Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Year . . .

As the numbers continue to come in ugly, we get closer and closer to using the "D" word. No longer are the comparisons to more recent times. As the news sources search for benchmarks in other economically troubled times, more and more they are forced, when they say, "This is the sharpest decline since . . ." or "The last time unemployment reached these levels was . . . " to reach all the way back to, yes, the Great Depression.

The NY Times today, for instance, was not exactly a source of hope. In an article titled, "Layoffs Spread to More Sectors of the Economy," it stated, "After a dismal holiday shopping season, retailers are letting employees go in droves. More than 66,600 retailing jobs were lost in December, the worst period since the late 1930s." And concluded with the not encouraging news that we are hardly alone. "'There really isn’t any hiding place for companies anymore,' said Nigel Gault, chief United States economist at IHS Global Insight. 'The recent numbers coming in from the rest of the world are disastrous.'"

Funny how humor surfaces in our mind though. As I was pondering, this morning, the timing of my retirement from a nearly three-decade military career, I couldn't help but think, "Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue." Enjoy.