The Labor Department said Wednesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, increased at an annual rate of 6.6 percent in the April-June quarter. That's the largest bump-up in worker productivity since the summer of 2003.

Likely, some politician will grab that statistic and start trumpeting the work ethic of the American laborer. Actually, all the data means is that employers have been laying off a ton of workers. Thus, those employers still on the payroll are doing more work.  

You know things are bad when vices start taking hits.

On Tuesday, the Vintners Federation of Ireland said that at least 4,800 pub jobs were slashed in the past 12 months. To boot, more than half of the bar owners polled by the group, which represents 4,600 Irish publicans around the Dublin area, said they will lay off more workers over the next year.

It's enough to make an Irishman-possibly even this one-weep over his Guinness. But if he does, it sounds like he'll be doing it from home.

Even there he may find he's plopped down a few extra quid for the pleasure. That's because, even though being an unemployed beer swiller is a bummer, the overall business of beer is good.