Benefactors of Recession

The "R" word has been the dreaded one in every ones mind since the past two years, especially in the case of the hallowed portals of business schools which has been hit hard.

The students who have been expecting big big bucks were left to squabble over whether they will get jobs or not. The ones who has jobs were considered to be the lucky ones albeit least paid and in lesser fancied companies. The companies which gave offers in numbers which are quite obscene (double digit offers) made their offers even more obscene during the phase of recession (no offers).

So, in this scenario many have joined their offered jobs with enthusiasm and a bit of skepticism in their mind. But, the little bit of skepticism turned out to out weigh the enthusiasm as their pay has been cut from the then lower levels to even lower levels i.e. to the extent of 25% and some students who are eagerly waiting to join their dream job, were told to dream a bit more and join a bit later.

Now, I came across a news in Forbes magazine where Buffett wrote, "We've put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."

Many Industrialists did just that. Indeed, last year's wealth wasteland has become a billionaire bonanza. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past year.

This year the World's Billionaires have an average net worth of $3.5 billion, up $500 million in 12 months. The world has 1,011 10-figure titans, up from 793 a year ago but still shy of the record 1,125 in 2008. Of those billionaires on last year's list, only 12% saw their fortunes decline.

The companies are taking Recession as the God given weapon to wreak havoc in the lives of many innocent lives. There has been indiscriminate firing of employees and also indiscriminate cut in wages. There have been obscene number of mergers and take overs during this R-Period. But none of the companies gave their employees any hike and they are just using recession as an excuse to increase their bottom line at the cost of employees and other stake holders.

The conclusion that one can arrive after seeing the scenario in these two years is that only billionaires and their muse companies benefited from this Recession, which in part is the manifestation of their GREED. So due to the Greed of some many common people have suffered. Power and Money is absolute, those who have it can manipulate the lives of many through creative destruction.