What's Really Wrong with the Country Today

I am tired of sitting idly by, and listening to pundits and politicians alike trying to convince me that there's nothing wrong. Or waiting until a year after everyone knows something is wrong before finally admitting that there is something wrong. Individuals are not stupid, we've know that there's been a huge problem in the housing market for over a year. I've know personally for the last 3 years that there was a problem. When my daughters music therapist was putting bids on houses without even looking for them, I saw it coming. 3 YEARS AGO!! Since then, we've lost my daughter, moved across country, and attempted to live a normal life. We bought a home that was built in the late 1970's, and needs some updating, but we got a good deal on it. Corner lot, fireplace, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, quite neighborhood. We live in one of the few places in the country that isn't experiencing a grinding halt to the housing market. Minimal growth, but not a complete halt.
The pundits and politicians are finally talking about recession. I said it 6 months ago. My friends said it 6 months ago. We are in recession. The retail sector is in a slump, and people are nervous and scared. I see us heading into another depression. Maybe not as bad as in the 30's, but it's coming.
The problem is the over-education in this country. Twenty years ago, you had to have a college degree to "get a good job". Now, you have to have a college degree to get ANY job. "People" think that a college degree is the answer. We all want to do better than our parents did, and therefore, our parents sent us to college. However, this over abundance of college educated people has put us into a situation that we cannot get out of. Nobody wants to be a plumber, or electrician anymore. They want to be architects, or construction site managers. They don't want to have to do any type of hard labor. Everyone wants to be rich, and have what the neighbors don't have. We all want the big house, and fancy cars, and top of the line TVs, but we don't want to have to work hard to get them. We all want everything handed to us. Even if the President steps in with an "economic relief package" of tax cuts and rebates, what he doesn't realize is, it is not going to solve the problem. It's a band-aid solution to a huge problem. I work retail, my husband works tech repair, people like us don't exist anymore. We all can't be investment bankers and hedge fund managers, who would be left to invest? What people need to realize, is we need to get back to our roots. Our heritage as Americans. If we want to compete in the "Global Economy", we have to start making things again. And not just computer chips and new companies, but actual THINGS. If we brought back the manufacturing of parts, and components to this country, and brought back our own textile manufacturing, we could right this economy in 2 years. We cannot sustain ny type of growth in this country if we are not creating jobs to pump money into the economy. Inflation is out of control, now granted it's not like it is in Zimbabwe, but five dollars for a gallon of milk is a little much, don't you think?
Everyone needs to get off their high horse and realize that in order to fix this country, we need to do it ourselves. We can't rely on this, or any administration to do it for us. If we don't do something soon, we're going to implode, and we will have a depression like we had in the 30's.
You want to know why all the Latin Americans are coming to this country? Because they will work jobs that Americans won't. They will build our houses, and fix our lawns, and work in fast food, because we've told ourselves that we are above all that. It's OK to work at McDonald's in high school, but once you "go off to college", it's over. I have come to the conclusion that we are never going to get any better, and our children will continue to be raised by strangers in day care centers, until we get off our rear ends, and get back to work. Real work, not sitting in the corner office trying to make a buck for "the man". We cannot keep lining the pockets of the super rich for much longer, because the gap between the rich and poor keeps getting bigger. Bosses expect so much for the wage they pay, and the pay is getting smaller and smaller because there are so many people competing for that entry level degree required job.
I met a woman last night, a few years younger than me, who is still in college. She already has her masters, but is working on her doctorate. She wants to teach in college, and in order to do that she has to have her PhD. Why? Does a piece of paper really make you that much smarter? I know that education is important, but honestly, does it really give you skills that you don't have already? Life itself is an education, and knowing that you are already intelligent, and have to have a piece of paper to prove that is insane. I know that there will always be professions that require a degree, doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers and others. But, to be a worker in a call center, come on. To be a mid-level manager, or even a manager in that type of environment, you need people skills, not a piece of paper.