Newsreel literature and who needs design competitions?

Well it's a turbulent time with all the redundancies floating around, forming a bottleneck in the crack of the door in the entrance to design roles. Purchasing a plethora of design magazines from 'GRAFIK' to 'Computer Arts' and coming across the amount of adverts for recruiters, it's astonishing!
Most recently within 'GRAFIK's February issue, I came across a few intrviews with recrutiers such as 'Gabriele Skelton' (www.gabrieleskelton.com), 'Aquent' (www.aquent.com), 'With Us' (www.with-usrecruit.com) and a few other company's who are the golden geese to so many creative roles. The interview's headline shout's "Is now a good time to look for a job?", which leads to the recruiters to fall over themselves to gain ground and belch - Now is a good time more than ever! But seriously, when is there never a good time to look for a role? if your out of work, how do you live on fresh air? Undoubtedly these recruiters would never portray a deathly surge within the industry as this would clearly alienate the majority of clientele. It seems 'GRAFIK', amongst other mags are paying attention to the defisite of creative jobs available and are tying to give us a way of helping ourselves. It appears quite clearly as a light shone through a diamond that now more than ever we need the industry to take creatives on and give them a chance. Considering the majority of companies being told that design is an imperitive key area to gaining them success through this time of economic ghastritous.
Free-time does seem to expel rather quicker than being at work, at the moment I myself am looking for the right role to allow my skills to develop but am suffering at the peril of emails letting me know the studio's are full. No longer do agencies take talent on because they are good - they have to fulfill a key role and expand revenue expectations. This does affect my emotions, creating a clear wall that seems scalable - but doesn't seem to have a set height. The good thing is is that I embrace challenges and instead of finding a way over the wall, I'll either go around it, or if needs be - through it!
On another note, I have just recieved the D&AD annual and what a glorious read, packed full of the best emerging talent and ideas - I recomend it to anyone creative. I've also noticed that the 'Guardian' has been taking more of a colourful design approcach, it's a far cry from it's distant tabloid cousins of the 'Daily Mirror' and the 'Star'. The typography and infographics have all gone up-market and illustrious making each page appear more eye-catching than the next.
Another big quesiton has been asked by writer 'Robert Urquhart' of 'Designers Are Wankers' - "Do design competitions buy into a lazy, get rich quick scheme" go and give your views...