ABSTRACT
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, we in the United States pretended that our economic situation was pretty good. The doldrums of the 1970s and early 1980s were ancient history. Yes, there was a recession in the early 1990s, but then we had a decade of economic growth, and many people saw new technology-computers followed by the advent of biotechnology-as ushering in an era of prosperity. The dot-com bust and another recession just after the turn of the twenty-first century put a damper on the enthusiasm, but then the economy started to grow again. Not very fast, but after all, there had been the events of September 11, 2001, and, the government claimed, it was necessary to fight the so-called war on terror. Besides, with housing prices soaring, lots of ordinary people were getting rich-or so they thought.
