How are you doing?

Welcome to my imaginary psychotherapy couch. I will now ask you a very simple question.

How are you doing?

It's not just a pleasantry anymore and not just a greeting in the personal sense. It is now a question asked to and from your suppliers and competitors as to how your business is doing.

How are you doing? Probably all right but the odds are that some of your friends and family have been unemployed or underemployed for over one year.

How are you doing? My guess is that if you now are working harder and more hours than you did a year ago as your firm had layoffs and you had to absorb all the work and tasks those people performed.

How are you doing? With fewer people working the rest of us are having to pick up the slack by paying higher taxes.

How are you doing? Your paycheck is probably the same as it was a year ago as cost of living increases have been canceled.

How are you doing? I was asked the question last week by a fellow contractor who relies heavily upon getting their work from the private sector. They complained how fewer and fewer bidding opportunities were crossing their desk. They then asked me when I thought things might turn around? I responded simply in one word "2012". They both gave me a deer in the headlights look and asked "Why?" I responded in one word "Election" I watched the gears turn for a minute in the heads of two guys who probably voted the straight Democratic ticket recommended by the AFL-CIO for the last 30 years. In the words of the TV commercial. Priceless!!

How are you doing? It seems to be an important question to everyone now but to those who reside within the beltway of Washington DC and not one they want to hear the answer to.

A Voice In the Wilderness


How am I doing? I am blessed to be extremely busy and putting in 70 hour workweeks. That's why the time between my postings is stretching out a little. I can assure you one thing though... Next week's posting will be a doozie.