Knowledge workers and manual works are really in the same boat, this bad economy is affecting everyone with the exceptions of big cooperate muckaty-mucks and some people in the skilled professions like medicine (though I know a lot of lawyers are having a hard time finding work). Underemployed college graduates seem to make up the majority of the Occupy Wall street protesters, I think the unions and blue collar folk are yet to make much of a mark on it. And I disagree with David, yes the corporations are playing by the rules the politicians implemented, but it was the corporations who bought the politicians and got them to implement those rules, the politicians are mostly just dopes.