You did not address the way in which people are hired/laid off in this new economy. Some professionals I've spoke to have indicated that there is age discrimination which is easily covered up through the computerized filtration process now used with online applications.

While companies say they can't find employees with skills (so expect colleges and universities to train in specific content rather than skills and lower paid workers are hired from other parts of the world-their excuse for abandoning factory towns that are expensive to retool), it doesn't mean there are no employees with those skills. It's just that they have set up a system which allows them to "prove" there are no ideal candidates. As much as they say they want the trainable candidate, that employee will be filtered out of the hiring pool.