If you are reading this article, possibly you are jobless or looking for a better job. Rather than juggling options and keeping at it, it's time to decide on concrete alternatives. If you are jobless, do not engage in the luxury of refusing concrete jobs that seem beneath your status. Get hold of one right now. Increase your job searches, do networking, and try out every avenue for a steady job. Polish your resume over and over again and do everything you need to hone yourself and get the edge you need to cut through the competition. Don't let your mind be immobilized by fear of any sort. If you are jobless in this deep recession, you have already lost most things you held dear, and there's little to lose from facing any challenges. You've got nothing to fear, because you've got nothing to lose. Go for the interviews.
If you are fortunate enough to be in possession of a job, and are looking for better alternatives, it's time to be cautious about a few things. First, consolidate on your position in your present job and never let your apathy of any kind show itself in the workplace. Try to align your thoughts and actions with that of your employer and try to deliver ever more. Do not give up on your search for jobs; rather redouble your efforts both on keeping your job, and on job searches. There are workplace situations that would have been considered unbearable under a normal economy, but are perfectly commonplace in a recession. Heroic efforts are needed to turn an adverse workplace into a congenial one and there are a lot of compromises to be made. It is better to see such compromises as sacrifices for the survival of your loved ones and yourself. All adjustments are transient and should not affect your drive for survival and success. Ensure and plan for your survival armed with the knowledge that a fresh bout of recession is just around the corner.
So, you ask me, what about all the positive forecasts and reports and statistics that show our economy is reviving? First of all, you will never find any report that compares present data with pre-recession periods, but only with the data of another period within the recession to demonstrate growth.
Next, most of the reports are tilted this way or that according to political correctness and there are big gaps in the data that is considered to arrive at conclusions. This applies in general to most economic reports. The actual situation was succinctly summed up by Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve Chairman, in an interview on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' show on August 1. According to Greenspan, ''Our problem, basically, is that we have a very distorted economy ...in the sense that there has been a significant recovery in a limited area of the economy amongst high-income individuals who have just had $800 billion added to their 401(k)s and are spending it and are carrying what consumption there is.....small business, small banks, and a very significant amount of the labor force (are caught in) tragic unemployment.'' That is the truth of economic recoveries you had been hearing about. According to Greenspan and other economists, we are headed for renewed recession if home prices fall further. Considering that benefits on home purchases have already been stopped from May, fall in home prices is inevitable, and it seems renewed recession is inevitable too. So, it's time to be cautious and play safe.
