Singing resumes, group suicides and closing doors mark the desperation of a new year.

State workers face pink slips to the tune of 20,000 more jobless.

In Florida, an unemployed executive assistant in her late 50s entered a karaoke for work contest –something that seems as surreal as the movie “Rollerball.” She sang about her plight to obtain employment to the tune of “Summer Lovin’,” from “Grease.”

Men in suits walk circles on the sidewalk holding their resumes pasted on cardboard signs in Los Angeles.

A few months back a Southern California couple took their lives and the lives of their children after the man and woman were concurrently laid off.

Small business owners are reporting as few as one customer a day, all over the place.

Taxpayers will receive an IOU from the State of California if taxes are owed to them.

During National Recovery Month, recovery programs are closing up shop for lack of funds to provide services.

The pebble in the pond theory cited by Virginia Satir describes the impact that one pebble dropped in a pond creates, causing reverberations that hit the shore, getting larger with each wave and returning the waves from the shore back into the pond – still moving until the waves eventually lose steam after many cycles and calm waters ensue, until the next pebble hits.

So this boulder in the ocean is causing crazy tidal waves – the kind that cause panic and hopelessness.

In Denver President Barack Obama raced to reverse the economic spiral by signing a monster stimulus package into law Tuesday. He’s preparing a new $50 billion foreclosure rescue for scads of people facing the loss of their homes.

Automakers headed to Washington seeking bailout billions.

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are getting rid of thousands more jobs.

Obama hopes a $787 billion stimulus plan package of federal spending and tax cuts will revive the economy and save some millions of jobs. Some individuals will soon receive $400 and $800 will go to couples.

“None of this will be easy. The road to recovery will not be straight. We will make progress, and there may be some slippage along the way. We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time,” Obama said Tuesday.

The package might restore order to the financial system to some degree. But housing prices continue to plummet, household wealth diminishes and millions suffocate with the weight of unmanageable debt.

The deteriorating job market eliminates paychecks from the economy.

Widgets, gadgets, knick knacks and curios are out. Water bills, mortgages and power bills must be paid.

The recession caused slews of families to examine spending habits and adjust accordingly for the sake of survival. Perhaps, if there’s any benefit to the economic crisis, it is that Americans were forced to face an epiphany that gluttony must cease.

However, with that said, college students are dropping out, some to eliminate the financial burden

A large majority of the nation's unemployed are educated. Essential programs are hacked from public school budgets daily. Overachievers are losing advanced placement courses in high schools, remedial students losing the courses that insure success, sports, extracurricular and arts disappearing from the fabric of curriculum.

The medical field is an active employment market, unfortunately only a fraction of Americans can afford to see a doctor. When jobs are lost, benefits are lost. In California a great number of doctors are awaiting pay for services that are covered by Medi-Cal. The unsigned state budget stalls the process.

I saw a man standing in the pouring rain Tuesday. He held a cardboard sign that simply said “HUNGRY.” I believed it. He was shaking and appeared emaciated.

The country and the world are pained with this paradox and hoping against hope for a solution.

Mandy Feder is an award-winning writer and editor who is a Lake County News columnist and contributor.

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