Teacher by day, bar dancer at night

I refer to the article which tops The Star Online on 8th November 2008. During this economic turmoil happening across the globe, one could hardly sit still at home to depend on its current job to contribute its salary towards its household.

I don't blame many who sought to be a full-timer by day but at night they are working elsewhere to earn some extra pennies. What really bothers me is that some chooses to go against the norm of working something which is illegal such as a prostitute, an escort, bar dancer, selling their soiled panties and bras or whatever that you may think of.

WHAT was an ungracious act in a train has turned the spotlight on just how much stress the current financial havoc is putting on Singa­poreans.

The news website, Asia One, kicked off its report of the encounter by saying: “Desperate times call for depraved measures. The financial crisis might have hurt more than just our wallets.”

It occurred last Sunday, when a train commuter refused to give up his seat to a pregnant woman even when he was asked. Instead, he blamed it on the tough life, reported The Straits Times’ news portal.

The episode was photographed by an eyewitness, who quoted him as saying, ‘Life is already full of suffering, why should I reward her (the pregnant woman) for bringing one more life into this world?’

The furore centred on his ill manners and ignored his reference to ‘suffering life’.

Let's move to the United States of America. According to a CNN report, no matter how much Barack Obama, President-Elect may try in his first year term, it is unlikely that he will bring much changes to the economic situation and thus unemployment will still take place in the States.

Here's the challenge facing President-elect Barack Obama as he weighs how to create more jobs: another half-million jobs likely will be lost between now and Inauguration Day.

That's not even counting the 200,000 jobs that economists believe employers trimmed last month, according to estimates from Briefing.com. The October jobs report will be released this Friday.

The unemployment rate is expected to climb to 6.3% from 6.1% and match the worst reading of the decade. And economists all seem to agree the worst is yet to come.

At some point next year the unemployment rate is forecast to pass 7%, a level not seen since 1993.

And monthly job losses of 200,000 or more are expected to become the norm, not the exception, as the full impact of the credit crisis is felt more keenly on Main Street.

Economists generally believe there's little Obama can do to stop more job losses in the short-term, even if he's able to get a new economic stimulus package passed by the lame-duck Congress and signed into law by President Bush.

"Superman couldn't change what's in store for the U.S. economy. It's going to be ugly," said Rich Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research.

Andrew Reina, a practice director for the staffing firm Ajilon Finance Solutions, said caution has become the watchword for companies making hiring decisions because of uncertainty about business conditions.

Even if they aren't cutting jobs, they're likely leaving more positions open this year and could push back hiring plans for 2009 until later in the year. Reina agrees that President-elect Obama won't be able to change that outlook in the near term.

"It's an uphill battle. He's going to have a lot of work on his hands early on," he said.