The sky is falling!
Alcoa announces they are cutting their “global workforce” by 13%, or 13,500 employees, by the end of 2009.
No it’s not!
FBI plans large hiring blitz of agents, experts.
I think Obama will create a ton of jobs. That could be good.
It could also create a ton of bureaucracy… who knows.
Here’s an interesting thought. Today I was shovelling a few inches of fresh snow from my driveway. I was thinking there has been snow and ice here for too long… I barely remember when we didn’t have snow and ice on our driveway!
But I know in a few months it will all be gone. And in a few months after that, it will have been so hot for so long that I won’t be able to remember this cold, icy time.
Just like this recession. It’s cold and icy right now… and perhaps hard to remember how good it was. But there will come a time when it will have been good for a long time, and maybe the cold and icy wears off.
(for the record, for me, I can’t imagine the cold and icy wearing off anytime soon. It cut too close to the bone)
With bureaucracy also comes jobs.
I too shoveled snow today – twice. And I enjoyed every minute of it because I am a skier and snow in the valley means snow in the mountain.
As I looked at the air conditioning unit on the side of my house, I though of the 4 days in July when it didn’t work and the $500 it cost to fix and how that really really sucked. It was over 90 degrees in the house for 4 straight days and nights – no sleep possible.
That passed and so will the recession – many of us have been through it before. You are too young to remember the inflation of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Interest rates for homes was 14% and cars etc. over 20%.
Unemployement was high and the stock market was low…. and gas was about where it is now….
How many people sold their gas guzzlers a few months back? And now they are thinking of buying them back.
Here’s hoping is snows til thursday – then I’m going skiing.
Marc
From a “jobs” perspective, we are clearly are going into, in, or coming out of “low tide”. There will be discontinuities as the marketplace seeks the “correct” level. (Unlike you, I think that the new administration will make things worse. Every administration, when they try to “help”, hurts. I’d prefer they all just debate endless and leave us well enough alone. Printing money is going to hurt the poor and those on fixed income.) The trick is not to get to high during the “high tide” or too low during the “low tide”. “Low tide” is a good time, (usually, like history, we only learn the lessons when we are flat on our back), to get back to core principles. At the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse:
Success now is:
(1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt;
(2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you;
(3) a white collar job in order to save big bux;
(4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber;
(5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open;
(6) a free time hobby that generates income; and
(7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.
Seems so simple. Back to basics.
Jason, this is a great reminder, that “this too, shall pass.” The important thing is that we all remember the lessons learned in down times, even when the economy is good again. Reinkefj has great practical ideas!
My husband and I have been in our house since the summer of ’01, and we bought it on the assumption that at some point one of us would get laid off (Dallas, tech & telecom, early ’00s, downturn). Neither one of us did fortunately, and the fear did pass. When it did though, we didn’t change how we lived. We didn’t “forget” what made the last go-around particularly scary as newlyweds, and we’ve lived well below our means during the last few glory years.
Now here we are, and we’re fine. I’d like to see a bit more attention given to the people who aren’t suffering, because maybe that would inspire people to change their ways long-term and not just as a knee-jerk reaction to the hysteria of the “economic downturn”. I’d hate to see all these people who are now saving and trying to pay down debt just go back to what they were doing once the market turns from bear back to bull…once the tough times “have passed”.
On a local note, the Dallas Independent School District laid off 300 teachers a few months back, and all sorts of excrement hit the fan. Now, they’re hiring 200 back. That too, I guess, passed!