posts a record $11.7 billion in profits in the past quarter.

And St. John McBush's take? Open up millions of new acres offshore (beyond the 68 million acres on U.S. soil that have been leased for oil drilling, but are not being used) because the oil "bidness" needs help in lowering our gasoline prices.