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For generations now, the U.S. government has stressed the importance of education to schoolchildren, specifically the value of a college diploma, and it has been willing and able to foot the bill. Of course, that was until the meltdown. With the current fiscal crisis, which is forcing states and the federal government to downsize financial aid budgets, and jack up college tuitions, more people with the smarts and work ethic to attend college are having to pass up the opportunity.

This begs the question: when the government can no longer subsidize education for anyone with the desire to attend, is a college degree really a reality for anyone with that desire, as we have been assured up to this point? Moreover, how will this pullback in education affect our competitiveness in the world job market as countries like Japan, China, and India continue to put out sizeable numbers of competent college grads?

Nobody likes a party pooper. But I can’t see stupidity and just let it stand, especially when it’s going to mislead thousands of already disadvantaged job-seekers. The harmful stupidity I refer to is an article on CNN.com called Ten promising jobs for class of 2009 (but don’t go there just yet, I have some explaining to do). The article, written by Careerbuilder, is a blatant example of how some companies will spread misinformation just to sell a product.

What’s so bad about the article? I’ll tell you what. The article claims to compile a list of growing jobs for the year of 2009, saying:

“To help your search and calm your nerves, we've put together a list of 10 jobs that college grads should look for this year.”

Then, claiming to compile data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) Job Outlook 2009 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook, they come up with a list of ten “healthy” job sectors. In reality, however, they flat out disregard data from NACE and quote outdated, pre-financial meltdown numbers from BLS (their handbook was written before 2006 and the world has changed considerably since then).

Let’s see what NACE really had to say about job prospects in 2009:

“College Hiring Flat for Class of 2009’
“Current projected hiring for the Class of 2009 shows very little growth over the hiring levels for the Class of 2008, but no expected decline.”

In fact, NACE found marked decreases in recruiting in business services (-3.1%) and only tiny increases in Professional Services (1.7%).

Then they use statistics from before 2006 to fabricate some sunny news. I mean, they used numbers created in 2005. In 2005, people still thought adjustable rate mortgages were a great idea. Americans liked George W. Bush enough to vote him in for a second term. People thought that in money markets, the stock market, and the real estate market the sky was the limit. Needless to say, things were different.

This should tick off anyone who knows anything about projections and the job market. There is no way these numbers are accurate for our times. There is no way the writer, Careerbuilder, or CNN actually thought this was based on solid facts. And yet, CNN has allowed Careerbuilder to slap this crap up on their page and pass it off as journalism, as advice to embattled job-seekers.

Kind of makes you sick, doesn’t it?

The writer of this article knows better. Careerbuilder knows better. CNN definitely knows better. Kind of makes you wonder what other crap they are feeding us.

Check out the crap for yourself…

The last six months have been a wild ride for our economy. We had our official financial meltdown at the beginning of October. The first bailout came and went. Insurance and banking giants continued to fall. U.S automakers teetered on the edge of failure propped up only by the government. Millions of jobs have been lost since the start of the year. A second bailout (er, stimulus, I mean) was approved. Bailed out companies have continued to post dismal results. And all throughout, economists, financial gurus, and conspiracy theorists alike have been prognosticating such calamities as the collapse of the U.S. dollar, the Second Great Depression, food shortages, and civil instability. Journalists both fringe and mainstream are becoming more comfortable with revolutionary language.  And yet, with so many storm clouds on the horizon, why does it seem like we have just stalled, like we’re just sitting on the precipice looking at the view below?

True, real life change does not happen at the pace of a TV disaster miniseries (gosh, I miss those). But for all the bad stuff that has happened and the harrowing stuff that’s being foretold, it feels like we’re in limbo.

Please note, I am in no way happy about our nation plunging into an economic hellhole. I like peace and plenty. But I’ve done enough homework to know, and I’ve listened to enough credible voices to know, that we are not going to get a free pass on this one. I would like to believe that we dodged the bullet and it’s time to rebuild. But that belief would in no way be built on logic or reason. It’s time to pay the piper and our credit cards are maxed out.

In my opinion, that leaves only one explanation for the current state of limbo in which we find ourselves. This is the calm before the storm, the deep breath before going over the falls.

So, ask yourself: what do you do when you’re about to go over the falls?

Do you make sure your seatbelt is on tight? Do you get ready to scream your head off and wait to hit the bottom? Do you bail out and swim for shore? Do you just enjoy the view, the cool mist of the falls? Do you just close your eyes and hope you’re still alive at the bottom?

I like to think that I and my neighbors would get out and start swimming the other direction. By the looks of things, however, most people are looking around, enjoying the view, hoping against hope that someone will turn the boat around. Yet others are taking a deep breath, preparing to scream their lungs raw.

Which one are you?