shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

Washington Post: Workers, Firms See Productivity Gains Eclipsed By Surging Healthcare Costs

"Recent history has not been kind to working-class Americans, who were down on the economy long before the word recession was uttered." This is primarily because of "spiraling health-care costs that have absorbed increases in worker productivity. The result, adjusted for inflation, is that "median family income has dipped 2.6 percent -- or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000."

Associated Press: Recessionary Vibe Echoes 70's Rather Than Great Depression

"As economists and Wall Street types grope for historical perspective - which is another way of saying a road map out of" the foreclosure and credit "mess - Americans are nervously wondering about retirement savings, interest rates, jobs that had seemed safe." Analysts "say that more than ever, parents are calling for advice on how to deal with grown children who have moved back in with Mom and Dad after losing a job or just to save money." Rather than a revisiting of the Great Depression, a "better comparison might be the economic downturn that gripped the United States in the early 1970s, a time now widely remembered for long lines at the pump."

Washington Times: Columnist Outraged At Government Waste

"Cal Thomas writes that the federal government "now resembles an irresponsible parent, spending the children's wages and inheritance as if there were no tomorrow. Republicans lost the spending issue - and their congressional majority - because they behaved like overspending Democrats," who are promising "to increase spending if they win the White House and maintain their congressional majority."