Our government, headed by a Shrub, continues to tell us not to worry, everything is fine, just KEEP SHOPPING whatever you do. Our mass media, owned by various large corporations who benefit from continuation of Shrub policy, would rather tell us about some movie star's sex life or drug habit. But in spite of the attempts to keep us in the dark, we are learning. The alarm went out a couple weeks ago that the unemployment rate has increased more than the estimates, and economists are also saying that we still haven't reached the "bottom" of the housing market. Here's an interesting site that suggests what they think is a more realistic statistical assessment of our situation. You can say anything you want with numbers, but I have less reason to mistrust this site than the Shrubbery.
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data