[Lunatic Fringe]

I think payrolls are still down about 1.5 mil since the recession began.

Incorrect, sir....

According to the BLS:

January 2001= 137790
April 2001= 137275
July 2001 = 137091
October 2001 = 136447
January 2002 = 135715
April 2002 = 136096
July 2002 = 136478
October 2002 = 137079
January 2003 = 137447
April 2003 = 137578
July 2003 = 137604
October 2003 = 138095
January 2004 = 138566
April 2004 = 138576

[RWR8189]

Ok, because I have been looking at this table from BLS:

2000 194 146 493 308 231 -25 160 -28 89 30 183 124
2001 -53 104 15 -271 1 -150 -115 -141 -267 -361 -332 -212
2002 -165 -90 43 -68 2 25 -111 11 -47 83 -37 -209
2003 94 -159 -110 -20 -28 -14 -45 -25 67 88 83 8
2004 159 83 337(p) 288(p)

And that doesn't show total payrolls, but it shows them off still about 1.5 million since 2000.