Do you know how bad it is?

To the powers-that-be and all people who have not lost their jobs (yet):

Do you realize how bad it is? Do you have any idea how terrible the economy is right now?

Oh, I'm not talking about the DOW, Nasdaq, the FTSE or Hang Seng; the stock markets go up and down on criteria I do not understand. Some huge corporation announces the layoff of thousands of people, and the stock market rejoices, because, gee, that company needed to shed some of the "dead weight" to become "profitable." Forget about what happens to the thousands thrown out of work...they can find new jobs.

Oh, can they?

I'm not talking about Goldman Sachs or other investment firms. Don't know anything about them, except that when they started to go under water they cried for help, and our government put my grandchildren in hock for the rest of their lives to rescue them with billions of dollars, and then had to argue with those same failed companies over whether or not their CEOs should get multi-million-dollar bonuses, when in fact they were responsible for the failure. (go figure...)

I'm not talking about the United States' "balance of trade," either. For a long time we've been bringing more into this country than we've been sending out. Anybody with half a brain knows that if the country stops manufacturing we're not long for this world. We can't just buy things from other countries indefinitely, and figure we will survive by being the world's hospitals, schools and fast-food chains. That is just a given.

No, what I'm talking about is what those we laughingly call "our leaders" refer to condescendingly as "Joe 6-Pack." The average people. The backbone of this nation. The people who grew up working hard, and hoping they've provided enough so their children won't have to work as hard as they did. The ones who developed a career but always kept a "backup" skill in the wings -- as a waitress or construction labor -- just in case that career vaporized.

Well, not only are the careers vaporizing, even the backup jobs are getting hard to find.

What happens when a newspaper lays off 30 people with no warning, some of who have worked there for decades...not even sparing the one who had been promised by a former publisher that he would "always have a job there for as long as he lived," because he'd been one of the first to work there?

What happens when construction jobs fall off so drastically that 80 applicants show up for a new project, when the company has just 6 job openings?

The experienced workers -- over 40 but not yet old enough to draw what is laughingly called Social "Security" -- never get a job, because the companies can pick and choose among the young and vigorous workers, who will work cheap.

And what about Social Security and other government safety nets? A couple of years ago, a news program on TV was looking at the Social Security program -- wise in its inception, it was designed as an investment program for old age; you put money in while you're working, the government invests it, and when you are old they pay it out in monthly installments.

But what did the politicians do with it? They practically salivated at the jaws when they saw this dragon's horde of loot. They found all kinds of uses for it. But, notice, the politicians don't put money into Social Security. I used to work for the federal government, and I don't think any federal employees put into Social Security. They have a private retirement plan.

But you, on the other hand, have to put into Social Security. Why? So the politicians can play with your money. The news program I watched a couple of years ago said the Social Security program was running out of money (gee, who could have seen that coming??), but if you were born before 1955 you would probably be okay.

Want to guess what year I was born?

What about unemployment? Not long ago a state (that will remain unnamed) closed down all their job service offices and put everything online. Nice. Efficient. Right? But what if you're unemployed and can't continue paying for an Internet connection? Or maybe you could never afford one, never learned how to use the Internet?

To top it all off, you're supposed to apply each week...on Sunday. Even the public libraries are closed on Sunday, so then those with no Internet go to the library on Monday to apply, and their check gets in the bank a day late.

And the icing on the cake is that after X number of weeks, this same state unemployment program skips a week. What's the purpose of that? Somebody is supporting his family on $250 a week, and looking for a job, and then in the middle of this struggle, they skip a week.

A few weeks ago -- it was the same week the North Koreans launched a cyber-attack on some computer systems in the U.S. and Japan, and so maybe it was because of that -- the online unemployment system for this same state was apparently overwhelmed. It could have been by the sheer numbers of people applying for benefits. Numerous efforts to log on to file were met with error messages. The system did not straighten out until Monday. How many harried unemployed workers had a panic attack over that?

Okay, what about food stamps? That helps, right? Many of the old-timers will take unemployment as a right, figuring they've paid into it all these years, but they "don't want no government handout." And they put off applying for something like food stamps until they've nearly lost the roof over their heads. When they finally break down and put in for food stamps, what happens?

Social worker: Don't expect results for a few weeks.
Applicant: Are they pretty busy?
Social worker: They are overwhelmed. They are 2 short on personnel, and just completely overwhelmed.
Applicant (thinking there might be a job opening there): Are they going to hire some more people, then?
Social worker (laughing bitterly): No! They're not going to hire anybody! They're already paying overtime. Just don't expect any response for a few weeks. It may take them 3 weeks to get to you.

As you look for work, application after application after application usually only gets you spam in your e-mail from sharks that cruise the online job boards. And the genuine employers don't call you back to let you know you're out of the hiring pool, because of the sheer volume of applications. They can't inform everybody.

In just the past 2 weeks on the Internet, I have seen a man wanting to buy a camper for his family to live in after he lost his job; a news story about campgrounds filling up with people newly homeless who had worked as contractors and managers; a single mom with 2 kids who had downgraded from running an arts center to "people tell me I'm a good cook...I'll cook for you" and needing someone to help her fix up her house so she can sell it.

Workers are selling their tools, farmers are selling their tractors, horselovers are giving their horses away. People are going broke.

This is how a Depression starts, folks. I've heard it said that whether you call it a recession or a depression depends on whether you're the one that's lost a job. If that's so, how many lost jobs does it take before our government considers it a depression?