Manpower has reported there will be layoffs in all Western Nations as many companies try to survive the economic meltdown. Layoffs will come apparently after businesses figure out their budgets for the coming year.
Obviously, this is not good news. Nor is it comforting to know that every country in the world is affected. Perhaps nothing is as telling that we are living in a global economy than our shared misery thanks to this economic decline.
I sense as well that everyone is looking at everyone else, waiting for somebody to do something. Trouble is, nobody really knows quite what to do. Or to once again employ prominent screenwriter William Goldman’s statement about the entertainment industry in particular and probably now to the rest of the world, “Nobody knows nothing.”
So we sit here playing with our paper clips and trying not to panic. For those of us who have lived in rougher times, regional wars, ethnic cleansing and the threats of annihilation, this is but a speed bump in the overall scheme of things. For those still around who remember the Great Depression, this doesn’t look so bad.
But for some of us who have spoiled ourselves with endless gratuity, trinkets, beads and high priced everything, it may look like the end of the world. Perhaps it is a retrenching on a Global Level. The U.S. can’t consume like it used to, and the rest of the world can’t try to be just like the United States. Or something like that.
But for now people are out of work. For them it is a disaster. For the rest of us, we hold our collective breath. Most businesses will survive. Some will go under. And some will innovate and not only survive but prosper in this very tough economy. They will take advantage of the layoffs to beef of their own staffs with the best selection in the pool of cast offs. When it all shakes out, not only will they be standing there, but they will be way ahead of the pack.
Look at it this way, even economic disaster is just another phase in the cycle of history. This too will pass.
