The new unemployment figures are the front page news today. In March, the nation lost 663,000 jobs, according to preliminary estimates. The January unemployment figures have been revised to 741,000 jobs lost. The unemployment rate now reached the 25-year high of 8.5%, or 5.1 million jobs lost since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. A lot has been said about the subprime-mortgages and the role they had played in the housing bust, and the financial crisis. And rightly so. It’s really not s surprise that many of the subprime mortgages are being defaulted on. But today the government regulator revealed that the rates of default on prime mortgages have doubled last year. The deep recession has hit every segment of the society. It is no longer accurate to claim (if it ever was) that it’s only the “irresponsible” homebuyers--those who have held subprime mortgages--that are in trouble. And therefore, it is not the responsible homeowners and taxpayers duty to bail them out. The truth is in an economic downturn like this, everyone is affected and pointing fingers is not going to solve anything. Speaking of pointing fingers, both Chambers of Congress worked well into the night yesterday to pass the President’s budget. And they did, but not without substantial finger-pointing first. The House and Senate version of the $3.6 trillion budget will need to be reconciled in conference. The House passed the budget 233-196 with no Republican members voting in favor and 20 Democrats voting against the budget. The Senate passed the budget 55-43.