Economic news gets worse by the hour. Yet Congress continues to pursue an additional half a million immigrant worker visas per year.

Unemployment in California rose sharply to 7.7% in August, continuing at a 12-year high with few signs of improvement in the months ahead.

The rate jumped from a revised 7.4% posted for July and 5.5% level a year earlier, the Employment Development Department reported. [...]

In August, California's unemployment rate was the third-worst in the nation, tied with Mississippi. The Golden State trailed only Michigan at 8.9% and Rhode Island at 8.5%. U.S. unemployment for August was 6.1%. [...]

Unemployment in most of Southern California exceeded statewide levels. It reached 7.9% in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, up from a revised 7.5% in July and 5% in August of 2007.

The Inland Empire was hit even harder, with joblessness at 9.2% in August compared to a revised 9% in July and 6.4% in August 2007. Only Orange County fared relatively better, posting unemployment of 5.8% in August, just slightly more than July's 5.7%. Unemployment in Orange County was 4.2% a year earlier. California unemployment rate rises sharply to 7.7% [September 19, 2008]

In another sign of the times: Homeless pitching tent cities across U.S.