economy
okay so everyone was employed two years ago. everyone was working their asses off. and making stuff. and selling stuff. and buying stuff. and everyone was very happy. except reality was about to bite them in the ass. it boils down to this: the prices of stuff that was being made and sold and bought were somewhat lower than published. consider the housing market for example. more people than expected defaulted on their loans. which made the bubble collapse. ie prices moved away from their pretend values and towards their real values. anywho, so here's the poser. today we have the same number of people. they have the same set of skills. the same number of hours they can work. we have they same amount of resources. so uh, what's different? heh. prices. people aren't willing to make or buy or sell at these new lower prices. they'd rather do without. or be unemployed. yeah you can blame it all on the credit market. but really. they would rather hold their money than invest it. cause investing is work. and the compensation for that work just isn't worthwhile. at current prices.