Recession is real -- and it hurts
Posted
Dec 01 2008, 09:19 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
It's now official: A recession is here. In fact, it began last December, Kim Peterson at our sister blog, Top Stocks, reports. Another Top Stocks blogger, Anthony Mirhaydari, says we may be able to expect some relief within five or six months -- more or less.
Meanwhile, personal-finance bloggers continue to provide snapshots of how the financial pain is spreading.
For instance, informal polling of friends by the normally upbeat Silicon Valley Blogger produced depressing results. She writes at The Digerati Life:
The waves of an economic downturn are much like dealing with the effects of an impending tornado. The tornado spares some while it devastates others. You just pray it doesn't hit your household when it comes, although you can expect it to do a number on your landscape.
Among her findings:
- More and more personal-finance bloggers are losing their day jobs or are otherwise out of work. (Among them is Steve at brip blap, who writes, "I feel the despair personally -- my retirement accounts have been blasted. I've been laid off. I'm looking at a horrible job market in a struggling industry."
- Friends of hers are also losing their jobs, and some consultants she knows aren't being paid on time. (Which companies are laying off? She recommends TechCrunch's layoff tracker.)
- One friend of hers is losing his home and others are doing short sales.
- Self-employed people like herself are thinking about getting traditional jobs. But, she points out, prospects seem bleak. For example, job listings at Cisco fell 93% in one week.
In another post, "SVB" informs us that Georgia State School Superintendent Kathy Cox, who won $1 million on a game show (and gave the money to charity) has filed for bankruptcy because her husband is in the slumping homebuilding business.
