This has been a year to remember--or rather, a year to forget. Trillions of dollars of wealth disappeared in 2008 as  markets reeled from the forced liquidation of assets. The process is not yet over, another drop of 50 % is still possible.

The coming year will be far more difficult as the consequences of what happened to the financial sector begins to affect the lives of those  far away from Wall Street. The pain will be real and our memory of the last depression will not do justice to the suffering that is about to be.

Denial about our problems has been the norm in America. Hopefully, that denial will give way to acceptance and understanding in the future. Only then is change possible.

 I don't know how America will respond to this unfolding crisis in the coming years. A country's past is no indicator of its future. It is my hope  the crisis will bring out the best in America.

During the past decade America lost its moral compass. Perhaps in the next, it will find it again.

 Let us pray it will be so.

Merry Christmas

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.con