So here we are 16 business days into 2009, and already there are over 200,000 massive layoffs (as defined by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics).  CNN is keeping track of all the companies that have announced layoffs in 2009.  The number is ugly and it’s only going to get uglier.

Just today, Pfizer, Caterpillar, Sprint, ING, Deere, Texas Instruments, and Home Depot announced cuts of over 70,000!  Pfizer also happened to announce a $68 billion takeover of Wyeth, which will lead to many of the job cuts.

Keep in mind that 2008 saw the worst shedding of U.S. jobs since 1945.  We lost 2.6 million last year–and that doesn’t take into account the fact that population growth creates a natural demand for more jobs.

2009 is shaping up to be a lot worse than 2008.  I say let’s get the bleeding over with so we can start the healing sooner.  You might think this is a perverse sort of logic, but really if you want to get to a point where we can start seeing solutions we need to have the bad news now.

 

The CNN article can be viewed here.

The Second Great Depression is in full effect.

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