Bloody Monday

Today was my first day of work at Honda!! More to come on that later, as I count my blessings and duck my head in humility that I am indeed employed. 68,000 job layoffs were announced today.....

From CNN.com.....

Six companies announce massive job cuts in a scary start to the week.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 68,000 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.

At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

"It's all about the consumer, and the consumer's been hit hard," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. "It's a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness."

Read the rest of the article here.