After last week’s thumping at the hand of all its major counterparts, the dollar is looking to me like Charles Atlas’ 98-pound weakling from the old comic book ads. Sand is getting kicked in its face from every bully on the beach. Even the lowly yen, with its pacesetting negative GDP (a negative 250% of the United States), is kicking the dollar’s bootie.

The number of Americans on benefit rolls is at four-year high, according to the Labor Department.

According to Thomson Reuters, a report from the Labor Department showed “the number of workers still on the benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid held at 3.073 million in the week ended May 10, the latest for which figures were available. The last time so-called continued claims were higher was in March 2004.”