Gabriel M Key  

Fianally able to catch up on some recent editions of the Economist.  Although I am financially aware and considerably financially conservative, The following quotes were both poingent and well written.

[President] Bush has presided over the fastest growth in federal spending since the Great Society of the 1960's.  He put the republican seal of approval on the biggest intrusion of federal power in the class room, the most expensive public works program ever, and the largest new entitlement program since th creation of Medicare and Medicaid.  He launched an "open-ended "war on terror". He road roughshod over states' rights issues such as assisted suicide and expanded the governments' power to eavesdrop on its citizens. (see The Economist May 31, 2008, p. 38)

...

An index of consumer confidence compiled by the Conference Board, ... hit a 16 year load on May 27th.  Americans have not been as worried about their future since 1978. (The Economist, May 31, 2008 p. 34)