I know some folks have had some pain with commodities the last month. Dollar is strengthening, and the Fed is on seek and destroy with inflation. Taken just on its own numbers, the US economy is doing well depsite some points of fundemental weakness. This all ignores the 800lb gorrilla in the room that costs us something like 6 billion a month: Iraq. As tempting as it might be to politize here, let's focus on the money. And to me, things look a lot like the late 70s. There is a convergence of bad threads, most of which have yet to really take affect. An unpopular war, lack of faith in govt/economy, increasing trade def, increasing budget def, looming inflation, and a loss of international interest in our debt/bonds. Very gloom and doom i agree, but i also know some people made large sums of money in the late 70s. Perhaps by learning from thier actions, and drawing corelations to today's world, we can protect those close to us.