What's Worse Than Being Unemployed? Lots.

Believe it or not there are worse things than being unemployed. Check out this list of people who woke up this Monday with much bigger concerns on their plate than most of us will ever dream about:

1. The balloon guy. You know, the one who thought naming a child Falcon was a good idea. And who now stands accused of faking an incident where said child was thought to have been carried away in a weather balloon, only to be found "hiding" in the attic.


2. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden. Because of all the things you want to spend your time as an officer of the law doing, chances are that spending your weekends uncovering alleged hoaxes (see above story) isn't high on your list.


3. Hedge fund gazillionaire Raj Rajaratnam, who is currently in police custody having been "charged with running the biggest insider trading scheme involving a hedge fund," according to the New York Times


4. Anyone who may have spoken to Rajaratnam on the phone about matters of dubious legality; he was under surveillance for at least two years, according to Bloomberg, meaning that anyone who passed along insider information—or acted on information he passed along—probably didn't sleep too well last night. Worried that might be someone you know? Let's narrow the field a little: "Prosecutors said he and his firm reaped as much as $18 million by investing on tips from a hedge fund, a credit-rating firm and employees within companies including Intel Capital, McKinsey & Co. and IBM Corp.," says Bloomberg.


5. Anyone else involved with dodgy hedge fund dealings. Because if the SEC and DOJ can wiretap one, who's to say they can't wiretap another?

Of course, all of this is but a mere distraction from the task of finding a job in this economy. But in the absence of any genuinely positive news…it never hurts to view your own troubles against a wider backdrop, right?

AP Photo/Will Powers

--Posted by Phil Stott, Vault Staff Writer