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Words cannot describe how tired I am of hearing so many people toss around words like "depression", "crisis", "collapse", and "disintegration" when referring to the current state of U.S. economy. I am not sure, what enjoyment one could derive from screaming from the rooftops about how miserable we all are, but hardly anyone seems to talk about anything else anymore. Coming from the former Soviet Union - specifically from Ukraine - I have to deal this blow to the American public: you do not know how to do a proper economic crisis.

A true depression is when your country's economy shrinks by over 14% in one year, and when two of your country's major industries' production drop by at least by a third. A true economic crisis is when 90% of the population describes their financial state as "making ends meet". You know your economy might be in trouble when universities have to close because there aren't enough students to attend them due to the fact that birth rates in your country have been falling for nearly 15 years. In fact, how would you feel if you knew that death rates in your country exceed the birth rates by 8 people per every 1,000? In plain English that would mean that your people are dying out. Throw in unpaid salaries and a bankrupt pencion fund and you might get an idea of what an all-out honest-to-god economic crisis is.

What we are currently having in the United States is a walk in the park. Yes, unemployment rates did go up. But here, people can actually go, file an unemployment claim and actually get some support while they are looking for another job. There are some countries where unemployment support process does not exist - so no breather, not even a small trickle of money to hold you over, nothing to allow you to take a deep breath and gather your wits before you come up with a plan.

Yes, some of the financial institutions are not doing great. However, if one bothers to dig through all the ignorant panicky rhetoric surrounding the banks, one would be surprised to find out that Bank of America, for example, made profit in 2008 - and not just any profit, but several billions (that's "billion" wth a "b") of it. And here is CitiGroup - talk about an embattled company - coming out solidly in the black in the first quarter of 2009.

Six months ago all you could hear was, "We will never see gas under $2 per gallon ever in our lifetime. In fact, by next summer gas will be $10 per gallon." Some of the people who said that were considered reputable, sophisticated, economically intelligent individuals. Uh-huh... I always think of those who were too ready to deliver that devastating prognosis, when I drive by a gas station in South Carolina, where a gallon of regular unleaded goes for $1.64 - and has been that way for about the last two or three months.

So, to summarize, gas prices have fallen and held steady at under $2 per gallon, and there is gas available at the gas stations to take advantage of those lovely low prices, there are no gas lines wrapped around the block anymore. Financial institutions that are considered to be having problems are making profit. There are groceries at the stores, water in the pipes, electricity in the lines, and cars on the road, driven by people who can still afford all of these things. Do you still want to call this a crisis?

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