Some breakthrough work on the impact hedge funds have had on the real economy was posted this evening on DailyKos by vets74: 1,000 Companies Attacked -> 1,200,000 Jobs Destroyed. 

These attacks combine corrupt MSM lie campaigns with market dumps of "naked shorts" and counterfeit "phantom stock."

. . . . Statistical sampling and employment data for the largest 1,000 attacked companies show they suffered 1,200,000 extra/excess layoffs.

Throw on a macroeconomic multiplier effect...  this gets past 3,000,000 jobs dropped overall.

Krugman explains. [Note: two posts]

You really must see his chart. It's my new second-favorite chart, after this one.

Sarah asked about this awhile ago. Maybe he saw her post? ;-)

A wave of unemployed persons who will run out of unemployment benefits. The National Employment Law Project (NELP) estimates that by the end of September 500,000 Americans will exhaust their unemployment. By the end of the year, that number will be 1.5 million. While one of the good things the stimulus did was extend unemployment benefits, NELP notes that since the stimulus passed an additional 2.7 million people have lost their jobs.

There are now an all-time high of 4.4 million Americans who have

45,000 before 9am. I'm glad the good folks at Raw are keeping up with this, in that "OMGWTFBBQ???" sort of way.

Somebody was working this weekend to make sure thousands of other people didn't.

US companies announced they're cutting 45,000 jobs by 9 am Eastern Time on Monday morning, even before the US stock market opened, according to a quick count by Raw Story.

The point is: this isn't going to stop. Layoffs lead to layoffs lead to more layoffs, until it's a Depression "for real." I live in MI, and we've been experiencing the truth of this for years now. There is no magic moment in which it all suddenly gets better, so long as policymakers continue to sit on their hands, or pass another round of meaningless tax cuts that lead to exactly no job creation.

So, what's your favorite snarky one-word response to news like this? "Ouch" just isn't enough anymore.

You know, the kind scientists use to see the smallest particles? I'm betting what's going to happen here in DC is that a whole mess o' young Republican flesh is going to be selling itself on the street, maybe Gannon should open an academy:

With hundreds of Republican aides set to lose their jobs as Democrats take over Congress, K Street veterans tell Roll Call that some may have to file for unemployment benefits.

"The hundreds of Republican staffers — not to mention more than a few Members — who will lose their jobs in the next few weeks are going to face a hostile marketplace on K Street as unemployed Republicans flood the market," Kate Ackley writes for Roll Call.

"While GOP aides are flooding the town with their résumés, it’s now plugged-in Democratic aides whom companies and firms really have an eye for," the article continues.