Today I was informed that I am being laid off effective next Friday. At least I’m getting that much notice, unlike some people (they got none). Unfortunately, the decision was not in the hands of my department, but rather the Budget department, deciding, en masse, that all interns in my department are to be fired. While it sucks (I love my job, my boss and my coworkers), perhaps it’s all for the best.

I’ve already shot my resume to some people, and I’m hoping to hear things back over the next few days, but it’s no guarentee. In this economy, 2 weeks is a very short period of time in which to find a job. However, this all gets me thinking. What has our economy come to? I was born in the late eighties, so a majority of my childhood was spent growing up in the 90s. While bad things happened (incidents in Somalia, Rwandan genocide, USS Cole bombing), I strangely remember it as being a more peaceful time.

Granted, my needs and desires were much more simple thing, but I seem to remember having a more comfortable standard of living. My parents were never rich (far from it), but we lived in a pretty nice suburban neighborhood. I remember getting (pretty much) what I wanted for Christmas, and I remember a time when going out to the movies wasn’t an outrageous expense.

Now, being a student in the first decade of the 2000′s, I see how things have changed. I, like most students, live paycheck-to-paycheck, so a layoff is particularly upsetting. But at the same time, the cost of living is steadily rising. How come our paychecks don’t seem to match? It’s very easy to poke at Bush and the Republicans for their past 8 years of failed economic policies (Reaganomics didn’t work in the 80s, why would it work now?), but I think it transcends that.

I think we as Americans have been fooled by the economy for many years now. We’ve been convinced that we can live this lavish lifestyle, when in fact we cannot. Now, at crunch time, we have to decide how we’re going to pay bills, put food on the table, and occassionaly scrape together enough money to go out with some friends. Life shouldn’t be like this. I’m in the best years of my life, and I’m overworked, overstressed, underpaid, and studying in every spare minute I have (which isn’t many).

I spoke with the department’s director today, and I really feel bad for her. It’s not her fault they’re firing all the interns, and in fact she’s bent over backwards to try and keep us. Good for her, too bad Budget doesn’t understand. We’re in rough times financially (the whole country, not just my department), and layoffs are becoming all too common.

I’m just glad I fall into the “skilled labor” category…makes me somewhat less replaceable. Now to just find a job…