America: Better off or worse off?

This sounds like a silly question from most people whom I meet face to face. Of course we are worse off! Yet, I have not realy talked to anyone totally devistated by the economy. Most common are the complaints about the higher costs of everything from healthcare to gas and food. What happens is that most people are loosing ground. Now let me be fair, this has occured mostly in the last year or two. In fact, I believe the country survived 9/11 in grand style... for a while...

Now everything is intensifying with this malaise.