Last week I had the dubious honor of becoming an undesirable statistic. I joined the growing ranks of the laid off. The involuntarily idled. The distressed downsized.

And every day I hear of someone else who’s been laid off; a friend, a colleague, a friend of a friend, etc. At least in my relatively brief working life, this is unprecedented.

And the news just seems to be getting worse. Case in point; today’s Plain Dealer Business section. The front page leads with a positive story: “Medical-imaging startup to grow.”

Great, right? Then, there’s this:

“In a first, Microsoft to eliminate 5,000 jobs”

and this “American Greetings to shutter 60 stores”

but wait, there’s more “Data fuel fears of entrenched recession”

and finally, this little tidbit “KeyCorp, Firth Third, Huntington report huge losses”

Can we catch a break? Anything at all?