redblueamerica.com

The economy is slowing in reaction to the greatest economic boom in history, and there is little politicians can do about it. And the deficit doesn't matter.

Politicians can't claim credit for economic booms or blame their opponents when the busts show up, as they all eventually do.

Simply put, markets get out of whack and correct. That's what happened to the Internet boom of the 1990s, for which Clinton claim no credit, and that's what's happening to the housing boom of the 2000s, for which Bush can claim no credit. And neither should be blamed for the recessions that followed the booms that occurred on their watches.

Small stocks already are in a bear market, having corrected on average by more than 20%. Housing stocks are in a depression. And large companies' stocks, which have corrected only about 12%, are vulnerable to more declines as they report and project lower earnings and even losses in the next few months.

Get used to it. You've just experienced the most prosperity any country has ever seen, and you'll be lucky to experience it again. Sooner or later, the economic slowdown and bear market will exhaust themselves and pent up demand will re-energize the economy.

When will the economic slowdown bottom out and how big with the recovery be? Nobody can say at this point. Although many of us have been anticipating this slowdown and bear market for over a year, most of the talking heads and politicians are only now beginning to face reality.

They're in no position to project anything. Nobody is.

Although I agree with Xavier's response in part, the big picture is one that might not be corrected until we as Americans realize that our many years of false prosperity revert back to more realistic lifestyles more in line with our real income. In my opinion, we have spent beyond our means, fell victim to easy credit, mortgaged our futures for the present and blindly put ourselves into the sub-prime mortgage problems, economic recession, unbelievable credit card debt, all for some perceived need for a consumer good likely manufactured or outsourced to another country. This being said, I suspect our country has been destined to a large economic correction and anything the government does to bail us out will only delay the eventual reset of economic indicators to a more realistic level. On the positive side, I think that once this happens, our economy will grow stronger as we rely on the real things we produce and use in this coutry.

I totally agree with Xavier. Here we have spent billions on a useless war, which is NOT the terrorist who flew into the WTC. That would be Osama, who we have just forgotten about...HUH...where is the rationale in that? So now, we need to spend over 100 billion just to kick in the economy? Mind you, we do not have that money to spend. Our larges banks are turning to foreign countries just to stay afloat. I say, take care of the US and leave Iran, Irac, and the rest of them alone. If they want to blow themselves up, let em.