Nebraska dept of Revenue announced today that tax revenues will fall 57 million short of predictions. The gov says to 'pull in the belt. No new hires, some layoffs, especially in the health services and welfare areas.

Peronsally, I think the downturn was self-motivated. Companies started laying folks off even though things weren't bad, and the predictions of bad times became self-fullfilling.
Just like the depression in the 30's. Lots of folks out of work and the factories closed - but it didn't make sense. Folks still needed food, clothes, supplies, etc... The factories should have stayed open and gave jobs to folks so they could by the goods produced.
The government programs didn't do any good. In the long run it was WWII that pulled the country out of the depression.
JLK

>>Tom,
>>
>>I understand what you are trying to say about the job market. However, I think you are in some ways oversymplifying things. There are more than just Dotcommers loosing their jobs today.
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>>One explanation I've heard is that the same problem thats hurting h/w manufacturers is applicable to s/w developers also. Companies were spending big bucks for Y2K. This included buying h/w, installing and upgrading s/w. There were tons of projects whose purpose for being was Y2K. For example, of the 3-4 companies I personally know of that installed SAP accounting, in every case Y2K was the driving reason to install a new accounting system.
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>>Economists at UCLA have stated that they think CA will go into a recession. Dotcom fallout is one reason, Energy problems is another. Companies suffering much larger utility bills are laying off folks also.
>>
>Perry;
>
>Yes, I agree and have read the same reports - it is frightening. Now this is the real domino theory if you will. One domino goes and etc. It is best to have a “Plan B”, that is – something else you can do in life. When the last recession hit us in 1990, I went from electronics engineering to programming. There were 60,000 unemployed electronics engineers in Silicon Valley in 1992. President Bush (The Elder) came here to campaign for President and was asked from a member of the audience what he would do about that problem. President Bush answered “There are plenty of jobs at McDonalds”. That is how that problem was solved and as an unemployed electronics engineer in the audience I was not impressed positively with the answer.
>
>So sharpen your skill set and be ready for what ever the economy may provide. I went to a friends College Graduation and the featured speaker was the President of AutoDesk (the Auto Cad people). He has a Ph.D. and stated to the audience that the key to success throughout your career is continued education. He gave an example of what he meant and went on to say he had held 17 different jobs within his lifetime, and that 9 of them no longer existed.
>
>Tom