The calls have slowed from between 35-50 a day to just a dozen over the past few months at the call center penitentiary (can you say layoffs?), so I've had a lot of time to look at USAToday.com, the only outside site I can get at my desk. Here are a few great quotes from the comments section that, together, kinda sum up where the USA is at.

valuevoter wrote:
jakebpg, "Just face it noes, GWB and his minions and rubber stamp Neo Congress have set our nation on the path to destruction."

Exactly! And guess what? They don't care!! Their money is already overseas! Even Halliburton bolted, going to Dubai. The wealthy view the US as utilitarian. It gets the job done. The US was a wealth-creating machine that allowed people to make money and stash it elsewhere. Unfortunately, the guy making $40,000 who couldn't wait for his minuscule tax cut and voted Republican is now left holding the bag. He has a house that has dropped dramatically in value, his job was shipped overseas, inflation is eating up his puny paycheck and everyone making over $1,000,000 a year is laughing at him and his ignorance.

Paul W. Shafer wrote:
The best jump-start to the housing industry would be to leave things alone and let the price of the homes decrease to their realistic, non-super inflated values. Then have the financials restore the home ownership/mortgage rules of the past (eg. 20% down). This would enable more people to afford less expensive houses with less chance of defaulting on loans.

To lower the federal reserve rates in an attempt to bail out irresponsible, greedy lending institutions like Citigroup, who mismanaged the way they conducted home mortgage business, which will not work; will only serve to devalue the dollar world wide, and lead to much higher imported goods, including oil.

American people have to live within their means and have not been doing so for 20 + years. A devalued dollar with super high fuel prices will lead to a world-wide recession than has not been seen for over a half a century. Perhaps this is what the fed wants to do...lead us into a world-wide super recession which is usually followed by a world war and helps stimulate the economy.

esgamble wrote:
Can we hear from someone on this forum who is suffering the effects of a recession? Has anyone lost their job or health insurance? Please explain why you have not been able to find another job. 5% unemployment is low. if it goes from 4.7% to 5% I fail to see how that is a big disruption. I remember when 8 - 9% umemployment was considered bad.

Also, I would like to hear some examples of people suffering from the "housing market collapse". House proces have only fallen a few % points. Barely 1 years gains form the boom years. How many people bought at the peak AND lost their job so they now can not afford the house. I think we are talking about a fraction of a fraction of the citizens in this country who are really affected by this.

Jack Stilton wrote:
...The US Ponzi scheme of a healthcare system is one reason we are in this mess. We are spending 15% of our GDP on "healthcare" and we're not very healthy and have worse health than 23 other countries and a higher infant mortality rate than even Cuba...

...China is going to come shopping here pretty soon and it's going to be really ugly for the people who live here. They aren't coming yet, because assets are probably going to fall much further. When they come, they will try to buy things you might want to buy, but your annual income will be comparable to change in their pocket. Some Americans will be lucky to get jobs as drivers or maids at the palatial homes of our new Chinese masters. I must say that they earned it by wisely managing their country and not selling their future for a high profit today.

King Edward wrote:
It will take decades to undo what Bush and his Neocon brethren have done to this country.

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