Looking at this absolutely gorgeous picture makes me think about the day I pondered this question walking along the seashore on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Is the American Dream sustainable? What does it mean to people? How can I find out? How will this awful financial condition impact the sustainability of the American Dream? Can my daughter achieve it? At $3.50 for a loaf of bread – what truly does it all mean? Are we in a worse position than the Great Depression of the 1930s following the stock market crash of 1929?

So I looked at the financial collapse of 2008, the lowest point of the stock market in the spring of 2009, and the ongoing high unemployment rates.What does it all mean?