Unemployment is increasing so fast, so dramatic, well, all I can say is Merry Christmas. Even in normal times Corporations like to give pink slips as stocking stuffers, just in time for the Holidays. This year they have a jump on that fine act and being fired is now the gift that keeps on giving, way before the actual holiday pink slip season.

U.S. Economy: Jobless Claims Approach Highest Level Since 1982 :

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits approached a 26-year high, and a gauge of the economy's future performance dropped, sending yields on benchmark Treasuries to record lows.

Initial jobless claims climbed to a higher-than-forecast 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators declined 0.8 percent, and a measure of manufacturing in the Philadelphia region fell to an 18-year low.

Unemployment is expected to increase and note how wrong they were already in underestimating the numbers.

The FOMC now projects the unemployment rate will average between 6.3% and 6.5% at the end of this year and will average between 7.1% and 7.5% next year. Three months earlier, the FOMC had expected unemployment to remain below 6% throughout the period.

The jobless rate hit 6.5% in October