Let us look at something that those that are just beginning to work at their chosen career do not, and will not, examine deeply. When they are told by their career advisors, or by those that are close to them in life; think and plan about your pension, they all, to a man and woman, gaze up into the heavens as if their day had just been spoiled.
 

I am only 20 or 30 years old, and have at least another 30 years to go before retiring: pensions?

It is a million miles away, they think.
 

If the current economic state of affairs has taught everyone anything at all, it is that pensions do matter and one has to plan for it ahead of time. More than anything else, it has also become a barometer of the state of the economy.
 

The pension plan in question was originally intended for executives but Congress (Parliament) amended the Internal Revenue Code by adding section 401(k). And this is the name that it is today known by. This plan became popular with workers at all levels providing as it did loans and also offering the employer's stock as an investment choice.  In other words, together with the matching funds from the employer, your money, as an investment, yo-yoed with the price of shares of banks, automobile manufactures and other things.
 

The 401-K deposits took a hit, to put it mildly and many lost most of their savings over one year as those share prices plummeted.  If you were put to it, you could buy a share from Ford, the automotive giant, for just about anything, it seemed. Salt was added to wounds as employers sent out statements every three months, as they were mandated to do so by law. Your standing was shown in black and white to you. And the picture was invariably grim: all the figures were in the red, with negative income following the price of the shares into which your money had been invested. All shares were down and the income from them in the doldrums.
 

To give an example: A person I talked to told me of the depressing figures she got used to seeing every three months. Just three months ago, she said, her statement read that the money she had accumulated over the last four years had dwindled and that the final figure showed a decline of 36pc over the previous year's total. In real terms, in cold, hard cash; it meant that she had lost all of 26,000 dollars.

But, she added, she had received the latest statement a week ago, expecting more gloomy figures. Instead, she was happy to see that her investments had mellowed somewhat and that they were now showing figures in the positive territory. Her investments were up by 11.8pc, in positive territory for a change. The share price of Ford, for instance, went up as of the beginning of this week, by 200pc.

She was, as her statement, positively glowing.
 

But what does all this mean, for both her and the economy as a whole? Was there a turn around on the offing, or was this just a one time bleep?
 

The service industry was the best place to fathom if there had been a change with any kind of meaning. If customers were coming back for an evening outing, then one could say that the hesitation was less pronounced and the uncertainty was not evident.
 

Generally speaking, there was an obvious sigh of relief at many of the Ethiopian restaurants. True, there was not a general rush, but there are not as many empty tables as one used to see a few weeks back. Ethiopian clientele, many of them taxi drivers, were not as obvious as they used to be. I was told as an aside that three meals a day were out of the question these days. A large breakfast, as Ethiopian as they come, of course; and a late dinner were now the order of the day. 

One aspect of the hacker's day to day attempt to make a living is becoming promising. It is that the city might in the very near future look into doing something about the meters in the cabs.  There was a very believable Ethiopian on radio the other day speaking for all other drivers of the city who made an appeal to the city fathers. Without actually asking for the return of the old zoning system - impossible, it is reliably felt - he petitioned for an amendment to the meter reading, which he believed was making it difficult for drivers to make a decent living. There seems to be a general agreement that something has to be done, and will be done by the mayor of the city. The mayor is reminded every so often that many Ethiopians were instrumental in getting him elected.
 

What surprised the owners of the restaurant establishments was that there seemed to be more Americans coming in to dine. And it seemed more were coming in for dinner (after seven in the evening) than before, I was told. A further bonus was that many were repeat customers.

Are people taking advantage of the situation to make decisions that will affect their future?
 

Yes, is the answer to that.
 

There are many bank-owned houses on the market that are going very cheaply. Younger Ethiopians, some setting up a family with a suitable income are buying houses in the outlying districts of the metropolitan city (a huge area) with money from two incomes.
 

Some homes are selling at more than half the price they were being offered at just a year ago. The deposits can be sometimes a little heavy, but the monthly payments more than manageable for an aspiring couple. For Addis Abeba, a house costing three million birr is a pittance (the last time I looked, that is). For that kind of money, the equivalent in American dollars can buy a castle. And the electricity will not go out, either.

Good times are not yet here. But there are signs that things have bottomed out, as the economists are wont to say. The end of this year should see the end of the straights the world economy has experienced.

The only hope that remains is that we will all have learned from this particular near calamity and hoard for the next one.

By MOUSSE AYELE