Can you tell me how to get… how to get to the unemployment line?

Sesame Street, the popular kids’ show brought to you by the letter Q and the Sesame Foundation, is laying off a fifth of its workforce:

Sesame Workshop, the 41-year-old non-profit educational organisation behind the Sesame Street television programmes, toys and community projects, said on Wednesday it was “not immune to the unprecedented challenges of today’s economic environment”.

Among its largest backers last year were humbled Wall Street institutions.

Bear Stearns had funded a programme to help children and their families prepare for emergencies, while Merrill Lynch backed a global citizenship initiative.

Despite the whole Bear Stearns thing, their revenues grew last year, because Wal-Mart and McDonalds picked up the slack. The loss of $6.7 mil of their foundations’ value was  due to “falling investment returns and rising spending on its website and new series.” That, my friends, is brought to you by the letter F.