Regardless of what we are told by the media and our leaders, the average American knows things are bad, and we are becoming frieghtened. Spend some time around young people, and you will hear fear, anger, and resentment. They are struggling and confused.

Spend some time with old people, and you will hear the same thing. It was not supposed to be like this, and we are not ready for it. It has NEVER been quite like this, and folks know it. They are concerned for their kids, grandkids, and themselves.

Those of us with children at home to feed, clothe, and educate are silently petrified. Juggling the bills and casting a wary eye on employers is causing high anxiety, as we comtemplate just how fragile tings are. How many weeks could we survive with no pay check? What would we do if the job went away? How would we care for our families?

By now, almost everyone knows someone going through this. It is going to keep getting uglier for a while. I don't need to see survey numbers to instinctively know this, but they do help dramatically with investment decisions.

Thank you, ChangeWave, for this very real and vital information.

"Dragonfly" is not aware of the Depression of the '30s when he or she says it's "NEVER been this bad".
. At the depth of the Depression the unemployment rate hit 25%, whereas now it's around 7%.
There was no FDIC to insure bank accounts, while now they're insured to $250,000.
About 9000 banks failed in the Depression, whereas the big guys are being bailed out now by the taxpayers.
In the Depression, there was no unemployment insurance program, whereas now we have unemployment insurance but also extensions of the rather long coverage established by governments.
The present situation may get a bit worse before it gets better, but it will NEVER again get as bad as it was in the 1930's.

I'm worried about the DTV conversion in February 2009. It is obvious from the results of Best Buy and Circuit City, that people aren't rushing out to replace their analog TV. A know of several single mom's that let their $40 government coupons expire for conversion boxes as they didn't have the $20 difference. I haven't run into one senior citizen yet that understands how to connect and program a DTV converter box. A lot of them have a piece of black electrical tape on the face of their VCR so they don't have to watch the 12:00 blink all the time. Yet, new flat screen TV's are sitting on the store shelves not selling very well. I have never seen a flat sreen TV in anyone's home in my neighborhood. I can afford to buy a new TV, but there is nothing wrong with my CRT models. I'm saving my money in case things get worse, and only purchasing a new product if absolutely necessary. I took all the money in my retirement accounts out of stocks and put it into cash this past January. I'm in no hurry to buy stocks either.

For the current generations of Americans, this has to be the real wake up call. Obama's election has proved that the wake up call has been heard and heeded.
Now what needs to be done is for real incentives to be created for on-shore jobs. Manufacturing products that have to be shipped at great expense and consumption of oil makes little sense any more.
Automation and investment can recreate manufacturing and create new jobs here in the USA. Transportation costs could be reduced by having distributed manufacturing operations. Long term planning for a real Green economy and reduced carbon footprint is a seriously misunderstood set of objectives.

The war in Iraq and the total lack of future and long term planning by successive administrations have seriously weakened this country economically and militarily. Creation of an effective terrorism-fighting force would use more technology and cultural/language opportunities as well as ensure America's citizens security.

The continuous chasing of college courses and subsequent job chasing trying to figure out how to pay loans has weakened the core competency of the USA technology.

There has to be ways to pay for college degrees that lead to technological breakthroughs with economic advantages.

I was interested when I read Craig's comments. I don't have a flat screen TV either but everyone that I have rented to (especially those who didn't pay their rent) have had incredible TVs and either cable or satellite installed. I am not sure how all of this will affect them but I have to say that I am amazed at the number of low income households that have the TVs while many of my friends do not. It shows you their priorities and maybe even some idea of how the flat screens will sell this holiday season. I suspect that the middle class will be the ones that cut back spending the most.

"j.Hughes" is correct in pointing out that things were worse in the Depression, and that we are not likely to suffer to that extent again. Actually, the word was "never", but I prefer "unlikely".

I should have been more clear in my commentary, as I certainly do know about the depression. I meant that things have never been like this in my lifetime, and I am 61.

Actually, things really have never been this way, and with all due respect, no one knows where this unwinding is going to end up. In the 30's, the world was not interconnected the way we are now, and we were not competing for scarce resources and against cheap labor the way we are now. We manufactured what we needed, and did not depend on imports. Financial markets were not open to computerized, international assult, and information flowed slowly. We were also not under attack by terrorists, and do not think for one minute that our enemies have gone away. They are watching this play out, too, and with much glee are plotting ways to help us fall further.

My point was and is, we are in no man's land without a map. All the things that used to work in "fixing" the financial system are no longer working. Our economy has been propped up with debt, and we are still bogged down in a Middle Eastern conflict that is draining the nations wealth at a rate of $9,000,000,000 each and every month....ad infinitmtum. Meanwhile, our weak, ineffectual, pandering leadership does not have a clue. That they could even think about flushing the auto industry and all the jobs, taxes, etc. that go with it at this point in time is preposterous. The money needed right now is less than 3 months of the cost staying in Iraq!

An no, I am not a fan of Detroit and all of the management problems there. I don't want to turn this into a Detroit conversation, but I will point out that all business failures are failures of management.

Hold on folks. We are going lower, and we are going to stay there for much longer than most people seem to think.