27 U.S States Now Have Jobess Rates of 8.5% or Higher

More than half of the United States now has jobless rates of 8.5% or higher. Think about it: if you live in one of the following states, at least one out of every 11 people you encounter is involuntarily unemployed. (Included on the list, of course, is my home state of Nevada.) And that doesn't take into account the millions of additional workers who have been forced to part-time work, which means they've probably also lost their medical insurance as well:

Legislation passed by the Senate yesterday - and which is expected to easily pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by President Obama - would extend unemployment insurance benefits another 14 weeks for all unemployed Americans who have exhausted their coverage, and provide an additional seven weeks of payments for residents of the states above, along with those living in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

P.S. President Obama did indeed sign the legislation into law on Nov. 6, extending unemployment insurance coverage for millions of Americans.