The first one is called How Well-Educated, Hard-Working Americans are Treated in America, by Rennie Sawade, WashTech News, September 14, 2009. As you might guess, the answer to the question is: "not very well"!

The horror story about Diane Drozdowski shocked me and seemed almost too bad to be true. I managed to contact Diane to make sure that Sawade got the story right. Her response: "I wrote the entire part that is my testimony. Rennie didn't change a word of it."

Unfortunately Drozdowski is still without a job. She is hoping that 2010 will bring her better luck.

Rennie Sawade helped to produce a video called: "WashTech on Microsoft Replacing American Workers". Sawade starts the video by talking about what is going on at Microsoft. He is followed by compelling testimony by a computer programmer named Chris Fox who lost his job at Microsoft. The video production is quite amateurish but the content makes it a worthwhile watch.

Since that video was released Chris Fox managed to find another job. At least we have one happy ending!

The second article is from the BBC and is titled:Living in 'The Hotel Honda'.

Stories about displaced Americans are mostly shunned by the mainstream media who seem to be much more interested in joining the chorus about how the recession is over. Stories of jobless tech workers seem to be especially out of favor because they contradict the media's preconceived notions of labor shortages. Considering the millions of jobs that have been lost by Americans there is very little follow up reporting on the people who can't find meaningful employment. Perhaps elite media moguls simply ignore what is going on in the real world, or maybe the newspapers have eliminated so many journalists there is nobody to investigate stories anymore.

If those two articles weren't depressing enough and you get HBO, be sure to watch their new documentary called "The Last Truck".