Death of Publishing--Isn't there anything we can do?

Could the recent posts and articles about the publishing world be more depressing ? Publishing companies are laying people off right and left. Book sales are down. Is book publishing going to die as an industry? Isn't there anything we can do? (besides hope, and giving people books as presents)

If it's a problem of books' popularity, there are things that could be done. Though movies are a form of entertainment that distracts people from the printed word, they also get readers interested in storylines. Viewers of Fight Club, Benjamin Button, and Memoirs of a Geisha saw the movies on the big screen and then flocked to the bookstore, spurring sales of the books these films were based on. Can movies be used to save publishing? What about book clubs? Sure Oprah's club has turned novels into bestsellers overnight, but what about small non-publicized book clubs. Maybe if book clubs were a more mainstream type of social gathering, it would help the industry. Also, didn't publishers used to have big parties celebrating the launch of a new book with fanfare? I think the industry could harness celebrities' influence to recapture a fickle public's attention.

Gimmicky fixes aside, the real problem is not that people aren't interested in reading. People just don't want to buy anything they can get for free, which is understandable. Personally I'm probably contributing to the downfall of the publishing industry by relying on libraries for reading material. I'm too cheap to shell out the full cost of a brand new hardback book just for the novelty of being one of the first to see it. When I do buy books, it's at secondhand bookstores. I don't mind if books are worn, the story inside is still the same and that's what counts. With the economic downturn, people aren't buying things they don't need. I guess a lot of people see books as a luxury. That's sad. Mostly because it means losing the escapism a well-written story provides. But it's also depressing because anyone who wants a job in publishing right now is out of luck.