The Economic Outlook

The world economy is in rough shape right now. Like the rest of the U.S., for many freelance writers the economic outlook is bleak. As a personal example, just since the first of the year I've lost two different sources of income to the difficult times. One magazine I wrote articles for once or twice a year has just informed me that they are eliminating the use of freelance writers altogether for the foreseeable future as a cost-saving measure. Another publication I've contributed to monthly for more than six years is closing up shop altogether. This certainly isn't good news for me, but is nowhere near a crippling loss... yet. I can't help but think of how many thousands of people have lost their sole means of making a living, and my heart goes out to them.

Every opinion I've heard agrees on one thing; our economy will get worse before it gets better. To put things into some kind of perspective, every job lost is one less person who can afford to buy the products we write. If you have the money to spare today, please consider making a donation to your local food pantry. Even a modest ten or twenty dollars can feed a family of four for several days. Please do what you can to help those less fortunate than yourself get back on their feet; there but for the grace of God go all of us.