I forgot that the January jobs report was out today. The Labor Department reports that U.S. employers shed 17,000 jobs last month -- coming on top of December's disappointing addition of (revised in today's release) 82,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped slightly, but this means next to nothing. Unemployment is based on a separate survey that many economists think is much less reliable than the "Current Employment Survey," which polls companies and other employers on job trends. The unemployment statistics are based on phone surveys of households.

This is not technically a recession yet -- the Business Cycle Dating Committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research won't make that determination for maybe another year. But it's hard to believe we're not in one.