Impact of Job Numbers Goes Far Beyond the Jobless

First of all, we of course know that millions are looking for jobs and have given up or have taken part-time jobs when they want full-time jobs. That adds another 7 or 8 percent to the unemployed or underemployed. We are now are getting to the point where one out of six workers or so is having employment disappointments. We also know many have been unemployed for a very long time -- a record number, in fact.

Second, these people have relatives and friends who increasingly realize they may also get the axe.Their families, not only themselves, suffer.

Third, when you lose a job you now usually lose your health coverage -- or have to pay up big time to retain it. That adds to the misery.

Leadership matters in America. That is the problem. Right now, we don't have it. Leaders have to tell Americans the economy is weak and the deficit is necessary right now.

But in sum, a high unemployment rate does not merely mean that 14 million Americans, and they alone, are suffering. It suggests far broader pain and suffering. And disappointment may turn to anger before we know it. The Tea Party is the first manifestation of this. What's next?