A Glimmer of Hope

Recently, a friend of my mine on Facebook posted a comment asking the question, “At some point, feeling bad ends, right?” He was feeling great frustration within his workplace and his ability to grow both professionally and financially. Within minutes of his posting, 30 of his Facebook friends jumped to his aide by providing him with affirmations that everything in life changes and, yes indeed, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It was a pretty good example of how swiftly social networking can impact a life, and also a great example of how one life can act as a symbol for the masses.
At a time when unemployment has reached just over 9 percent, and as Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a New York-based industry consultant and investment bank, recently stated in the Forbes article, “Still No One Shopping:” “As long as the consumer has no job growth and no income growth, he [effectively] has a salary cut.” With job dissatisfaction and financial stress being top causes of depression in this nation, a simple reality exists—times are tough for everyone. While some are certainly feeling it more than others, there is a wash of hopelessness over our abilities to guide our own destinies, grow our careers, grow our salaries and make any headway in rebuilding our personal fiscal houses.

But, if you start to look around there are glimmers of light shining, and these little spots of light are starting to spread, (think of that old Hasbro, Lite-Brite game!) The headline in yesterday’s digital edition of the Wall Street Journal read: “All bad things must end—economists say recession is over.” And even more uplifting for our industry in particular is, as stated in this article, "Economists are calling for an inventory-driven recovery. With goods on their shelves now at low levels, businesses will have to order more in order to restock. This could turn into a virtuous cycle leading to more and more production. Even if it is slow and cautious, the change from drawdown to build up will require additional production [...]," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.