Ugh. Are you ready for the first real signs of the econopocalypse?

The U-6 Unemployment Rate stands at 13.5%.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has several levels of unemployment. U-6 includes the unemployed ("unemployed" by the government covers only those who would actively seek employment), those who have given up seeking employment, plus all marginally attached workers (people who would be working if jobs were available), plus total employed part time for economic reasons (those who would take full time employment if it were available, but have had to settle for part-time work), as a percent of the civilian labor force.

13.5 fucking percent. The highest ever recorded.

To give you an idea of how big that jump is, here are the U-6's for December from 1994 through 2008:

Year	U-6
1994	9.7
1995	9.7
1996	9.2
1997	8.2
1998	7.3
1999	6.9
2000	6.7
2001	9.3
2002	9.6
2003	9.6
2004	9.1
2005	8.4
2006	7.8
2007	8.7
2008	13.5

That's a heckuva legacy there, Georgie.