Ok - it's been forever since I last blogged, but I have been very busy as of late. Working in Lower Manhattan takes much of the energy out of me, and by the time I get home, all I want to do is veg out and do something mindless. And with this being said, I feel that it is close to a miracle that I may finally be completing my Masters degree program....
No matter how long I stay with my firm, I'll always feel that the Sword of Damocles is hanging over my head. Ten years ago, I was in a situation where my career almost ended prematurely. After dealing with that situation, we sold off a line of business which resulted in a good number of my coworkers being laid off. Surviving that round of layoffs, we were then told that we were merging with another firm - and the risk of layoffs opened again. About a year and a half later, my whole area was told it was being laid off. And I was one of six survivors of that purge - due to a little bit of luck, and the general need of the business. So now, when there is a vendor looking to obsolete the system I maintain (with two others), I start saying - "Not Again! I'm tired of living with this threat...."
Somewhere, I read that the ratio of working Americans to the overall population is at an all time low. I wonder how long this trend can last before society collapses. Businesses will survive by moving jobs to new markets and then by serving new markets. But what happens to those left behind? If seeing the abandoned factory sites in much of America is any indication, we'll likely have quite a few people unable to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, and have many former middle class people on breadlines....
How can we stop this decline? First, we as individuals, as communities, and as a nation must figure out how to live within our diminished means very quickly - or there will be nothing left for our children and grandchildren. The big question is - are we ready to deal honestly with this reality?
