Prodi, come to Colorado. We haven't been hit as hard as most other states, the people are nice, and we're getting a lot of $$ from the 'new energy economy'. Shameless plug for my state
But even in other places, the news doesn't tell the whole story. My brother lost his job in the auto industry and found another one within three weeks....in DETROIT, for heaven's sake. Same story with some of my friends here and in North Carolina and New York...they've lost jobs but found others almost right away, or at least as quick as they wanted to
I think things are not great, for sure, but in a lot of places it's more like they're shifting around, you just have to look for opportunities.
I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box and my business went UP 20% last year with no extra marketing or anything. Not to jinx myself, but I'm wishing for a little bit of that recession slowdown...I'd like to goof off more.
So don't believe everything you hear out there...it truly does vary from place to place, industry to industry.