I'm laid off (as of December) from software engineering.   

My wife and I have always been very frugal and one decision we made long ago was to have a lifestyle we could support on one income, so we're getting by on hers.   Because we have always been good, disciplined savers we've built up a rainy-day fund and we've actually ADDED to that fund since my layoff.

We have not spent ONE PENNY of my severance or unemployment checks, and when the Obama tax stimulus arrived in my wife's paycheck she increased her 401(k) (US retirement) savings by that amount. (so much for the Republican fantasy that tax cuts stimulate the economy!)

The US got into this mess by living beyond its means and getting up to its ears in debt to do so. Now the government wants banks to start lending more and consumers to start buying more to restart the economy, but that's how we got into this mess in the first place!