Should we be scared of entering a depression?

The European debt crisis. Our continuing jobs gloom. Oh, and let's not forget the rocketing national debt that is financing the entire stock-market boom. In past months I've been watching with amazement as Wall Street -- and a lot of investors -- have been trying to sweep these under the carpet. But they won't stay there. On Thursday, markets were spooked when Moody's downgraded Spain's government debt. But why is anyone surprised? Had investors been paying attention, they would have known that the market for default risk was already sending serious warning signals about Spain and Portugal's credit -- not to mention that of Greece.





Also from the lows of two years ago, the S%26amp;P 500 has almost exactly doubled. By any measure, it's been a remarkable boom. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks has soared 130%. So has the S%26amp;P Mid Cap 400 index of medium-sized companies, taking it to a new record high. But look at the fundamentals. Over that time economic growth has been sluggish. The economy today is no bigger, in real terms, than it was three years ago. The true jobs picture remains a disaster, and far worse than the official data will tell you. Wages have been stagnant. Yes, companies have boosted profits -- to near-record levels -- by slashing costs. But how far can that take you? (Perhaps in the end there will just be one, very productive guy left with a job. It would be Apple's Steve Jobs, of course. But then, alas, he'd have to buy all those new iPads himself.)|||We are already in a mini depression.Don't pay attention to what the Government tells you .Pay attention to what is going on around you,like you are doing.All we can do is try to have a plan to take care of are own and try to get the Politicians to actually do the work to stop it.They seem to have no real urgency to the problem.I guess because they are isolated from the real world and real working people and not just wall street,and other Politicians that have no idea what is going on.|||We are entering a depression.





Whether it scares you or not is up to you.|||We aren't entering a depression.