Of course this is devastating and depressing news for someone just a week away from starting in this business.

For if I had predicted at the beginning of 2008 we would experience freezing credit markets, bankruptcies and near bankruptcies of our largest of financial institutions, massive amounts of taxpayer monies used to "save" the financial system, the worst recession numbers since the Great Depression, unemployment at 7% and rising, mortgage defaults at unprecedented levels, "deleveraging" on a global basis -- and toss in oil going from $95 a barrel to $145 a barrel and back to $37 -- then you would have sought to admit me into a mental ward for treatment last January.

Sorry for the post being so long but I am severly depressed that I failed and I feel like if I dont try to get back on track in regards to my rental property goals I will forever regret not trying again.

They should keep pace with inflation although may under perform if interest rates go higher (depress house prices).

I don't know if it will happen in the next year, but the United States is so screwed up financially, that we are certainly headed for a major depression, not a recession.

That is the most depressing of all to me.I like our chances and feel we are the team to beat in the AL West.

There have been some major disruptions -- the great depression, the change in lending after WWII, and the recent bubble.

We think we are in a recession, but when you lose your job, it's a depression.

My comment was directed towards discretionary spending although I left the word "discretionary" out.Most items have fallen in price that i've noticed (in my area) and I believe, absent the current economic depression, gas prices would have been significantly higher this summer.Bottom line, I believe with all the money in the system, tangible real inflation is in the pipeline, and it is stagflation that we should be concerned about - not hyperinflation.

Movies a d chocolate both thrived during the Great Depression.