what's spirituality got to do with it? The issue is a very practical, worldly one. Folks have no money and they're hurting. Will they become more loving and less materialistic? Who knows, but should they learn how to manage with less they might become simply better people because they'll have less striving to do and they can maybe focus on their children and family life more.

No, not more spiritual. Economic hardships are a leading cause of marriages (families) breaking up. Poverty is profoundly stressful, especially so since we no longer have a legitimate, non-punitive social safety net. I promise you, falling into poverty will completely change your views of fellow citizens. Whereas spirituality gives you a sense of connectedness, both the hardships of poverty and the treatment you'll receive if you become poor will cause you to understand how alone you truly are. Poverty is often frightening, putting you at the mercy of others. In our society, poverty is humiliating rather than humbling. In the US, we have such contempt for the poor that we utterly dehumanize them. Poverty hurts the soul as much as it hurts the body.

I agree with Anna....what does spirituality have to do with this ongoing shift away from unbounded consumerism toward a scarcity mentality akin to the Great Depression Era of the 1930s? The reality of the masses pulling in their spending horns in nothing more than an expression of simple economic truth and principles coming home to roost.

Excepting that portion of the American population that either lived through the Great Depression or the lingering after-effects that continued up to WWII, most Americans are 3.5-4 generations (70-80 years) removed from the greatest period of economic bust ever experienced in US History. Translation? Lessons not learned nor remembered are doomed to be repeated.

In our nation's 232 year-long history we have experienced 3 major depressions. Statistically, if you average the frequency of major downward market-cycle occurrences (excluding recessions) over this time frame, it works out to approximately every 78 years we will experience a major economic correction in the form of a depression.

Does anyone see the strong parallel between the passage of time between depressions and the generational time differential of 3.5-4 generations? Another way to express forgetting lessons learned is called CRSS, otherwise known as Can't Remember Sh_t Syndrome.

Well, guess what, folks? 2006 was the 78 year statistical mark for the next depression due.

The worst is yet to come because it's all "waxy on-waxy off; the bigger the boom, the bigger the bust. Buy gold and silver; it is your best hope.

Spirituality means knowledge. We become more spiritual with knowledge. Simple. Ignorance is materialistic and empty, nothing more.

I simply LOVE it when the Americans start talking about "spirituality" when the times get tough. Such phoniness and such helplessness at the same time. Americans have been taught to consume, consume and consume some more just like pigs. Yes, they never learn. The current banking crisis mirrors the S n L crisis of the 1980s, yet I never seen it mentioned anywhere.
The most troubling fact is that a major war always seems to follow a major economic downturn. Wars are seen by the governments as a quick way to make a profit and divert people's attentions from their troubles. I foresee a major war in the near future, since that would be the ONLY way out for the US government. It cannot raise interest rates. It cannot bring back the million of manufacturing jobs lost. It cannot create another bubble.
War is the ONLY way out for it. No wonder the two faced Obama is traveling around the world instead of staying home and talking about economic issues as he should be doing.
I foresee a major world war, folks. You heard it from me first.

Most Americans are in a depression, it's not just consumer sentiment. First off, we are over $30,000 each in debt, as our share of the federal deficit. Next, most of us owe on our cars, homes and education. And most Americans haven't had a pay raise since 2000, even though the price of everything has gone up. People are smarter than economists, when people around you are losing their homes and jobs, there is a depression and what most realize is that because of the massive federal borrowing, it will just get worse.

This is much worse than the Great Depression we had only ourselves to fear

Now we are all going down the tubes due to religion the iatola Tammy Fae BAker the Iatola James Dobson.

We are praying at exactly the time Osama Bin Laden is coming for us. After destroying us fanancially

"52% are eating out less often"

Yep, just like in the Great Depression...