What's the difference between a recession and a depression?

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.
A depression is when you lose yours.
- Ronald Reagan

Well, according to Reagan's definition, we've dropped beyond a recession and are now 10% of the way toward a depression. Here's how I figure it....

The company I work for has been feeling the effects of the economic downturn and high fuel prices for about a year now. Being a manufacturing company who primarily caters to the trucking industry, it's not hard to understand why we're having problems. On Monday, I had the awful task of laying-off one person in my department. It's definitely not something I'd want to do again. Our production manager had it even worse. He had to layoff 3 full-time employees and 1 part-timer. Then on Tuesday, the remaining employees got an additional shock. We are now working 5-4 work weeks. This means I'll be alternating between working 5 days per week and 4 days per week. Essentially, everyone is taking 1 out of every 10 days off, and therefore getting paid 10% less.

This situation would normally make me consider employment elsewhere, but with the possibility of Brooke graduating within one year and then moving back to Seattle, a new job
is looking less attractive. For now I'll just try to enjoy my extra days off. I'll finally be able to catch up on my Young and the Restless shows.........just kidding.