Funny, but all of a sudden we're not hearing so much about the "green shoots" of economic recovery, from Uncle Ben or anybody else.

I smell unemployed people. I strongly suspect unemployment has something to do with this! And I'm not even a certified economonist.

First, there were a record number of foreclosures in April. According to CNNMoney.com, "Foreclosures in April exceeded even March's blistering pace with a record 342,000 homes receiving notices of default, auction notices or undergoing bank repossessions, according to a regular industry report.

"One of every 374 U.S. homes received a filing during the month..." 

A couple days ago I cited the journal Chicago Business as noting that many of the new wave of foreclosures is due to layoffs.

Then there's these two headlines up at Bloomberg.com right now:

•U.S., European Stocks Drop on Earnings, Recession Concern; Treasuries Gain

and 

•Retail Sales in U.S. Unexpectedly Drop as Unemployment Cuts Into Purchases

Now that's got to be the "duh" award winner of the year so far. It's in the same category as the sentence, "We are hungry when we have had nothing to eat."

You mean out-of-work people don't go out and spend a lot of money? Who knew?