Drugs and Layoffs

Merck has decided to cut 12% of its large employee base to take out 7,200 heads. This is the second round of cuts recently per this article. This will linger on for a while and not directly affect this holdiay shopping season. However, how could you be an employee there and think about taking on more debt or being a loose spender with the employment electric char being in plain view for 3 more years?

Some of the hardest hit areas are the places they have put on a closure list to occur before 2009. These include a couple foreign spots and one local in Seattle. There's a city that won't be too spendy this and next year. Also, as alluded to before, how many of the 57k employees will be upgrading their home, buying latest in HiFi, or blowing through an expensive evening on the town if they are fearing the loss of income stream?

Merck is headquartered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.