The one thing that could help get the world economy rolling again is the one thing I seldom hear suggested. More than money, bailouts and stimulus bills, our country needs a change in ATTITUDE!

Doom and gloom has a terrible byproduct - MORE doom and gloom.

I have heard several commentators say we now have the worst economy since the early 1980's.
After doing some research I’ve discovered they are probably right. I remember the early 80's well. I was a young man trying hard to support my wife and two young daughters. I have many fond memories of those years, but it’s the strangest thing. I DON’T remember a recession!

I do remember some things about that time period. When I graduated college in 1973 $3 in gas would fill up my VW bug. By 1980 it cost over $10. One year the church I was working with gave me a 12% raise which didn’t come close to compensating for the inflation rate of almost 15%. My wife and I felt very fortunate to get our house with an 8% mortgage in 1975, because by 1980 the interest rate for house mortgages was over 12%.

Those were the types of excesses and inflation that surely lead to recession but there was something different back then. We didn’t have 24-hour news channels, talk radio and politicians continually reminding us that we were in a financial crisis. I’m sure the recession of the early 80's was difficult on a lot people, but we certainly did not experience the anxiety and fear most feel today.

We have had 19 significant recessions, depressions or economic panics during America’s almost 233-year history and we have survived them all. Each period of economic downturn was caused by a different set of circumstances and recovery came as a result of many different factors. But there has been a common thread in each return to prosperity - a renewed spirit of optimism.

The federal government often had to pass laws and make monetary changes to correct situations that caused a given economic downturn, but in the end it was the positive attitude of the American people that started the economic engine running again.

The longest and, in some ways, the deepest depression was not the Great Depression of the 1930's but the Great Depression of 1873. It lasted almost 23 years. Big business, corrupt government, and uncertainty about the gold and silver supply continually stifled the US and world economy.

During the administration of Pres. William McKinley a movement that became known as the Progressive Era emerged to lead the country into a time of prosperity and growth. While Teddy Roosevelt’s “Bully Pulpit” later championed it, the Progressive Movement was, in fact, a grass roots movement, which started with individuals, and local and state governments who said enough was enough. They started cleaning up the economic mess and stimulating America’s financial future from the ground up.

When Barrack Obama was elected on November 4, 2008, the largest celebration in the history of American presidential politics was held in Grant Park in Chicago, IL. When the party was over the City of Chicago was left to cleanup. Among the rubble I’m sure workers probably found signs proclaiming, “YES WE CAN!” I know they were there, because it seems the Administration doesn’t need the slogan any more. They have replaced it with, “WERE TRYING, BUT DON’T EXPECT MUCH!”

I think Americans of all political persuasions should dust off the old abandoned slogan and with one important change create a new proclamation - “Yes We WILL!”

Yes, we are in difficult times, but last time I checked the national unemployment rate was still under 10%, which means 90% of us are still working. It is true that most of us have seen our retirement, homes and investments lose value, but the money supply in America is still strong. For most of us, life goes on.

In the end it won’t be a $8 billion railroad from LA to “Sin City” championed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed, or the $30 million that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slipped into the so called “stimulus bill”, to help protect the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse, that will pull us out of this economic downturn. It will be the positive “YES WE WILL!” attitude of the American people.

Bobby Watson