Breakingviews read my MIND (or my post)

Remember when I hinted that Rising Unemployment could just be this season's #1 video game hit? Well, Breakingviews must have read my post, because they took my idea and ran with it, albeit in a slightly different direction:

How fast can you lose $50bn? To lighten the winter gloom, we’ve brought you the “Bernie Madoff game”. Pretend you are running a Ponzi scheme. Decide the fictional return you want to promise investors, how much to siphon off for yourself and how long to let the scam run. Then watch the losses mount.

The game itself is a little dull, just a few numbers plugged into a spreadsheet, but its simplicity is startling. All you do is set a return level, plug in losses/disbursements, and watch the losses mount. Really, anyone can do it! Although you probably shouldn't... Thx to DealBook for the tip.

Unemployment hits 16-year high

Well, that's depressing news. But just how bad is it? The NYTimes provides a lovely slideshow on its front page to help us understand the crisis:

I gotta say... Rising Unemployment looks like a kinda cool video game. Down we go! Weeee! Which exciting boss will we encounter once we reach the employment dungeon? Recessionary Koopa? Or will it be the evil Depression von Koopa? Graphics make unemployment fun!!