There's a strong chance the economy will get worse

There is no end of indication that we're entering a phase-two downturn. Two to mention: the recent new low in the housing index and the latest, dismal jobs report. A number of economics commenters are talking double dip, many without using that phrase.

Here's one who does, Robert Reich (my emphasis throughout):

The May jobs report is a disaster — the weakest reading since September. Non-farm payrolls grew only 54,000 last month, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Private employment rose only 83,000 — the smallest growth since last June. Government payrolls dropped 29,000.

The overall jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent.

Together with plummeting housing prices, falling wages for non-supervisory workers, a paltry 1.8 percent growth in the first quarter, and a precipitous drop in consumer confidence, the picture should be clear to anyone able to see clearly.

The recovery has stalled.

We’re not in a double dip yet, but the odds are increasing.

And here's one who doesn't, Paul Krugman:

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a blog post about the “mistake of 1937,” the premature fiscal and monetary pullback that aborted an ongoing economic recovery and prolonged the Great Depression. ... [I]n important ways we have already repeated the mistake of 1937. Call it the mistake of 2010: a “pivot” away from jobs to other concerns, whose wrongheadedness has been highlighted by recent economic data.

To be sure, things could be worse — and there’s a strong chance that they will, indeed, get worse.

That "pivot away from jobs" is truly bipartisan. After all, Obama got exactly the stimulus he wanted, and not a dime less.

Which, despite what Nate Silver may say, could put not just the economy — but the billion-dollar victory tour that mortals call the 2012 election — into "hey, what happened?" mode.

Just sayin'.

GP