I Love Rollercoasters!

Here's the news we've all been waiting for - the second breathtaking drop in the economy appears to be upon us. Although state economists say it is too soon to know for sure, the trend line is beginning to form. Oregon is still are above average on unemployment and trailing the rest of the country on a number of other key economic indicators, so I am not sure we really "recovered" at all. If you look at the graph, Oregon recovered perhaps 30% of lost ground from where it was in 2005. We have never gotten back even close to "normal."
 www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/08/oregon_economy_could_dip_again.html

In the meantime, President Obama was off to Chicago to celebrate his birthday and has ordered that his dog be separately flown in so he can walk it. PETA will be happy. The First Lady and the First Kids are jetting off to Mirabella, Spain where she has reserved 60 rooms at the Ritz Carlton for a little soiree with a few of her closest friends. In view of the economic cesspool in which we find ourselves, would it be too much to ask that she instead go to Martha's Vineyard, Yellowstone, or Hawaii instead and stimulate a little of the U.S. economy? Apparently so. Well, bon apetit - or vaya con Dios since it's Spain! The rest of us will just have to eat cake. Pass the strawberries, Marie.