"The Great American Slowdown"

So, it's a pretty well-known fact that the American economy is not great right now... according to an article I read today in The Economist, "financial markets have... suffered arguably their biggest shock in 80 years". I constantly hear people talking about how weak the dollar is, as if a weak dollar makes a weak America. Yeah, oil prices are raising... car companies keep putting out gas guzzling machines. The people that buy these cars, for example, soccer moms, who replace their mini vans for hummers or range rovers, etc. complain about gas prices and most of the time can't even afford the gas that they need to pick up their kid from soccer practice. is the status symbol of driving a sweet ride really worth the wasted gas? is it the price they pay to fill up their gas tank what makes them american or worth someone's time? yet people still toss global warming off to the side as if it's a non-issue.

Without a doubt, the American economy is changing.. hey, when is it not? with the price of gas/oil, the credit issues, and the lessening labour market, America's got some issues on its hands. In that same article I read today, the author stated, "America does not matter as much as it once did." I'll admit, it's unfortunate that that the economy is in the state that it's in... but we can overcome it. Before most elections the US economy is down... after the elections, trends show that the economy goes right back up.

I came across this video on YouTube:

if this doesn't work, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiRAeMLqP08



I agree with just about everything the guy said in this video except for what he said about america being in a depression. i don't think america's in a depression, which would be with the GDP down (spending more $ than $ earned) for over 12 months... as of now, it seems to me that we're in a recession, which is when GDP is down for about 6 mo.

Bottom line, as bad as this all may seem... i am confident that it will all work out and be okay. there's always a chance for failure... but that is very unlikely. a slow recovery is predicted, which may be painful for the econ.... but a slow recovery's better than no recovery.