For millions of Americans it is, indeed, a summer of discontent.

Sinking stocks, stalled housing, a slowing economy and a Congress paralyzed by partisanship and radically different visions of the future.

But the real toll of this recession is heard in the anguished voices of unemployed Americans, people who want to work but are simply unable to find jobs.

Anyone who doubts their despair probably missed the TV coverage last week of a job fair for the unemployed in Atlanta.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 people showed up to interview with 90 employers.

Many stood for hours waiting to get inside a local technical college. They stood so long that nine people were treated for heat stroke.

President Barack Obama has promised a speech laying out a major job-creation program after Labor Day.

Any Obama program is likely to cost money and House Republicans are dead set against anything that looks like another stimulus bill.

The president’s critics say he will throw an expensive program out there anyway, knowing it cannot pass. Then he can claim during the campaign that he had a plan but Republicans blocked it.

Sadly, it’s not clear what anyone can do at this point. Federal deficit spending has been the traditional way of “priming the pump” to revive an economy after a recession.

We tried that, and it didn’t work. Some say it was too little. Others say it was too much. Either way, Republicans in Congress are determined it won’t happen again.

Instead, they urge cutting business taxes and regulation.

Here’s the problem with that: Profitability doesn’t necessarily lead to jobs. Corporations are already sitting on millions in cash, much of it generated by overseas expansions.

The problem, unfortunately, is demand and confidence.

Consumers, shaken by the recent past and worried about the future, are not spending. Without demand, it is pointless for a company to add a job or step up production.

A company would simply be producing products that consumers either will not or cannot buy.

While Maine is hardly a bright spot economically, we are doing significantly better than other regions of the country.

The national unemployment rate in July was 9.3 percent, while many major cities across the U.S. exceed 10 percent.

In Maine, on the other hand, unemployment was 7.1* percent in July and the rate has been steadily falling since hitting a high of 8.4 percent in January.

Lewiston’s unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in July, down slightly from 8.2 percent in June, but essentially unchanged from its 7.8 percent mark in January.

Auburn, meanwhile, is at the state average of 7.1 percent, which is more than 2 percent lower than the national average

Still, that’s a far cry from the 3 percent unemployment rate Auburn enjoyed in 2000.

Hard to believe we have sunk so far, and for so long, and with so little idea when that might change.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.

* Labor statistics courtesy of Gerard Dennison of Auburn, who is retired from the Maine Department of Labor. Estimates for 2011 are preliminary and are not seasonally adjusted.