Depressing IT Job Prospects

[storkus at storkus.com]

I've seen a pair of articles on /. about the depressing state of IT
right now, and it's making me, well, depressed!  My plan was to go to
community college in January (after getting my year residency here in
Arizona) and fix what I screwed up years ago (dropping out of college),
but now I'm wondering whether I'd be wasting my time and money.  Someone
at an installfest a few months ago (sorry I forgot your name, I'm
horrible for that) said to go for Network Admin because it's a fast
course and pays well (I'm 37), but now that I see all this with,
depending on how you look at it, 44k to 50k IT jobs gone this year alone
and more to come, well...maybe I should resign myself to hospitality or
driving for a living.

Is this mostly FUD or is it really as bad as it's being made out to be? 
Is Net Admin the way to go for someone my age, or is there something
else I should consider?

Thanks for reading my 3am thoughts.

Mike