You know the hard times are here when...

We all know we are deep into a recession. The doom and gloom has touched everyone from government to the private sector and even the charity industry. But know it is creeping into a major social network. Sesame Street has just announced that they will be forced to make layoffs. Now I am not one generally given to speculation but given the shocking nature of this news I feel compelled to.

I think we can rule out a couple of possibilities. Given that this is really a cost-cutting move we can feel fairly certain that Big Bird has no real worries. After all he works for chicken feed. And Cookie Monster? Need I even say it? Oscar - I mean he is at the bottom of the barrel already. Getting rid of him means Sesame Street will have to hire someone else to take out the garbage, possibly even have to pay them. So no, Oscar will be fine.

The troubling thing here is that it is easy at this point to speculate about true motives. After all we have seen what our own government is capable of - stacking a budget bill with totally unrelated legislation so it get the protection of being a matter of confidence. Some people just cannot resist making the most of a crisis. They see it as an opportunity to get things done; things that just would not fly in better times.

So that brings us back to the gang on the street. Who is really vulnerable here? The choice may be obvious. You know what I'm getting at. Sure it is a lot of backroom chatter but come on. We know the guys upstairs have always been a little uncomfortable with Bert and Ernie. Sure they want to be open and inclusive but you know the pressure has been on them for year. And now that California has passed Prop 8, it is easy to see a trend emerging. The reasoning will be simple of course. The boys live in the best apartment on the street. Their water bill is outrageous - all those baths. I mean does Ernie have to spend so much time in that tub? But I digress. You can understand how easy it will be. Yes, recession as public policy. Recession as repression. Where will it end?