[Marilyn]

Oh, Gayle, you are so sweet. Your kind words brought tears to my eyes. It is a sad time, and I do hate being down like this. We had a woman who had been laid off call our office looking for a job. My husband had a man call him the same way. These people will do anything just to have a job again. It is upsetting.

I think your word foreboding does describe how I feel. I'm afraid that any day the whole thing will come tumbling down. One of our daughters ask what would happen if the country went bankrupt, and I really didn't know what to tell her. I heard today that California could start giving some of their state employees IOU's for pay checks within the next 3 weeks. Macy's, my favorite department store, is closing 11 stores.

Then I wonder, is the media causing this? Are they freaking us all out and causing us to be afraid to spend money which is causing the economic problems.

It's all beyond me and I'm afraid it's too complicated for anyone to truly understand and know what needs to be done. What they've done so far isn't working.

My husband is worrying that I'm internalizing this and will give myself a heart attack or something. I am getting a fever blister again, which I can always attribute to a stressful event.

Sorry, this shouldn't be about me. It's much bigger than that.