That's something that libs just have a hard time wrapping their heads around. If they even have a job to lose, they'll run for handouts so they can survive. Conservatives will say "Wow, this sucks, I'd better go get another job", and then go out and get another job...

I missed this post. I have to think that you are not in the least representative of Austrailians. I've only met a handful, though, and base this hope on them. If I am wrong, there are a lot of assholes in OZ.

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

I'd laugh too if all you liberals succeeded in creating a government that fed, housed, took care of, and employed every citizen, and then watch as civil liberties fly out the window.

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My position is about as secure as one can get.

I don't worry about my job. My company has been up and down over the last four years, and there have been some rounds of layoffs in every department except for the software engineering department where the problem is actually keeping enough people for the work we have to do. We just hired two new people even while the other departments are cutting dead weight (not to be callous, but...)

First off, in my department we have some contractors in place, who are the first to go any time the budget has to be trimmed. I am not a contractor, so as long as they're around, there is a "buffer" and I don't worry. I also am responsible for design and maintenance of more than one product that only I know the ins and outs of, which would make getting rid of me an absolute logistical nightmare for several months. I think that my job is relatively safe barring any catastrophic business decisions, such as the closing of our entire location, and that isn't likely, given my industry and the relatively non-volatile nature of what I do.

However, even my job went away, I wouldn't really sweat it. For programmers with my skill set, the economic "downturn" seems nonexistent. I still routinely get unsolicited calls from headhunters that I once used, offering me interviews for jobs. I could also go out on my own fairly easily in terms of freelancing - I've turned down several offers of hourly/flat pay for projects from various people that I know due to a lack of free time or else not wanting to charge what I would charge in the market for a small project for someone I know (as in, I said to them basically, "I'll do it as a favor to you because I'd feel like an asshole charging you what I would charge if I didn't know you"). After the absurd over-valuing of programmers in the dot com bubble and subsequent great depression of that field, it now seems to have stabilized and is a good thing to do. Both through my grad school classes and people I know in the field, the consensus is that there are simply not enough skilled programmers to fill the demand for programmers.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Mines is government and secure.