A subtle sign of our troubled economy →[More:]Last night, I went to midtown to mail in my tax forms. On the way home, I picked up a copy of the New York Times to read on the train. This was the first newsstand copy of the Times I had read in at least a couple of months.

As I read, I noticed that there was something strange about the paper but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I skimmed through it again. The articles covered the usual topics. The editorials were the usual Upper West Side limousine liberalism. And then I became conscious of what was different: there were almost no frigging ads in the whole paper. Like, none. A few here and there, but the paper was noticeably thinner than I was accustomed to seeing.

This troubled me a little bit. If companies aren't inclined to spend money on an ad, they probably aren't inclined to do any hiring.