If you were an investment banker, the chances are you’ve already lost your job. If you were something less than a Master of the Universe, yours may have disappeared without a splash on CNN.

Is there any consolation for losing a job or a career, even in an economy on the brink of a slump? Paul Graham makes a great case for it.

“Our bodies weren’t designed to eat the foods that people in rich countries eat, or to get so little exercise. There may be a similar problem with the way we work: a normal job may be as bad for us intellectually as white flour or sugar is for us physically.”

But don’t jobs and food actually go together?

“The root of the problem is that humans weren’t meant to work in such large groups. … Though they’re statistically abnormal, startup founders seem to be working in a way that’s more natural for humans.”

Paul Graham — who is a venture capitalist — is right. You can buck the system and you owe it to yourself to make the attempt.

Incidentally, a recession is a great time to go it alone. Venture capitalists have money burning a hole in their vaults, there’s a surfeit of experts going cheap, and opportunities for anyone with a great idea or a new approach.

Innovation is at a premium during a downturn. Many of the biggest names in corporate America began in a garage during a recession when there was little else to do.

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Former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, thinks that the current economic downturn is temporary, according to a report in the Toronto Star. The housing market in particular may not have bottomed out yet but he does not think it will get much worse.

“I think that while we are past most of it there are a lot of negatives … but it is no longer subtracting from the (gross domestic product) growth,” the former Fed chairman said.

For the broader economy, Greenspan offered tempered optimism, citing strong profit margins and capital goods data that are “showing some potency.”

“It’s hard to envisage those two key factors coming at the beginning of a recession,” he said.

He warned that some home buyers might have interest costs increase in the short term, however.

The housing market is looking a little lopsided these days. While the selling prices of homes have gone down by 2.5% over the last year, the price tags on celebrity mansions has doubled, tripled, quadrupled and beyond.

Your average homeowner isn’t going to realize the same kind of profit when selling his home as in previous years, and housing prices are expected to fall further. Buyers are waiting cautiously, hoping to get a better deal a little further down the road.

But celebrity homes are wearing high-blown price tags. The asking price for the 10 most expensive homes rose by 23% in the last year and the average price is $71.5 million.

The gap between “us” and “them” ever widens.

In a statement released today that can be accessed at the Federal Reserve Board Website it was announced that the Feds are going to keep interest rates at 5.25%.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 percent.

Economic growth has slowed over the course of the year, partly reflecting a cooling of the housing market. Going forward, the economy seems likely to expand at a moderate pace.

The FOMC monetary policy faced only one dissenting vote. Voting against was Jeffrey M. Lacker, who preferred an increase of 25 basis points in the federal funds rate target at this meeting.