Government and economist have the ability to manipulate the numbers they seek but the real world of economics eludes them. Wall street, large corporations, and government manipulate the numbers every day to syphon money from the economy and make themselves look good and prosperous. But it has all come to a head and the realization that the economy is not so perky and the consumers have reached a dead end of excessive debts, inflation, and no cash or financial stabilty has caught the attention of those that have been preying on the consumers for decades. Consumers and the working people of this country are the backbone of the economy, not government, not busines, and definetly not Wall Street. Without the people, their jobs, and homeland security there is no economy for all these warlords to prey on. Once the bottom falls out on the consumer the economy falls flat, especially a service oriented economy with no or very few manufacturing jobs. Office workers and white collar jobs are not an economic asset, they produce nothing sellable as a product. We have become nothing more than a 'think tank' for other nations that manufacture and produce.