I don't believe our economic meltdown is a "media issue." The fact of the matter is that the combined US consumers do not have sufficient resources to pay for nececities, pay their debts and also keep the economy growing. I that the Fed and others with some level of control have "done the math."

Capitalism is the best system that anyone has come up with so far as I can judge, however unfettered capitalism has it's own pitfalls.

I'm Canadian and proud of it. Don't take it as USA bashing as it's not. The USA is a great country, it just has so much potential to be even better.

The US will fall peacefully, China will take all the jobs, poison all our kids with lead, taint our food which will take more lives and one day they will be invited to move over here to fill all the empty positions left by all the deaths resulting from lead, chemical and other types of poisoning.

Its the new tactic of world domination.
The only good thing we have to look foward to is that Bush will not be in office in 2009, well it could be a good thing.

@trujunglist: Yes, you can have ice cream. Just buy it soon before it costs $15 a cone :)

Anyway, who else thinkgs the politicos are stoking inflation as a fix for the stocks, real estate and bad debt?

Beats the heck out of a HELOC.

Here's the upside to all this:

1) gas prices will drop as crude drops due to less demand for oil (more money in your pocket)
2) interest rates are falling, so rates on credit cards and equity lines of credit will continue to go lower, meaning more money in your pocket if you have debt
3) mortgage rates are falling, so if you are a home buyer, this is your time. You're in the drivers seat

As long as you keep your job during a messy season like this ... if your income remains the same, and some expenses get less expensive ... then the only hit you'll take is in the market. Hopefully, we'll see a bottom soon, and that will bounce back in a nice way, so hang on ... and keep chins up!

(meanwhile, I'll go take some more malox)

The cretins who run our government and national media have next to nothing in common with most of us, making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars a year and being large investors.

MOST people make their livings by working at a J-O-B. Only about 50% of the American population has so much as a penny invested in the stock markets--and much of that is via mutual funds and the like. We aren't sitting on our asses "playing the market."

Oh, NOW that it's hitting YOU in the wallet, you care about the economy? Thanks for nothing, elected official and pundits.

As for recession, I predict a mild one at worst. The problems we're having are cyclic, not structural, for the most part.

TO THE WORLD; IF WE GO, YOU GO

The US has needed outside money for a long long time, without foreign cash infusions the US is broke the only saving grace right now is the fact that commodities are still traded in USD, how much longer do you think people want to continue to get paid in Monopoly money?

It will be an interesting 2008 and I predict a hot fall after which nothing will be as it is now.

There are some weaknesses in some areas to be sure, but so far as I can tell, most of the fear is something that has been dredged up by a media that revels in this country doing poorly, for whatever reason that is. At least in the sector of the economy I work in, there seems to be no shortage of folks wanting to spend money. Here's what it comes down to, people have got to keep a level head about all this and realize that unless they're on the cusp of retirement or up to their eyeballs in debt (which IS a real problem in this country) what happens tomorrow or even two years from now isn't going to ruin them. Heck, I actually look at the stock market losing some value as a good thing. I'm not retiring for at least another 25 years and this just means my money that goes into my retirement accounts buys more shares that will ultimately go up in price.

If our economy declines, they're coming with us.

@jackhandey: You've been in the pathology/microbio lab too long. :P

Add to this that many people financed their spending (only making up the tiny 70% of the US GDP) by taking out mortgages that are now worthless. Do you think those people will continue to spend?

Finally the US has selling itself like it's going out of fashion over the last three decades (ever since the Gold Standard was abandoned) to a tune that China is now the biggest foreign debt holder, essentially China has the US by it's (economic) balls.

And along those lines I believe all this talk about bailing out the mortgage industry is retarded. They made some (many) bad decisions, and they should suffer the consequences for those decisions. Otherwise what is to teach them not to do so again.

Recession? Maybe. Great Depression-like event? Nope.

I was just a lad in the late '70s and early '80s, but how does a 30-year mortgage rate in the 12%-18% range sound? That was the going rate back in the day. So yeah, things could be a lot worse.

Or have the ostriches finally woken up?

Does the main pic remind anyone of a bacteria colony in a Petri dish that has multiplied but with a limited food supply? Guess what happens when the food (cheap oil, etc.) runs out…

@dapuddle: The ultimate downfall of the USA will be its own citizens. As to when that will happen is anyone's guess. I don't think this is it, but I do believe that the US won't be the super power it once was.

It is called deleveraging and it leads to a flight to safety. What does everyone expect when credit is offered at no cost or even paid to take it. This is not much different than the global credit collapse of the Great Depression.

the pic looks like vegas. i wonder how close i am.