This statistic is mind boggling! Federal courts reported 158,000 bankruptcy filings in March. That amounts to 6,900 per day and a rise of 35% from February, as stated by Aacer, a court electronic records data collection agency.

The reason for this jump is obvious. Unemployment is rising to nearly 17% for all categories labeled by the U.S. Labor Department. Katherine M. Porter of the University of Iowa said: "Fewer people are trying to save their homes. ... They realize their payments are not affordable and bankruptcy judges do not have the power to adjust the mortgages to make them more affordable."

We're all pretty happy to put 2009 behind us, especially those who submitted the 1.4 million bankruptcy petitions last year, making it the seventh-worst on record.

Data gathered by the Associated Press from the 90 bankruptcy districts in the U.S. shows that filings surged 32% from 2008, with 116,000 bankruptcies in December alone. The 22% jump last month, though substantial, was at least below the annual average. That said, the holiday season may have chewed up time that people would use to file, so the apparent reprieve (if you can call a 22% increase in bankruptcies a reprieve) may not be real.

For 2009 so far, bankruptcy filings are skyrocketing. In August, filings were up 22% year-over-year, and Nevada has become taken the dubious honor of leading the nation in bankruptcies (Tennessee is #2).

More than 950,000 bankruptcy filings have occurred this year, compared to slightly over 700,000 last year. By December, it could come close to 1.5 million.

Consumer bankruptcies have already spiked more than 30% this year, and it looks like the trend shows no signs of flagging. The American Bankruptcy Institute predicts that the tally could hit 1.4 million by the end of the year. So, although there are some experts signaling that the economy is on the upswing, the downstream effects of bankruptcy on consumer spending and corporate balance sheets are going to make it difficult for the market to turn the corner.

In July, more than 126,000 people filed for bankruptcy protection, and the filing rate was up 36.5% for the first six months of 2009 relative to the same period in 2008. The problem is affecting every rung of the social ladder.

Numbers are pointing the fact that the economy lost more jobs last year, more than any year in decades. According to Bloomberg, "Payrolls fell 500,000 in December, bringing last year's decline to 2.4 million, the most since 1945."

So, last year was a bad one. The stock market has opened as if this one will be better. Don't bet on it.

Many large industries may only be at the beginning of their layoff cycles. That is certainly true of retail. Some estimates are that another 70,000 stores will close in the U.S. this year. The auto industry will cut more jobs either to please Congress or due to outright bankruptcies. Small business has almost no access to capital, so that part of the economy is likely to eat through jobs as well.

Unemployment almost certainly went above 7% in December. Retail layoffs could push that toward 8% all by themselves. The idea that the entire economy could drop another three million jobs this year is entirely possible.

Whatever the stock market is signaling about a recovery is premature. Too many industries are in too much trouble to keep employment anywhere close to where it is today.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

As the economy slides into recession and struggling retailers and restaurants begin to lose the good fight, its inevitable that some favorites will disappear. Among those leaving us in 2008 are retailers Linens 'n Things, Mervyns, Sharper Image, and Steve & Barry's.

I always liked Linens 'n Things for its reasonably priced, reasonably stylish offerings of such functional things as kitchenware and linens, not to mention the occasional useless but chuckleworthy items such as dancing Santas and big plastic barrels of pretzels. But I admit that I didn't shop at the New Jersey-based big-box retailer very often. After Linens 'n Things went private in 2006, the chain's expansion was offset by declining same-store sales, and the company operated at a loss. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2008, but in October said it would liquidate all remaining stores.

Being from the midwest, I've never shopped at a Mervyn's. It appears to have been a store with a bit of an identity crisis. It was acquired by Dayton Hudson in 1978. Beginning in the '80s, Mervyn's tried unsuccessfully to expand into Georgia and Florida. From 1996 to 2001, the name was changed to Mervyn's California to identify with its West Coast roots. Then in 2004 , Mervyn's was sold to private investors. Store closings became a regular occurence. In July 2008, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. More store closings followed, and in October the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and began to liquidate its stores.