I would put the message across differently, like so:

"Companies have started right sizing and retrenchments are happening. A crisis could be looming. Therefore prepare for opportunities and bargain hunting. Get ready your investment war chest. Don't miss another boat!"

You see, in every crisis, there are opportunities. Many people were too fearful and slow to act during the 1997/8 AFC and again during the 2008/9 GFC and regretted. They then became jealous of those who came out to cherry pick oversold stocks and properties and were duly rewarded.

And our resident car salesman could also say something like :

"car price fall could be coming, be ready to get the second car you always wanted for your family!"

But at the end of day, I think you are over reacting to the downsizing by Standard Chartered. There are many small retrenchments going on every year, it is just that they were not announced on the news. Companies rise and fall due to competition and change in consumer behavior and thus retrenchments are to be expected now and then. Just look at what happened to Kodak and Nokia. They were once big and strong companies and were household names, but the newer generation of people do not know them.

The world economy is never evenly strong or weak. Currently Greece, and many parts of Europe, and Japan are struggling, but the US and parts of Asia are still throttling along.

The current falling oil prices is also causing initial instability to economies, but the end effect would be a stronger recovery. People forgot that when oil prices shot up, many economies tanked. So falling oil prices should good for economies in general.