REAL STORY -- Recession, A View From the Bottom

Okay, maybe a view from the middle. But I more or less found out I'm out of work today, so I feel pretty bottom-like at the moment. I thought I'd summarize what I'd seen recently, which makes me fear we're already in deeper trouble than those at the top will admit.

I work for (or worked for) a small company that sells training into the mid-corporate and education market; things like technical certifications, sales skills, computer skills, etc. For the last few years things were going reasonable well. But an adage in the training industry is that training is the first to go.

Which brings us to November 2007...

In October, out of the blue, sales just plummeted. We sell online and hosted training, on a platform I developed over the years. Sales had been pretty consistent, and suddenly they just fell off the map. Not just ours, but we sell through some other, big-name, channels and they suffered the same drop.

November and December brought more of the same. Big contract we thought we would close were suddenly delayed due to economic uncertainty. Our education clients, delaying due to uncertainty. Our Manufacturing clients, delaying because cash was tight. In every space we sell the story was the same. This was when the real estate problems were just hitting the news, before anyone mentioned recession.

The inevitable happened. Our owner is deeply tied into water rights and real estate, and he announced a few days ago that he's out of money. Much had been pulled from the company this summer to help cover other cash problems he'd had, and there wasn't even enough to really shut things down well.

So he's offered to let us work, if we want, with no real guarantee of pay. If training is a barometer of the economy, I think the problems are deeper and more systemic that anyone wants to admit. In different sectors, in different areas of the country, everyone seems to be bracing for the worst.

And, of course, as a diabetic with a pregnant wife I don't even want to think what the loss of insurance is going to do to me. While politicians debate weather or not we are going into a recession, while talking-heads on TV  discuss definitions and stock market fluctuations, my family and I will be desperately  trying to survive it.

I'm pretty sure we will have recovered before anyone admits, down the road, what those at the bottom have seen all along. The economy isn't great.

And if anyone is in the market for a slightly used Development manager...

[Update] Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and express support. I'm sorry to hear other are  going through the same things as well. It feels good to vent a bit right now.