Is it as bad as everyone thinks?

 Folks, lets really look at the situation with the economy today.  We're gonna quickly compare this recession to recessions of the past, and come to a conclusion as far as how bad it really is.  First, we need to determine how we're going to compare the economy, and how does the everyday citizen do that? A quick glance at the stock market tells them whether it was a good or bad day in the economy.  Next we'll compare the Great Depression of 1929 to today using the Dow Jones Industial Average.  Since its peak in October 2007 at over $14,000, the market has fallen roughly 52% to the low $6,000s at its worst, in March of 2009.  Much of this we are beginning to recover, already over the $9,000 level.  In the Crash of '29 the market fell from its peak of $381.17 in 1929 to $41.22 losing nearly 90% of its value(no, thats not a type o) in 1932, and did not make even a 50% recovery for another four years!  You can compare nearly every major recession that the US has gone through, even before the Great Depression, and this one is, at its worst, on the lighter side, not to mention that with all the welfare systems we have set up now, we are much more socially stable.  The fact of the matter it, the US, and most of the rest of the world goes through a recession every 10 years or so, and some are worst than others.  The major difference now?  People have easier access to the investment markets, so more people feel it first hand.  That causes more voices to shout out, hoping they will be heard.  Now, we'll leave it at that for this one, but keep an eye out, cause next we're going to talk about housing, and its coming your way very soon!