Recession..bailout..lay-offs

I wonder what would the word of the year 2008. The word that was most used by the media and people in general. Will it be Recession? We all saw how badly the economic and financial situation got in the world and particularly in the U.S. Who could imagine the biggest economy in world was that soft. Major companies pleading and shopping for bailouts. In fact industries are asking for bailout such as the automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler). In Europe the situation is not better at all and over the past two months the Gulf countries started to feel the heat too especially UAE (Dubai), and with less effect Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
In Dubai like other parts of the world people are being laid off and surprisingly the sectors affected most are the construction & real estate and banking. These till recently were thought to be the booming industries in Dubai. Many companies including giant ones are freezing recruitment. So will lay-off be the word of the year?
The big question is how long will this last and when will the world recover? I heard in one of the radios someone trying to relate this to the story of Prophet Yusuf and the King's dream in the Holy Quran which means 7 years of booming followed by another 7 years of recession!!
Well I guess this is not the best time to hunt for a job so I will focus on my studies and chill out.