Winds of change to come?

Being a freelance copywriter is very often feast or famine. I go through certain points of the year where I have a tangible lull, and then have seasons of crazy busy time. Over the years, I've learned how to hold one finger in the air to test the winds. I usually know what's coming. For instance, grant writing and research tends to pick up in the spring. So does direct mail marketing letters, as anyone with an overstuffed mailbox knows. And companies seem to want their business plans authored by October 1.
But I didn't see this coming.
An onslaught of requests for resumes and cover letters has hit my inbox. Like, fifteen this week alone. And these are very educated folks with a long pedigree and they're OUT OF WORK. These are frightening times. Folks aren't just trying to get a better job or move up the proverbial corporate ladder; they are trying to feed families and avoid foreclosure. They have been victims of the cutbacks of late, laid off or just plain fired. (I axed all my fees for the unemployed. There is no way in good conscience I can take money from someone who needs a job.)
It amazes me how many people are one accident or illness away from poverty. I just got my hospital bill from my three-day visit in December: $20,437. How do people without insurance cope? Pay for medicine? Do they sit and have to choose between eating or taking the prescriptions necessary to keep them alive?
Perhaps with this change in our government's administration we can look forward to a windfall instead of a downturn. We need relief on all fronts.