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62,000 jobs lost in June
The nation lost jobs for the sixth month in a row in June, a storm of pink slips drenching this year's July Fourth holiday for more than 60,000 Americans and leaving thousands more worried about the future. Weighed down by energy prices and the housing crisis, employers laid off workers in stores, factories and forsaken building sites. With more job cuts expected in coming months, there's growing concern that many people will pull back on their spending later this year when the bracing effect of the tax rebates fades, dealing a dangerous setback to the shaky economy. These worries are rekindling recession fears. In June alone, employers got rid of 62,000 jobs, bringing total losses so far this year close to a staggering half-million -- 438,000, according to the Labor Department's report released Thursday. The economy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs a month for employment to remain stable. Oil rises above $145 for first time Soaring fuel costs are taking some of the celebration out of the holiday weekend. Oil prices headed into the busy Fourth of July break by racing past $145 a barrel for the first time Thursday. The story was no different at the gas pump, where the national average soared to within a whisker of $4.10 a gallon. For a nation accustomed to hopping in the car or jetting cross-country on what is typically one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, the numbers are sobering: • Last Independence Day weekend, drivers were paying just $2.95 a gallon for gas, about $1.15 less than today. • Oil prices are up more than 50 percent since the start of the year. Prices rose by a similar amount in 2007 -- but it took almost the entire year for them to make that trip. • Just this week alone, the price of a barrel of oil jumped 3.6 percent. And that was a shortened week. Judge sends Refco CEO to prison NEW YORK -- The former head of Refco Inc., blamed for the collapse of one of the world's largest commodities brokerages, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday by a judge who decried the "staggeringly arrogant" greed of white collar criminals. Phillip Bennett, 59, a British citizen living in Gladstone, N.J., had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other charges for the eight-year fraud. Bennett said he didn't mean to hurt anyone. His voice cracked when he apologized to his family for their "unimaginable agony." U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said the 20 separate crimes Bennett admitted he had committed and the $1.5 billion in losses he had caused were enough to explain her ruling. Analyst: Chrysler, not GM, in danger DETROIT -- Faced with soaring gas prices, a sputtering economy and a rapid U.S. market shift away from trucks, the U.S. auto industry's weakest player, Chrysler, may have to file for bankruptcy or sell its storied Jeep and Dodge Ram brands as early as next year, JPMorgan said Thursday. But rivals GM and Ford are likely to get through the rough patch and turn a profit in 2010. |
