By many measures (median income, net growth/decline in jobs, etc.), etc., this has been very, very bad economic recovery. Bush became the first US president since Herbert 'Great Depression' Hoover to have fewer jobs in the US at the end of his administration than at the beginning. So, by any measure important to the US labor force, this is a bad economy. I guess that this shows what Ms. Tyson counts as important, and what she'll write off (i.e., us).

As they say, the singular of data is anecdote, and I can toss mine in here.

Last year was the year we ran aground. My family, my immediate family -- my wife, me, our two young kids. I had no idea, really, how close to the edge we'd been living. I have reasons for this, some good, some bad, but I won't go into them here. Bottom line: Our credit cards ran out of room. I decided it was time to get rid of them entirely so we pulled a home equity loan to pay them all off and get down to a reasonable interest rate. The goal since then has been to live on the money we actually make.

And where are we now? Struggling. After Christmas we had 77 cents in the bank. We've been managing paycheck to paycheck until this week when we found ourselves down to US$17 with my wife's still having to pay for gasoline for a week's worth of commuting -- about three tanks of gas on our little econobox, or about US$70 with New Jersey prices being what they are (i.e. nearly the lowest in the country).

We have borrowed some money from family to make it to the next paycheck. But it's going to be rough. I blame myself, mostly, in that wonderful way Americans have of taking responsibility (and I mean that sincerely): I could've managed our money better, I've bought some dumb things, spent more than I should have. I'm not a frugal person and never learned how to be thrifty. I'm not complaining.

I've noticed that my life isn't so special. I'm not some magical, heroic, person, nor am I some bizarre and total fuckup. My life looks a lot like a lot of other people's lives. Which tells me, if we've reached the point we have, probably a lot of other Americans are just about at the same point. Which means big trouble. When you're saving up to get a $20 haircut... well, you do the math.

And if the irony of the fact that I'm typing this on a computer doesn't get you, maybe you're not paying attention. I may spend less time on here once we drop down to the cheaper tier of DSL.