The news is almost the worse source of credible information. I've mentioned "the machine" quite a bit - all of that comes from my experience working at Cheyenne Mountain.

15 years ago the news was the news - it wasn't biased, it didn't care if you were right or left wing - it was people telling a story of what happened. TODAY, the news tries to compete w/ sitcoms and regular programming - it is a RATINGS game and nothing more. You have to be able to read between the lines on what is being put on your TV screen and use your OWN head. The economy isn't great -- but it's not the Great Depressiopn by any means. I think that rather than bailout industries - we get back to the strong survive mentality --- we are the most adaptable beings on the planet and gov in whole is not showing that (altho not bailing out the auto industry is showing me that we are at least getting a clue --- FUCK unions, esp the UAW). I could go on. People are still gonna wait in line for $4/gallon gas - and they are gonna PAY their hard earned money for it... Georgia proved that. We are just gonna choose our trips better/smarter. People are STILL gonna xmas shop - they are just gonna make smarter buys. I LOVE this shit, it forces a world chock full of idiots to get smarter or FAIL - get more education to get better jobs or FAIL.... make sound LIFE decisions or FAIL. We need it.

/rant