It’s not just about credit anymore. Even as the signs emerged that the credit was loosening up yesterday, the markets tumbled with the Dow having its worst day since 1987, dropping 733.08 points, or 7.9%. The fears of recession are growing more real, with the Federal Reserve Chairman all but confirming yesterday that’s where the economy is headed. Ben Bernanke said that "stabilization of the financial markets is a critical first step, but even if they stabilize as we hope they will, broader economic recovery will not happen right away." Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain squared off in their last debate Wednesday night with the topic of the discussion appropriately being the economy. Most of the proposals to help the economy were centered on tax cuts and energy policy. Jobs were mentioned as the most important component of the economic recovery by Barack Obama, but the conversation didn’t linger on this topic long. Both candidates agreed that striving towards energy independence will create more jobs. But in the immediate future, Barack Obama proposed to eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs oversees and to give companies that create jobs in the U.S. a break on taxes instead; while John McCain advocated decreasing the tax burden on the American businesses as the job-creation mechanism of choice. No candidate laid out a specific plan for a program of job creation in our economy. The truth is the U.S. economy has been losing jobs every single month this year, with total job losses up to 760,000 so far in 2008. What we need is a focused domestic job-creation program that centers on investment in the manufacturing sector, in particular. Of all the economic sectors, manufacturing has the greatest potential to change the course of our economy. Manufacturing industries employ large numbers of workers, provide decent middle-class wages and promote greater economic activity in surrounding communities.