[Lorianne]

However, despite his seemingly earnest intentions, the president and his economic advisors have misdiagnosed the ailment.

Spot on! And Bush and his advisors before him.

The point being missed by nearly everyone is that there IS NO PLAN that will bring us back to the days of unsustainable hyper-consumption based on massive consumer debt and fantasy 'profit' off of tricky 'financial instruments'.

Nor should there be.

They are measuring economic 'recovery' against a standard that was never sustainable in the first place.

[dennisw]

unsustainable hyper-consumption based on massive consumer debt........

That is gone for years and maybe a generation or two. There are attempts to re-capture that era even in part. It will fail