I just heard a story on NPR about how Hypertherm is dealing with the recession.  They haven't laid off any of their workers, they have been putting them to work elsewhere in the company and training them on different jobs.  Granted, one worker they spoke with is now doing grounds maintenance around the facility, but it beats getting laid off.  They also mentioned Lincoln Electric and how their profit sharing has taken a hit, but no layoffs.  I took a tour of Lincoln during one of my welding classes, and those guys and gals work HARD, and get paid well, but doing boring repetitive piece work.  But 60K a year for semi skilled labor ain't bad.  Something to consider next time you are looking to purchase a machine.