A) Fist things first. Benjamin Barber at The Nation has written a macro-economic masterpiece of an article which puts forward such delectable nuggets as:
If we are to survive the collapse of the unsustainable consumer capitalism that has possessed our body politic over the past three decades, idealism must become the new realism.
Where, sir, have you been all my life?
I want my readers (the volumes and volumes of you who are out there in the aether – I know you’re there… I can hear you breathing) to read his article and thus form a basis of understanding for every grammaticaster economy-themed post from here on out. Thank god for composers more eloquent than I.
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B) Secondly… here, on the ground level, the economic crisis is hitting home at long last. I am getting human resource lessons from both sides of the divide – the fired and the firers. I now have two extremely close friends/relations who have been impacted negatively (let go by their employers) by the “economic crisis.” My significant other, conversely, works in employee communications for a company that just laid off 1200 professionals. What wondrous times we live in.
These events seem to shore up the assessment I made last weekend: this downturn is, and is going to be, much worse than the impression we are getting from the media and the politicians. This is bad. This is bad, bad, bad.
I am not saying it is time to run out and horde jugs of water, duct tape and ammunition, but it may be time to put a little extra effort into convincing your employers of how necessary you are to their organization. Meanwhile, I shall continue to launch the resumes of my loved ones into the ever-increasing, faster-flowing stream of job seekers. How bad is this going to get before it starts getting better?
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C) Finally, on a base, selfish level, the economy is negatively influencing my sex life. That’s right. My spouse comes home depressed, dejected and demoralized from days full of ruining other peoples’ lives. The end result is that I get zero nookie. So, please, think of little Herman. He has done nothing to deserve this.