The winners and the losers

Winner: We may not all have jobs, but at least we're going places this Labor Day weekend. A survey from AAA Utah predicts an almost 11 percent hike in travelers compared to a year ago. More than 2.6 million of you in the Mountain West will travel 50 miles or more in search of fun, recreation or just a bit of down time. Most of you will travel by car, which is a good thing for local merchants, given the human tendency to eat and sleep. This travel report may not be the big neon sign everyone hopes will one day signal the local economy is roaring back, but we'll take good news wherever we can get it.

Loser: Bad times leads to bad behavior, unfortunately. A Deseret News report found that some employers are hiring anxious workers and never paying them, while others are hiring illegal immigrants and refusing to pay them, threatening them with calling the authorities if they complain. Still, other businesses are succumbing to the recession and leaving workers unpaid. Since July 2008, 4,400 workers filed claims with the Utah Labor Commission for a combined $10.2 million in wages they earned but never received. Times may be tough, but cruelty should never be excused, regardless of circumstances.

Winner: We suspect the University of Utah coaching staff might find plenty to work on after Thursday night's football season opener, but that shouldn't detract in any way from the importance of an exciting 27-24 overtime win over Pittsburgh. The Panthers came into the game ranked 15th. Utah is a team on the move and anxious to prove itself before moving into the new Pac-12. A win is a win, no matter how it is accomplished, and this one was a great start that could portend an excellent season.

Loser: Does anyone feel better about the economy after Friday's Labor Department report? If so, you may not grasp the situation. The economy added 67,000 new private-sector jobs, and even a slight rise in the unemployment rate, to 9.6 percent, might be seen as a sign that people who previously had given up searching for a job are now at it again. But while the new-jobs figure was higher than expected, the economy has a long way to go. The best thing the president could do to boost it would be to support extending the Bush tax cuts on all Americans.