[sarcasm]

I live in New York - believe me, the situation here isn't pretty at all. The unemployment rate here last month was 8.4%.

[LS]

No, that is not good. Bloomberg's massive tax addiction isn't going to help.

Overall, the economy still hasn't gotten over 9/11 and will NOT get over it until the "War on Terror" is perceived to have basically ended most of the main threats. Osama/Afghanistan was #1; Saddam was #2. I think if we see North Korea and Iran and perhaps Yemen stabilized, through diplomacy or whatever, we will see sizeable rebound.