When I write stuff and I help cast it, I turn away good people all the time. I may turn them down because this one's too tall and that one doesn't have a high enough voice or this one looks to old to match up with that one - there's a billion reasons not to hire somebody.
Here in Australia we do get impacted by global economic events. But we should have some confidence that our economy has got strong underlying fundamentals.
My writing has to support more than my research habit, but I love to curl up with a book about some dusty corner of history.