Clinton on the economy

Those that know me, know that I'm just not a fan of either Clinton. That being said, I was watching David Letterman last night in my hotel room and listened to Bill Clinton give one of the most comprehensive, yet simplest explanations yet of the current economic crisis in the US. Worth listening to!

It's amazing some of the commentary I hear -- the US economy is in its most fragile state since the Great Depression. I think of the 30s, I think of The Grapes of Wrath, dust bowls and bread lines. Today, there are so many households living beyond their means. Materialism has taken "doing without" to a whole new, rather disturbing definition.

I spent today at Habitat for Humanity and was really taken aback by some of the statistics I read about housing and poverty. The official poverty line in the US is somewhere around $19K, but if you add up the basic, most rudimentary costs for living (heat, electric, a roof over your head), you still go north of $20K. So where do these families find the money to get by? And how many middle-class families are falling further and further behind in debt, having overextended themselves over the past few years in low- or no-money down mortgages?

What a mess we've created. No wonder the rest of the world is in a panic, hoping that their economies don't lurch into a tailspin right after us!