It's the economy, stupid

[sleigh]

As is my wont for the first class after the holiday break, I asked the students in my Novel Writing II class last night how their holiday break went. Of the 17 people in the class, four mentioned that they or someone close to them (in two cases, a spouse) had lost their job over the holidays.

Four out of seventeen. 24%. Yes, it's anecdotal, but that certainly doesn't seem to bode well...