December 24th, 2008
New York City, ever self-fixated, is treating the current downturn in the newspaper and magazine industries as a tragedy affecting mainly itself (oh yes, and a few folks in Chicago and LA), forgetting that this recession spreads far beyond its narrow borders.
An article yesterday in Canada’s The Globe & Mail (the rough equivalent of The New York Times in terms of reach and influence) points out that “across Canada, forestry is mired in a deep depression, with 40,000 jobs across the country shed over the last six years. In B.C. (British Columbia), the toll has topped 10,000.
“The pace of forestry’s decline has only worsened as the global downturn has intensified. It is one of the forces bringing economic growth in B.C. skidding to a screeching halt.”
Of course not all of this is related to paper consumption, but it’s a reminder of how far the dark night has spread.