As some one who was laid off myself 2 days before Thanksgiving I agree that it sucks. I had an employment contract that was expiring and was told it was going to be renewed. I was sent a meeting invite by my manager and I assumed he was going to let me know of the renewal - however, he told me I had 3 weeks left and they weren't renewing. No severence pay and I was out of work until January 12th. Life goes on and no one owes me anything except pay for time worked.

I have also been involved from the decision side when layoff were made (I was an HR Information Senior Officer). Executive management simply asked me to run a report for each department ranked by salary. They got rid of the people at the top of the list. If you got laid off it was because you were making more than everyone in your department.

On the political front, as elections have conseqences, I wonder if the decision has anything to do the Obama administrations all out war on the traditional energy industry.

Obama Signs Bill Protecting 2 Million Acres as Wilderness - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Read the last sentence.