Tales from the New Depression

Spring is a time for new beginnings. So why does this year feel like the beginning of the end? This economic "slump" the country is in suddenly appears to be more than a slump. This "recession" seems to be accelerating toward the dreaded "d" word – depression – at a rapid pace.

I've heard tales of the Great Depression from my parents who were born in the 1920's. I know the current financial crisis America faces doesn't compare to those days – yet.

This new depression is hitting close to home. I am dodging figurative bullets on a daily basis. Because of the economic slowdown I am losing colleagues at work at an alarming rate. In the past two weeks several of my coworkers have been eliminated from the workplace. Some took the company buy-out and left on their own volition. Others received the dreaded tap on the shoulder from the grim reaper from Human Resources. The terminated employees were escorted from the building with barely enough time to clean out their desks and bid tearful goodbyes to their friends left behind. Watching them leave was not a pretty sight. I interacted with these people on a daily basis not just on a professional level, but on a personal level as well. Some of them I will still see socially if we don’t lose contact. I am already experiencing "survivor guilt" for still being employed at the company. I take no pleasure adding my ex-coworker’s duties to my job description. I’m now part of a skeleton crew haunted by mournful ghosts of the unemployed departed.

In the old days, when times were good and unions were strong, workers could refuse to accept tasks that were not in their jurisdiction. Today the opposite is true. Companies now expect workers to be interchangeable automatons who are trained in all areas of production by the power of osmosis. There is no choice. Wage freezes, days off without pay and salary reductions are the norm. The new depression is approaching faster than a North Korean missile – excuse me, "weather satellite."

Forget about saving money for the future. I've seen my future. It looks like a stack of unpaid bills piled high as the eye can see. Forget about saving for retirement. My generation is going to have to work well into our seventies if current economic indicators hold true. The golden years are turning to rust before my eyes.
My son is graduating from college in May. Four years ago when he started school, the job market looked so much better than it does today. I know my son is talented and resourceful enough to find a job in his chosen field. I just hope his chosen field is still in existence ten years from now.

Times are tough, but there is still some joy to glean if you look hard enough. I am blessed with a family who helps each other maintain a positive attitude. Dinner table conversation is always a bright spot at the end of the day. These discussions are an endless source of inspiration for me.

Recently, my kitchen stove was out of commission for a week due to a faulty thermostat. I had to improvise dinner for a few nights, limiting the menu to things that could be microwaved or cooked on my electric griddle. My youngest son glanced around the dinner table with a questionable look on his face. He stared at the mismatched drinking glasses, the mixed patterned silverware and the Zataran's Beans and Rice with sliced ham steak I was serving as our main course.

"Wow," he said. “I guess we really are in a depression.”
I hope this is the only new depression era story he will have to tell his own children after things change for the better for all of us.