As much as 58% Americans do not believe that the economy is going to improve in coming year — 33% thinks it will stay all the same, but 25% fears the worse has yet to come. 10% of the respondents said they are not sure of the state of the economic affair in the United States. And only 32% showed confidence in the recovery. (See picture)

If we alter the timeline a bit then the figure is even more disheartening. Almost 80% (combined) of Americans believe the economy will not improve in the next six months — 50% believe the economy will not change in the next 6 months, whereas, 29% fear the worse may happen.

It is on the administration and regulator to falsify the belief of more than 50% of Americans. They need to work hard to prove the skeptic wrong.

In which group I fall?

Well, I am an optimist.

Nielsen BuzzMetrics has done a thorough study to gauge the mood of the consumers, and for that the company sieve through 45,000 Usenet forums, 8,000 discussion forums, and 135 million blogs. According to the Nielsen Company, the main focus was on finding the following:

• How are consumers reacting?
• How are card companies communicating changes?
• What actions do consumers plan to take?
• Who is to blame?
• Which companies are being implicated?

The study revealed that buzz related to Credit Card Act tipped off big time in May 2009, and it continued making round until it petered out n February 2010, when the law was put into effect. (See image for trend).

People who went gaga on the announcement of Credit Card Act 2009 started to oppose it when Obama signed the bill to make it a law. People have many complains ranging from having not enough protection to fear of misuse by the company, etc. Only time will tell how justified this fear is, meanwhile see the image below to get the complete data.

It is fear of getting the idea stolen. Yes, fear of idea theft is what keep entrepreneur awake at night. These days no one much care about the capital as much as one care about idea, because the latter is scarcer than the former. And our economy is based on nothing but breakthrough idea.

Do it better or do it different?

These are the two different aspects of a coin. “Doing it better” will fetch us incremental benefits, but “doing it different” will lead us to entirely new future.

“Doing it better” is what developing and undeveloped countries are after, and “doing it different” is the goal that entrepreneurs in a developed country chase. That is why major breakthroughs come from developed country.

You can say that “doing it better” will at best get incremental technology; for example, a more energy-efficient air conditioner, better soap, good shoe at less price, etc. But “doing it different” will get us disruptive technology—the technology that ends the previous ones while giving birth to entirely new industry. For example, instead of making better typewriters and calculators, computer was invented; instead of making faster and faster main frame computers, PC was invented.

All innovations are disruptive in nature, and it is the innovation that keeps the ball in the developed economy rolling.

Which one is better?

Both.

Both of them have different use in our lives, and both of them are important. There are times when we need a better product, and there are times when we need a new solution to the same problem.

Innovation is important, but so is improvement.

Key findings

Positive Indicators

• 45% hope to reap rewards (profit) from social media spending in next 12 months
• 57% have built online network using LinkedIn or similar websites.
• 61% uses social media to identify and attract new customers.
• 75% small businesses surveyed had a company profile page on any social networking sites.

Things that make them scowl

• 6% of survey participants said that use of social media has hurt them
• 17% of them said using social media left the companies vulnerable to consumers’ criticism.
• 50% thinks it takes more time than expected.

These findings (See image for complete detail) indicate that to be successful in the new socially-connected economy, the company has to be caring. “Meet deadline and bottom line” oriented company will have a hard time persuading its customers. The concerns that small business owners that participated in the survey talked about had more to do with their business and its operation and less to do with the nature of social media. They will grow and get accepted, if only they accept this fact and make required changes in their businesses.

What with the age?

Well, it has less to do with the age, and more to do with the newness in technology and failure of mid-aged individuals to deal with them. As it often happens, people in their mid-to-late forties tend to become slow on learning.

Another thing that keeps people in mid-to-late forties away from job is the salary they seek. I am not saying that you should not be compensated fairly, or at least you should get the sum you need to pay your bills and put some amount in savings.

But, this is not how people running businesses think. They are less inclined towards humanitarian goals, and more towards raking moola and increasing profit. Young people, despite their inexperience, are considered more apt for this goal as teaching new tricks to new horse is comparatively easy and so is taming them.

Then how to get a job in 40s?

This is the question that keeps people in 40s and jobless awake at nights. These are the people who have family to support, and maybe kids to send to university. Unemployment in such time is very difficult to deal with.

But, fortunately there is a way out and in this series I will tell you what to do to get hired. The advices shared will be workable. Do not treat this series as a read-and-forget series. Work on the suggestions shared. If I were you, I would have subscribed to the RSS feed. Do it now and stay up-to-date with the series.

Your fist tactic should always be networking.  Before you leave college make sure that you’ve got your name out there to the right people.  You want to stay in contact and make yourself known to a few of the select students around you, and your professors.  They will be a great resource for work down the line, so remember that, and keep those relationships avenues open.

Keep networking outside of school.  Try professional sites like linkedIn, etc, that offer connections with other professionals in the field.  Create lasting professional relationships, as these are where the best jobs will come from.  Companies frequently don’t openly advertise their best positions, and the only way you’ll hear about them is through somebody that you know.

Try your local newspaper, you won’t find fantastic jobs here most of the time, but you will find some decent options to pad your resume and provide income in transition.  Usually jobs advertised in a local newspaper don’t have a high applicant rate, so your chances of landing the job will also be better.

Finally, remember to stay professional.  Whether networking, or applying to the jobs, keep your demeanor professional, as your attitude says a lot about what manner of employee you will be at that company.  One of the biggest complaints about college graduates in the job market lately is that they have a false sense of entitlement.

Many recent grads almost feel as though a high paying job should be instantly available to them.  But that isn’t the case.  You have to work at a company and career to make it succeed, sometimes from the lower ranks of the ladder.  Stay courteous and polite always, be proud and confident, but also humble and realistic.  You don’t want to come off as a cocky self important applicant, because companies tend to stay away from them.  They aren’t hard workers, and they have no long term loyalty.  Both bad strikes to have against you.

1. Bad Performance Reviews

Okay, so it’s your monthly performance review and normally you excel at your job, this month has been no different, so you’re expecting a quick and easy positive performance review right?  Well what if you get a bad one out of the blue?  This could be a clue in that your company is setting you up to be fired.  It’s always favorable for Human Resources and the legal departments if someone has a few bad performance reviews on file before they are terminated, to show that the company had adequate reason.

2. Your Inclusion In Projects Is Limited.

If you’re starting to feel left out of your bosses tactics, and are feeling fairly underappreciated, you may not be imagining things, it may just be that you’re slowly being phased out of that workplace.  Anytime your boss is avoiding you more, leaving you out, or your own colleagues are leaving you out of private meetings, it wouldn’t hurt for you to start browsing some opportunities elsewhere.  At least that way your job loss won’t come as an earth shattering shock.

3. You Get A New Boss.

Managers like to work with employees that they are familiar with.  With workers that they know well, a boss knows what to expect, how far they can push, and which goals that they will be able to accomplish.  The problem with that strategy is for your new boss to make room for new people, he/she has to get rid of you.  A new boss is always a good time for you to brush up that resume and be prepared to be job hunting.

4. Coworkers Begin Getting Fired.

Even if you’re a star performer at your job, if the company starts making cuts on account of an economic crisis nobody is safe.  So if you see a lot of heads rolling at your company, get your interview skills practiced once more, because you could be following suite before too long.

Being afraid to lose your job can affect your performance at work, and how well you function in the other aspects of your life, from social activities to health and well being.  Fear of something like job loss is extremely stressful, putting your body through a whole torrent of negative emotions and thoughts, affecting your life in any manner of negative ways.  So your first step to combat those negative emotions?  Control what you experience concerning the economy.

It’s good to keep tabs on what’s going on in the world, but if you find a lot of stories about economic tension, try to avoid them.  You know the state of the economy, there’s no reason you need to be reading about it every five minutes.  By sort of ignoring the negative news, you’re not allowing yourself new information to worry over, decreasing the likelihood that you will be stuck thinking about how horrible life could turn if you lost your job.

Make a good plan for how to conduct your job search should you lose your job.  This way you have a back up plan at the ready, so the blow of actually losing your job wouldn’t be as harsh of one.  Being prepared is never a bad thing, and you’ll feel better knowing that you’re ready for anything, no  matter what the economy throws at you.

Finally, just stay positive.  Positive thinking is the best way to reduce stress and fell better.  Stress is usually derived from negative thinking, so instead of worrying about life without your job, think about how glad you are to still have a job despite the economic turmoil.