Trying to survive.

Our national economy is tanking, the state is beginning to issue IOU's for your taxes, and if you are a state employee, you were unsure if you would be paid this week. My family is in California, three of my family members are state employees. They are receiving a ten percent pay loss so that the state can fix itself. It is not working. I own a bar, on the average I am taking in 100-1,000 dollars a day less this year than last. The economy is not good. We in Emporia are being affected by it. I thought it would take longer to reach Emporia than most other areas. We are a smaller community, it usually takes a little time for national ripples to splash our pond. I am concerned with the students at the college who will be graduating in the coming months. A year ago there were jobs available in most areas for college graduates. In this time of economic woe the job market is the worst one in recent memory. The other day I read a story that said that we had broken the record for number of lay-offs in one day. These are not the type of records we like to see broken. Winters furniture here in town is going out of business. The market was not favorable. We cannot afford to lose one more business to this downturn, one job, one source of income for tax revenue for this city. Each loss of said resources is unimaginable loss to our community and brings us one step closer to failing our next generation of Emporians. Alarmist, I hope not. So, what are we going to do about it?