The biggest mistake one can make, and most have, is to assume this economic crisis will be mild or temporary. You'll want to assume that it is, since that path requires you to make no hard decisions or changes to your life.
For most, the downturn is only real the day they get laid off. Until then, it's somebody else's problem. Human nature is like that, utterly self-centered and at best giving lip service to others. But the day it happens to you, it becomes all too real and the seriousness sinks in fast.
No industry will be spared, unless you're a repo man or debt collector, you can expect economic conditions to get worse and worse for years to come. There are many reasons for this, among them the orgy of share buybacks that pretty much every corporation has gorged on to goose their share price while spending little to nothing on assuring the future survival of the company.
In essence, corporations have been gutted of all equity and are little more than empty husks laden down with enormous debt, future obligations(pensions), and all while revenues are sinking fast.
Shake your fist at the execs all you want, it won't stop the layoffs from coming, nor will it fix the damage done whose effects you are just starting to feel now. Didn't get laid off this round? Think you're safe? Think again.
This downturn will come in waves, after each of which the media and your politicians will shout from the rooftops about "Recovery! Recovery!" but they know the truth. Recovery is a long, long way away, and along the way we'll have up's and downs yet continually the trajectory will be down, down, down.
Cut overhead like your financial life depends on it, or suddenly find yourself without work and sinking fast.