Have to agree with Ricter as far as his comments concerning underlying strength. Its all anecdotal, but the stores around me are packed and I mean middle of the day. Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, the mall, everywhere I go there are crowds. Contractor doing some work on my house said his contacts at Lowes and Home Depot said that they can not keep up with orders. Went into HD a few weeks ago to buy some treated lumber, they were out of it and this wasn't some odd ball stuff, just regular 2x. Unfortunatley, we have an administration that is doing everything it can to kill the recovery. Case in point: New "jobs" bill has a clause that says not hiring an unemployed person is discrimination. http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20110915/NEWS07/110919918/-1&template=mobileart
the funny thing about all of this is despite record accumulation of wealth by top 1% of the country some idiots here truly believe US is in danger of becoming a "socialistic state"(south park has an episode mocking glenn beck btw) It is as if those individuals wake up every morning and hope "please don't make US like France, anything but France, please!" For them, "european socialist" state is the worst case scenario as opposed to something like Uganda, Botswana or Afghanistan. Needless to say, those individuals are simpletons. This country never has nor will ever be in danger of becoming "socialistic" it was almost always run by rich folks and corporations. During the Civil War, you could buy out your "duty to your country" by paying someone to serve instead of you. No matter how much corporations and "rich people" screw you over, you still want to give them tax breaks and more privileges. Brilliant.
There are two types of Americans: 1) Smart American patriots, who love Israel. 2) Mentally retarded, traitor Americans who support muzzie terror and voted for Obama. Therefore, only about half of America is dumb. God bless Israel and all smart Americans. Screw the stupid notion of a Palestinian state which does not recognize the Jewish state. Such muzzie nonsense will never be allowed to happen. The USA will veto it. All Christian Americans must support Israel, for the Bible says so! The USA must bomb Iran next, to defend Israel.
Somebody is getting cute. In historical context, labels don't mean anything. Just because NAZI party was called National Socialistic Democratic Party (NSDAP) does not mean it was. While Hitler was initially elected to the post of chancellor, his subsequent power grab to become "Fuhrer" was not and his regime was not democratic. Nazi Germany respected private property and people like ferdinand porsche profited handsomely from the war effort. In Soviet Union, while the "republics" composing it were technically called socialistic, private property was not respected at all, and Nazi Germany despised Soviet Union. Getting back to present time, present day european "socialistic" states have nothing in common with either NAZI germany or USSR.
The intelligence of the vast majority of people falls short of being in the top 10th percentile. This is true in the USA, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and, yes ladies and gentlemen, even Antarctica.