It's the stupid economy

WALL STREET and Washington have been awash in numbers since the financial crisis began, but the one that best measures its severity is not 700 billion - it's 159,000. That is the number of jobs lost during September.

For months, since the air first started leaking out of the real estate bubble, pink slips have piled up along with home foreclosures. Without ignoring other issues, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama should spell out in greater detail exactly how they will help Americans stay on the job and in their homes.

The construction industry has been especially hard hit by the collapse of the housing market. At a time when the country has a substantial backlog in infrastructure needing repair or replacement, construction workers could find plenty of work - if states and municipalities had the funds and borrowing capacity to get needed work done. Obama has made $50 billion in grants to state and local governments part of his economic stimulus plan, but he should be pressed on how he would pay for this.

McCain's trademark prescription for spurring economic growth is lowered taxes. But taxes already are lower for millions - because their earnings have fallen. Opening up offshore sites for oil and gas drilling, as McCain has recommended, will create a measure of new jobs, but this industry is already benefiting from high demand for its products. The candidate needs to propose other job-creation strategies.

Both Obama and McCain have proposals for helping homeowners fend off foreclosure. The public would benefit from hearing the pros and cons of each approach.

From now until Nov. 4, Americans need to learn how each candidate would deal with this economic calamity.