The Winter of Our Discontent

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that low'r'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.--Richard the Third, Act One

Every day since the beginning of the year, seems like someone is losing his/her job. I was listening to C-SPAN, and a woman said that she works in Georgia as a bill collector. She said many people owe between 2500 and 3700 hundred on furnishings, and when she calls, she hears a familiar refrain: "I just lost my job."

My mother called last night to tell me some good and bad news. The good news is that she is out of the hospital, the bad news was that my sister in law, an executive for Macy's, got a pink slip yesterday. She was one of 1400 in the Bay Area who was laid off by the company; Macy's slashed 7000 jobs across the country. My guess is that her severance pay is decent since she was with the company for 25 years. I also read that she has her job until April 30th.

But like many Americans, this recession is not like other ones, and I suspect their lives are about to change dramatically.

Update: my brother-in-law got a pink slip today and he has cancer.