America is in an unemployment crisis. Every week, we're bringing you true firsthand stories from unemployed Americans. Today: pain, fear, hope, and desperation. This is what's happening out there.

Every week, we're bringing you true stories of unemployment, from the vast land of unemployed America. Today: depression, redemption, struggle, optimism, and the bitterness of the 99%. This is what's happening out there.

America is in the midst of an unemployment crisis. We've asked unemployed people to write in with their stories, and the response has been overwhelming. We'll bring you a handful each week until further notice. This is what's happening out there.

Near-suicidal despair. That is what many Americans have earned from this recession. Yesterday, we asked for stories from those of you who are or have been unemployed. We've been flooded with responses. Today, ten stories from economy's bad side.

Many times in the past, we've solicited stories from people who work at various terrible places—Target, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and others—in order to cut through the PR and hear firsthand what life is like on the inside of America's churning corporate machines. Now, we'd like to hear from perhaps the most vital group…

In the economy, as in life, men are first in, last out, on top, and super successful. (And deserving.) Yes, the recession was a hard time for everyone. But everyone, whether man or woman, will be happy to learn that men are getting themselves back on track, more than women.

Both landing a job and finding a way to fulfill sexual fantasies can be difficult things to do. Sadly, after writing a bomb threat on the back of his restaurant job application, a man in Nebraska is no closer to achieving either goal.

In case you haven't heard, the economy is not so great these days, and getting a job is still a daunting process. But lost in all this conversation about people not being able to afford food or healthcare or education for their children is the sacrifice so many of today's teens have been forced to make — not working…

Even before all of Wall Street collapsed in September of 2008, bringing the national and global economy down with it, there was unemployment. Unemployment has always been a feature of this world. But since the whole "collapse of the economy" thing, it's been clear that if you lost your job, it was probably due to the…

The junior high school students who run the Fox News Charts Shop during detention have produced this latest visual explosion showcasing the unemployment rate's fluctuations under our current president, Obama. Some interesting findings here, specifically that the number 8.6 is the same thing as the number 9.0. If Obama…

The bad news is that nearly 50% of people under 25 in Greece and Spain are unemployed. The good news is you don't live in Greece or Spain. The bad news is unemployment applications are rising here, too. The good news is that the federal government gives you 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. The bad news is, not for…

The economy grew at 2.5% last quarter, up from 1.3% the quarter before, according to newly released data from the Commerce Department. That's just enough growth to keep from plunging more people into the ranks of the unemployed, but nowhere near enough to start digging us out of the hole we're in.

This isn't all about you, Main Street: Wall Street is going to lose 10,000 jobs by the end of next year, according to New York's comptroller. On top of more than 20,000 jobs already lost since 2008. That's a lot of unemployed bankers wandering around in a semi-fugue state!

Barack Obama wants to expand the umbrella of "protected classes" against which it is illegal to discriminate in hiring to include the unemployed, so if like almost everybody else you don't have a job, you can just apply for the next job you see and sue them if you don't get it. Problem. Solved.

In August, the United States of America, the mightiest economic power the world has ever seen, created the following number of jobs for its citizens: zero. Zero new jobs, according to the very latest jobs figures released this morning, which "show an economic recovery that appears to be puttering out."

What's the main problem with the American economy? You, okay? You, and people like you. As an average drone, your job is very simple: you go to work, you make money, and then you spend all of that money on consumer products. Repeat until dead. But you can't even get that right.

How about that economy, amirite? Yesterday it's crashing to hell, and then today there's a decent jobs report and rather than crashing some more, the markets simply "gyrated," which is considered preferable.

This jobless recovery of ours is now officially just joblessness. According to new data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP grew by just 1.3% last quarter. Worse, the growth we thought we've been seeing since 2003 has been more anemic than we thought: According to the revised numbers, the economy grew a lousy .4…

Olivia Pepper, "Student, NYU," has written a charming little ditty for the Huffington Post entitled "Why I'm Not Working This Summer." It starts with the most ominous opening sentence in the history of oblivious first person essays:

The new monthly jobs report is out, and guess what? Unemployment is up to 9.2%, the economy only added 18,000 jobs (one-tenth of the number needed to find jobs for all the poor saps entering the workforce right now), we created 44,000 fewer jobs than we thought in April and May, 14.1 million Americans are out of work,…