Living on Empty

While I fashion a reply to a certain Leong and some other peskies, thought you might want to while away your time by reading this:

"We had hoped we might stay insulated from the global economic crisis, and for a long time we were," said Silicon Valley Network president Russell Hancock. "But then it caught up with us and now everyone is laying off."
Everyone?
"There isn't anybody who isn't laying off," he said, then draws a long breath before reciting this list: "Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Sun, Yahoo, Apple, Google." He pauses a moment to consider that. "Google. When Google is laying off you know something is going very wrong."

Social workers and volunteers trying to house, feed and clothe the area's newly devastated residents recognize that the economic disaster has arrived.

"It's alarming us to no end," said David Ujita, a director at the nonprofit service center West Valley Community Services Inc. in Cupertino, Calif. He said they've seen a 27 percent increase in first-time food pantry visitors since the fall.

"Folks believe that because we're in the Silicon Valley with million-dollar homes and billion-dollar businesses, hunger and homelessness don't exist. But in fact it's getting much worse, and it's just really frightening," he said.

Read on here

Revert: Maybe we should all learn to count our blessings...mmmm..well, almost all...