Can a long term capital loss on the sale of a stock be used to offset ordinary earned income?

[VolvoGirl]

Yes but only up to 3,000.  The rest you can carry over.

If you have a net loss for the year (after you subtract the losses from your gains) you can only deduct up to 3,000 (1,500 MFS) per year. The rest of the loss you have to carry over each year until it is used up. You can't skip a year. If you use Turbo Tax it will automatically carry over the loss for you.

Then in the future if you have a lot of gains you can use up more of the carryover loss.