Already, the airlines have laid off over 100,000 employees. The airlines aren't buying planes, so Boeing is cutting about 30,000 jobs. Boeing gets all sorts of components from other suppliers ranging from rivets to engines and avionics. Those companies will also feel the pinch. It goes even further. Fewer flights mean less jet fuel, fewer taxi trips to the airport, no more curb-side check in, fewer purchases in airport shops, and so on. Hotels and restaurants are also cutting people. I heard one estimate that the decline in airlines alone could directly and indirectly cost 500,000 jobs nationwide and that's just one segment of the economy. I heard this morning that Rockwell may be laying off over 2,000 employees, too.

The official definition of a recession is two or more quarters of declining growth in the GDP. Technically, we aren't in a recession _yet_. However, there's no doubt in my mind that this will be the first quarter of declining growth with perhaps several more to follow.

My biggest concern is for those who're up to their eyes in debt. Many people have taken out home equity loans and have a lot of credit card debt. If they lose their jobs, they also stand to lose their homes. I've seen it before here in Colorado Springs and it wasn't pretty. Our local real estate market collapsed in 1987 and didn't recover until 1992. There were some streets in town where only about one home in three was occupied. The rest were either HUD or VA repos. "60 Minutes" did a segment on Colorado Springs in 1991 calling us the "repossession capital of America." Those were grim times, indeed. Now, imagine that on a national scale...