I found out today that some friends I have in Zimbabwe are having trouble getting food. They are in fact in danger of starving to death. They a members of a branch of the meditation group I belong to. We are looking into a way of sending some food aid to them and having it targeted directly to them.
It makes you see in one sense how trivial all this talk of an economic downturn is. When we are trying to cope with less and others are trying to cope with nothing.