Read full story for latest details.\n

These are strange and horrible times for Detroit, even by the standards we\'ve become accustomed to, as the Detroit Three (formerly Big Three) automakers continue to waste away. In the latest twist, General Motors, one of the Three, had been saying privately that Detroit would collapse unless Washington gave it billions to help it buy Chrysler, the smallest of the Three. But then GM put the deal, supposedly so vital to the future of Detroit, on hold. If you look at the numbers, you can see why.\n

Neel Kashkari, the Treasury Department\'s point man for the bank bailout, said Friday he was encouraged by progress made thus far but acknowledged that more work lay ahead.\n

What gives today\'s October employment report an unmistakably ominous twist is the almost uniformly downbeat message from nearly all of its components. No matter how deep one digs into the specifics of the data, it is hard to identify any encouraging news. Not only did the economy lose a massive 240,000 jobs in the non-farm sector, but the previously reported declines of 159,000 in September and 73,000 in August were revised sharply lower to 284,000 and 127,000 respectively as well. As a result, the economy has now lost a total of 1.2 million jobs since the beginning of the year, with nearly half of those losses occurring in the last three months alone, pointing to an acceleration in the pace of erosion in labor markets.\n

Borrowing by consumers increased in September after a pullback the previous month, according to a government report issued Friday.\n