Why The Economy Isn’t Picking Up: It’s the Layoffs, Sweetheart.

Amazing how having some time to think about things brings up all kinds of insight and new articles to inflict upon the world. This week I have been seeing articles about the recession, or possible lack thereof, why business isn’t picking up, why spending isn’t picking up, etc. I had a thought about the whole situation and about why people like myself aren’t spending. Not just people without jobs, but those with jobs as well. Maybe, just maybe, people aren’t spending more because they are also worried about being laid off and surprise! if you’re worried about you’re next paycheck, you may not be spending as much as you used to.

I came up with this insight, which is probably being repeated many times over, as I thought about the fact of what would happen once I do get a job. I can tell you right now, my family and I will be working to spend less because we are going to have a worry that it might happen again. Which is going to mean there is less need for goods out there, which means there will be less work, which means less money for companies, which means they might layoff some more people, which means they’ll be spending less and so on and so on. Hmm, so when people aren’t confident about how they are going to survive in the future, they may put less into the economy.

So, my point, if there is one, is that perhaps this idea of laying off people may contribute to the economy not doing well. There are that many fewer people out spending money and even if they do get a job, their spending is likely to continue being a lot less. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if our economy has come to depend on this outrageous amount of spending just to keep going, than it would be nice to lessen that dependence gradually. I, for one, would prefer to not see a return to soup lines and people without homes, especially if my family is part of that.

Maybe companies could start looking at alternatives to layoffs and start looking at people as an investment that needs to be taken care of instead of burden they have to put up with. Maybe the heads of companies could start asking their employees what could be done to cut costs, they might be surprised at the creativity the comes up when your job may be on the line. And maybe the streets will be paved with gold tomorrow too, in other words this is all unlikely, but perhaps if enough people start passing the idea around, things would change. I can hope, can’t I? And I would like my child to live in a better world where he doesn’t have to worry about being let go from a company because of some arbitrary rules instead of being based on his performance.