And we thought 2008 was bad...

Are you one of those who believe the economy is on the right track? Getting better? Sticking up for Obama's policies? Do you like Geithner? Bernanke? Think our two party system has the answers? Well today's news is grim...and you thought 2008 marked the big bang. Think again. We are in for the longest slump of our lives.

While Wall Streeters hope that Facebook's $5 Billion IPO this week sparks investors to come back, the rest of us are reading pieces like today's CNBC report that the Euro Zone's jobless rate is the highest since the creation of the Euro or living what is mentioned in this month's Vanity Fair article "The Book of Jobs"stating that over 23 million Americans who would like to work full-time cannot find a job (including yours truly). Fact is the real income of today's average American family is LESS than what it was in 1997! There are 6.6 MILLION fewer jobs in this country than there were four years ago.

Here's what we know:
1. Bailouts do not work. Handouts encourage status quo.
2. People want to work.
3. Job creation needs to be our #1 priority.


In the above-mentioned Vanity Fair article, Joseph Stiglitz makes a number of eye-opening observations, among them that never, never, in the last sixty years has post-recession economic output remained about equal to the start of the recession after four years and never has the percentage of workers who are employed fallen by the amounts it has in the past four years.

Europe is failing, yet looking now for "bailouts", incredibly so.
China is angered, yet continues to grow.
We in the US are tanking.

These moments in time will reflect on our society forever, as future historians pour over data about the vast pervasive consumer obsession that created an unreal world economy.

The only way to stop this is to go on a global "diet." Handouts, begone.
Credit cards, limited dramatically. Eating habits, downsized. Just like the ration system during the wars, we need to find a way to feed our society but not bankrupt it.

The only way is to create a new world psychology. And fast.