I certainly remember the economy so stagnant that the small construction I worked for went under, we specialized in laboratories and there just wasn't money being spent on new projects, and the ones there were we were underbid by much larger companies(they had to be taking losses). I also remember not just months, but two years of applying for, testing and interviewing for I can't even recall how many jobs and always being told you're in our top three or even you are our number one candidate, and somehow it was always the younger, less experienced...............cheaper applicant that they hired. I like many other older unemployed were told by the unemployment office job counselor that companies were not hiring older workers because they were afraid they would only stay until they found a better job. That's one way obama improved his jobless numbers, once you ran out of benefits and were still unemployed, you just disappeared, presto- changeo one less unemployed on the books. And there were a hell of a lot of us that just fell off the books.