Like nearly every week this past month, more start-ups performed the dirty task of slashing their business plans and axing staff the last few days. This comes on the heels of even worse news that the jobless rate has hit a 14 year high. That, combined with a slumping stock market, made this yet another trying week for American small businesses and their employees. Here's who had it especially bad, via the TechCrunch Layoff Tracker:

-Portland, Oregon-based Vidoop slashed nearly a quarter of their staff last week, they announced via their blog, while other West Coast-based start-ups fired employees as well. That includes Spot Runner, who laid off 30% of their staff, Dash Navigation, who let go of a whopping 65% of their people, along with WildTangent, Veoh, MPC, Anadigics, and Intersil.

-Web 2.0 darling LinkedIn revealed that they aren't untouched by the downturn. They're laying off nearly 10% of their employees.

-Non U.S.-based businesses didn't fare much better this week. London-based Allegran got rid of 70% of their employees, while Israel-based Sentrigo and Modu also made cuts.

-To the surprise of no one who's watched the trajectory of the news business the past few years, the magazine industry has taken a huge blow recently. Not only did pop culture mag Radar announce that they were folding, but Conde Nast's Portfolio laid off 20% of their staff, and word is that scribes at Esquire, Redbook and Good Housekeeping also got the boot.

-Big business had a tough time of it as well this week. Electronics retailer Circuit City announced that they're slashing their staff by 17% and are shuttering 155 stores, according to the Wall Street Journal. Advanced Micro Devices—one of Intel's largest competitors—announced that they're reducing their workforce by 3%, or 500 employees. Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia also revealed this week that they've taken a hit as the result of the economy. They will cut their staff by 600 people, reports TechCrunch.

-Perhaps the business that hurt the most this week, though, was General Motors. The 100-year-old American auto-maker says that they burnt through more than $6.9 billion in cash in the third quarter, and claims that unless the market turns around dramatically, or they get help from Uncle Sam, their prognosis isn't good.