The wife and I have discussed that we’ve felt pretty shielded from the economic downturn the country is experiencing, but that’s only because we feel like our jobs are pretty stable (she’s in health care and I’m in grad school) and we’re not in jeopardy of losing our home or cars, primarily because we get a lot of help from our families. In this regard, we are supremely lucky.
However there’s an unmistakable tenor in their air, isn’t there? The number of patients making appointments in my wife’s clinic is way down, probably because people are losing their health insurance when they lose their jobs, or they don’t want to part with $30 for a co-pay. Whatever the reason, it’s not because people are getting magically healthier during the economic downturn, and eventually they will reappear somewhere in the health care chain—perhaps in the OR when their problems become acute. Six months ago, the clinic could hardly keep up with demand and added an additional nurse practitioner. Now crickets are chirping in the halls. Is it any surprise that providers all along this chain are now looking over their shoulders?
Speaking of lucky earlier, I can’t believe how fortunate I was to get funding this past year in my grad program. Those who have followed this space for some time know how much time and stress this issue caused me over the past couple years, and the great relief that came when I finally secured a TA/PA position. Even as bad as things have gotten, there has been no suggestion that currently funded students would lose their funding, so I am still reasonably confident that this won’t be a problem for me.
However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t massive, massive problems. As the university loses funding, this means bigger (hence fewer) classes, and less need for people to teach them. This also means fewer jobs for new grads in general. This also means the elimination of a formerly taken-for-granted sixth year of funding for PhD candidates, pushing people into the job market faster than they had planned. Whether English PhDs need six years of funding to complete their research is (highly) debatable, the debate about the current climate is, how shall we say, quite tense.
Anybody else notice how the national tension has leeched into daily life? Trickle-down economics indeed…
Current Mood: Not Best Pleased | 
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With Michigan’s unemployment rate at 10%, there are some West Michigan conservatives whining that we are too obsesses with negatives — that 90% are still employed. Alas, it’s more complicated than that. There are many unemployed who are out of benefits, don’t show up or don’t qualify for the government dole, or have given up. And of those employed, how many are underemployed, working at jobs less that their previous or below their qualifications/expected pay grades.
Add to that what you were saying about clinic appointments, and a lot of people are worried.
And all this without even seething at the idiots who got us into this bloody mess.
Dr. Phil