Rig, you said, "There is something totally upside-down in the entire economic structure, it seems to me. I think the people in charge are too narrowly focused. They should be looking at ways to improve the average citizens lives. Jobs might not be the answer."

Respectfully I disagree. Job losses are not at the levels they have been in the past, but I think you might agree that they ARE climbing, seemingly more by the week. It seems across the country people are trimming down on household budgets. People aren't going out as much, vacations are shorter, the destinations closer, and all sorts of basic things of that nature. There is nothing I would love more than to have a cheaper grocery bill right now, to not pay 10 bucks for a six pack, to have more spending money, and have it go further, all of which would certainly improve this average citizen's life! But if more and more people are unemployed, in my opinions, things get much worse. Without getting bogged down in all the specifics of the New Deal, because there were many failures with it, when you ask people what they know of it, most will respond, it created jobs at a time when they were needed, plain and simple. Nothing will work as a quick fix, nothing will stimulate growth in and of itself. But the way I see it, people need to be employed for anything to be accomplished. I'm not so blind as to think that the numbers Obama gives for job creation will be 100% accurate, but if more job loss occurs the remainder of this year, then you are looking at an even more dire situation. As I'm typing this I found out my wife's boss (my wife being a nanny), who works for a major publisher, her division was just dramatically scaled down, laying off a bunch of people. Her boss is fine, but now her job gets more stressful, but at least she has a job. And thats what I am afraid will happen more and more in this country right now. And with unemployment comes the downward cycle of loss of home, hunger, crime, etc. I say give his measured response time-I can't think what else to do right now.