Economic downturn requires a scorecard too?

For the past several months, we have been constantly bombarded by bad economic news. The massive evaporation of capital wealth on Wall Street makes for very depressing lunch time conversations. The rollercoaster ride of the Dow Jones index is making people cheer one day and cry the next (unfortunately, there is much more crying than cheering). More recently, layoffs and unemployment have been grabbing more attention, as the average person is tuning out from the market volatility and just praying that the stock market will eventually go back up.

Today on CNET, I found an unemployment "scorecard" for tech companies. A quick look at it will give you a good sense of the scale of our economy's problems.

During these times, I am thankful that Microsoft can still provide us with a safe environment where we can continue to focus on our work and continue to innovate.