Caterpillar job cuts show economy's scary turn

The job cut announcements are becoming as common as executions in Texas. People have gotten so used to them that they give little thought to how devastating it is to lose your job. But what's scary is how many of these job cuts are coming at profitable companies.

Take Caterpillar. Fourth quarter profit fell 32% to $661 million, or $1.08 per share, below the $1.31 expected by analysts. Revenue was $12.9 billion, slightly ahead of consensus estimates of $12.84 billion. Sales rose 14% in 2008 to $51.3 billion. Wall Street was spooked by these figures.

"The results were worse than we were even anticipating, and we had lowered our expectations considerably," Kristine Kubacki, a St. Louis-based analyst with Avondale Partners LLC, said told Bloomberg News. "Comments about order cancellations in December `were particularly worrisome,' she said."

Unemployment has already hit 10% in Michigan and may reach that level in places like California. Some analysts are predicting it may hit double-digits nationally. This proves that in the current economic climate American workers may be able to run but they can't hide.