ehoff,

Thank you for the thorough analysis and explaination of our economic situation here in the United States which supports my original statement "we are screwed". 

The handwriting is on the wall.   No matter how we phrase it some things are inevitable.  I have done much reading about our current economic crisis and have not found any rational and logical argument as to how we will make it out of this mess without suffering a severe downturn in our standard of living.  That is assuming that our country and government comes out of it resembling anything we have today. 

Anyone with any knowledge of finance and economics (or just good common sense) can see that the propaganda the government and Fed are putting out indicating the worst is over is just that, propaganda.  People are losing confidence in our government and that will only speed up the meltdown of our economy. 

Personally, I would rather be involved in farming at this time in history than anything else.  Both from a matter of being able to make a living for my family and to be able to help feed the world.  When it comes down to it, what good is money or gold if you don't have food?