What really irritates me is how much the recession/depression is being inflamed by both Ben Bernanke (Fed Reserve Chairman) and the media. In my opinion, the country's economic situation would be greatly improved if they would just stop talking.

I mean, to hear them tell it, the US economy is in a freefall spiral to utter destruction in a fiery, gory Hell. The smallest downturn or DOW loss is hyped to the point of insanity. Granted, the economy is going through a slump, but such things are only worsened by uncontrolled emotion.

Every depression in our nation's history, from the Panic of 1819 to the Great Depression, started with a small problem that was subsequently blown entirely out of proportion, resulting in massive sales/defaults and a severe economic crisis. There's a reason that the words "Panic" and "Depression" are synonymous in economic history.

__________________
Men of England, heirs of Glory,
Heroes of unwritten story,
Nurslings of one mighty Mother,
Hopes of her, and one another;

Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.

- Percy Shelley, "The Masque of Anarchy"