When businesses close, banks fail and people loose their jobs and their homes, we expect all the boats in the ocean will sink. It is logical to assume that everyone will be hurt by the fast spiraling vortex of deflation. However, when all is said and done, it appears that technology is emerging as one of the areas that will keep on going during this time of economic uncertainty. Behind almost every cut in programs or staffing, technology solutions are being sought to take up the slack. To lift a line from Charles Dickens, “It is the best of times; it is the worst of times.”

A recent study by Forrester claims that security spending across the board (including upgrades and staffing) by the companies who subscribe to their sampling will increase. Slightly.

Among our membership, the job turnover seemed to spike at the end of last year, but that too, has leveled off to a more a normal rate of career shifts that we expect to see among our upwardly mobile population.

And in the new stimulus package which President Obama signed into law this afternoon, there is significant money earmarked for technology initiatives. Here are a few of the high points:

- The stimulus bill includes $7.2 billion for broadband grant and loan programs.
- although cut form $1 billion, $650 million to education is going specifically to the Enchancing Education Through Technology Program (EETT)
- $19 billion of the $100 billion for the healthcare measures goes specifically for healthcare information technology

It is as though everyone, thanks in part to a tech savvy president, gets the message that technology can and will help us get by. Make no mistake; the stimulus bill documents a huge shift in public opinion. We are all familiar with the litany of complaints about the computerization of everything, the loss of the personal touch and all the other dehumanizing aspects of the computer age. All of a sudden, the endorsement of technology is clear as a bell. Those who can manage computer technology are playing an integral role in our response to economic and social disaster.

Technology’s star has been rising for a long time thanks to microprocessors and the Internet. But with the current stimulus package, those of us who manage technology have crossed the chasm. Our sector does not seem to be suffering the fate of many others—salaries are going up, spending on information technology and security is holding its own, and employment is staying the course. Technology adoption has gone main stream—it is not longer in the hands of a few early adopters and pioneering innovators. Technology is really part of how we do things anymore.