With gross domestic product plummeting and the jobless rate at a 14-year high, U.S. policymakers will have to author at least one more stimulus package in the months to come if they are to elbow aside the impact of high unemployment and depressed consumers.

“Employers are moving to aggressively cut jobs and reduce costs in the face of the nation’s economic crisis, preparing for what many fear will be a long and painful recession,” says The Washington Post.

The labor market has been weak all year, with a slow drip of workers losing their jobs each month. But the deterioration of the job market is now emerging as a driver of economic distress, according to a wide range of data and anecdotal reports from corporate America.

In September, there were more mass layoffs — instances in which employers slashed 50 or more jobs at one time — than in any month since September 2001, the Labor Department said yesterday. And nearly half a million Americans have…

And a Happy Friday to one and all! It’s been 3 weeks since I last started a Friday with that note. I hit every red light this morning on my way to work, which led me to think aloud in the parking lot, that this isn’t going to be a Fantastico Friday… And when I turned on the currency screens, after reaching my desk, I could see why I thought those negative thoughts… It’s getting ugly…

Questioning the Fed’s moves… Euros slow down… Aussie hits 25-year high… Oil hits $135!