Financial Freedom SG

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -Oscar Wilde

I thought this analogy apt. My family and relatives have a third member who will be out of work by the end of the month.

The unceasing, relentless wave of bad news and fallout from the sub prime crisis to the collapse of big financial institutions as we know it has trigger a world wide unemployment rise and recession.

Witness the litany of unemployment news from a simple Google search of it:

• Ranks of Unemployed Becoming More Diverse
• Unemployment Nears 2 Million -just in UK alone
  
• Unemployed Furious at Contrarian Govs -a sobering look at the politics of GOP willing to sacrifice the unemployed in their own state just to score some political points
• Number of unemployed women to soar amid economic crisis, warns UN agency - estimates that 22 million women will lose their jobs and make gender equality even more difficult to achieve

But like what Oscar Wilde observed, some of us are looking at stars:

• Unemployed could see extra benefits as soon as next week -immediate relief possible from the huge stimulus bill passed and signed by President Obama recently
  
• Many unemployed workers retooling and retraining -shows what some unemployed are doing with the help of NGOs or government agencies to find a new career
• China plans subsidies for unemployed migrants -the emergence of some rickety safety net for the unemployed in China indicates one more example of government action to help its own citizens during this crisis
• Commiserating Over Joblessness Through Stories as Half a Million Jobs Are Lost - empathy, sharing amongst the jobless can help psychologically as we become more confident and mentally strong with peer support
• Executive Blues-Down and Out in Corporate America- a book review of how one former high flying vice president search for a job lead him to a journey to find "how we are supposed to live our lives"

All the examples of the efforts of the unemployed to help themselves and those who are trying to help them should not take anything away from the fact that "all of us are more than what we used to do".