The Great Depression of 2008

Once again our elected government officials are fear mongering the economy as if we were all just around the corner from bread and soup lines. Yes, the markets are down but since the inception of the Dow Jones on Wall Street(1882) there has never been a 7 year period when the market didn't make money.(google: Dow Jones history data-1900 thru 2008- for a visual) Wailing and gnashing of teeth can be heard by some since they won't be able to vacation in Florida this year. When some are questioned about their livelihood we're told that they're not doing badly but the guy up the street is in danger of losing his home, etc. I've not met that guy but I'm certain there are some. With 300 million people there has to be. With 300 million people some will have a terminal disease and some will have a cold. The point is, sometimes we have more money in our pockets than at other times. Spend accordingly. I don't go to Starbucks nearly as often as I used to. I find that when I scramble two eggs and put a muffin in the toaster I have more cash in my wallet than if I had gone to Bob Evans. Imagine that! Too often we let politicians get us bogged down with a mind set and at this time they tell us we have a national crisis. We don't have a national crisis. We have a downturn in the economy. Granted, it was brought on by ridiculous government spending and easy loans by the democrats to potential home owners who didn't have a chance in hell of making payments. Attention! Stop spending and save. It's going to be okay unless we let the spenders stampede us into doing more foolish things; as in bailouts.
Our unemployment rate, nationally, is 6.5%. I've had supposedly knowledgeable businessmen tell me how devastating this is. People, full employment is considered to be 5% and this is due to the fact that these 5% do not want to or cannot work. The unemployment rate at the height of the real Great Depression was 25%. Now that's unemployment!