“It is one of the most watched, and most politically potent, of the monthly economic figures issued by Washington, and it keeps creeping upward. The unemployment rate in the U.S. last December reached 8.9%, in contrast to 8.4% the previous month and 8% in October. In human terms, the number meant that 9.5 million American workers had no jobs in December. This week the Bureau of Labor Statistics will announce the unemployment rate for January and it will almost certainly be up again, perhaps surpassing the previous postwar record of 9% reached in May 1975.”

“The growing jobless rate comes at a crucial time for the nation, since the Reagan Administration’s economic program of budget and tax cuts is only now beginning to take effect. As the President pointed out in his State of the Union message, a 1% jump in the unemployment rate raises the federal deficit by $25 billion because of lost taxes and additional unemployment benefits. For the first time in years, polls show that more Americans are worried about unemployment than inflation.—Time, 2.8.82

A couple of things to think about…we’ve again hit an unemployment rate of 8.9% and the Dow fell today after two months of gains. However, if you’d invested $1,000 in the Dow (833.43) on the date of this Time cover, 10 years later, your investment would almost quadruple to $3,870 as the Dow hit 3225.40.

The actual numbers, both market and unemployment, aren’t the point so much as the idea that markets and jobs recover if you give them enough time. Besides being smarter about our investments, we also need to have patience. We can’t get sucked in by pessimism versus realism concerning our current economic situation.