Recession? Depression? Who cares?

I think "Recession" has just become trendy.
I noticed today as I was 'studying' (read: looking for magazines to buy and read once finished exams) that lately the media's attention have - finally - been turning toward Recession.
Perhaps I should clarify. I know that Recession (with a capital R) has been in the headlines for a while, I know stockbrokers and Joe the Plumbers alike have been focusing on what this means for investments and finance for months, and I know a lot of people are scared. However, Recession is not a world that exists in the glossy world of fashion. This is a world I like to escape to, filled with clothes I will never afford and eating disorders I do not have the willpower for. What I noticed today, however, was that on the glowing cover of Vogue a headline read "You're Fired!: Surviving and Thriving After the Pink Slip" and I think it was ELLE that also featured an article about what to do once you've been fired.
Talk about harshing the glossy mellow.
I know that magazines such as Vanity Fair (the "smart" fashion magazine) have been toting articles on the recession, and I know that Vogue itself devoted an entire issue to "smart" shopping, which had to be taken with grain of salt since the following issue contained furs, gold, and furs dipped in gold, but since when does on of the scariest "F" words make the cover? I think "Fired" is second only to "F***" and "Feminism". What I also know is that even magazines such as Vogue have to connect with their target reader, which is, presumably, every woman over the age of 16 and under the age of 90. However, seeing the word "Fired" on Vogue is like a giant slap in the face. It's either become hot to be in debt, or there's no choice even in the world of the privaleged.
Recession is now Real. It's not just the scary word in the headlines of the newspapers anymore. It's not just for businessman. It's invaded every part of the world, even the perfect glossy one. This means, of course, that now everyone has advice on how to deal with it, what to do, the worst case scenarios, you name it.We're supposed to be going back to school, investing smartly instead of pulling everything out, and keeping optimistic in the face of cutbacks, layoffs, and pink slips.
The thing about Recession is that its depressing, it's supposed to stay out of things that exist for the entertainment of the haute masses, like Vogue, because once it invades those things, it's a reality. And a bleak one at that. As a student who will, within a couple years, be looking for a career in what was a thriving market creating new jobs, changing old ones, and burning through cash, it's quite terrifying to think that if conditions worsen even a little bit I'll be stuck folding clothes for what could be the majority of my adult life.
I think that the most surprising thing about the invasion of the fashion magazines be the big R is that it means there's nowhere to hide, nowhere to stick your head in the stand. In a culture obsessed with escapism and a quotationed reality (i.e. "reality" TV), we're now stuck in the real world. The glossy fantasy is over, it's time to face "reality".