I am an eternal optimist, I guess.  Despite the horrible economy of the past two years, I see a lot of positive signs.  The Dow Jones is actually up (as of this writing) 70% since the market low of March, 2009!  The S&P 500 is up 78% in that same time period! Jobs are starting to be created and consumer confidence is rising.  People are spending more money- consumer spending drives about 70% of the economy.  Unemployment is still high, but we are now adding jobs instead of losing 750,000 jobs PER MONTH in early 2009!  Almost every economist believes that the recession is over, we have avoided another Great Depression, and we are in an economic RECOVERY! Yes, there are still many people looking for work, and this worries me.  But in an economic recovery, jobs are always the last thing to come back.  Lets hang in there!  America has always been able to find a solution to any major situation we have faced!