I don't think so. It's jsut another attempt by nature to fuck with humans. Minor attempts happen about every four to six years. Serious efforts, like the Spanish Flu, about every hundred years. *We always bounce back.* The rest of the world is slowing down also. So, in six months more things will be close to normal. In 18 months this shit will mostly be in the rear view mirror, like what happened after 9/11. Economic growth may take three years or more to kick in, but it will happen. I told a 20-something coworker, that was panicking in early 2008, that it would take about ten years to get the economy roaring again, based on what happened after 1929's depression, where all commodity prives were at record highs, just like in 2007. The Great Recession was simply a *controlled depression* where the money supply was increased, instead of allowed to shrink like it did in the 1930's What we're experiencing now, economically, is a repid double dip, that will hurt for while, but not forever. It's not if we'll come back slrong, it's when we'll come back strong.