the U.S. is a very resiliant country. Despite all of the negatives now, there are a lot of positives, and once panic and speculation has run it's course, common sense will again prevail.

And you're gonna send the rest of those guys home in just a few months. Seattle area has a few more people in it, thus taking a little while longer to see the effect. I good buddy of mine is a painter here and he is tapped to the max on his credit line. Not because he lives beyond his means, but his contractors are 120 days behind on paying. The sad part is they have been stealing from Peter to Pay Paul for the last year. Now my buddy is gonna get hung out to dry. Kinda like all the subs who worked for Randy Sabastian @ Renesanase homes. He left 59 million on the books for his subs and filed chapter 13.

Give me a break, no one is dying in this crisis. There is no body count on the news. If you want to see some tough economic times take a look at what is happening in Darfur and other regions of the world.

The only thing that will turn it back around is to bring manufacturing back stateside and end outsourcing.

If you are waiting for that you better take a really deep breath.
When you accept that it's a global marketplace your definition of "outsourcing" will change. Stateside manufacturing is for the most part gone gone gone. We have to accept it and use our innovation to come up with the "next Model A"

Until very recently, the US was the world's biggest manufacturer.

My computer's broken. I thought I clicked on the fishing forum...

The only thing that will turn it back around is to bring manufacturing back stateside and end outsourcing.

One of the self defeating things that come with unions is a "it's not my job" and "why should I do more?" attitude that employers are forced to swallow. And it's that swallowing that cuts profits. No profits, no employees.

It surprises me that folks don't seem to understand what happened.

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

-Bob Dylan

One of the self defeating things that come with unions is a "it's not my job" and "why should I do more?" attitude that employers are forced to swallow.

OK, I done. Just my random two cents worth.

I would agree with you 100% if the title wasn't so dead wrong. Our Nation is on the brink and it will make a huge difference. As far as the work goes I agree. Lot's of folks are in for a real wake up call. I have no need to look at a man's skin. The color of his heart is what matters to me. Everybody will have to scramble to survive. The freeloaders will be crying the blues when the Government can't meet their needs. Plant your garden and tend it well. It just might be a cold and long winter. God Bless us all.

All bills that are passed are done so "along party lines" and there has to be some some better cohesion in Congress so that there are bi-partisan efforts to get things done without all of the rancor,name-calling and outright bullheadedness that exists.