Front page New York Times story today cites the huge increase in volunteers showing up to do charitable work while unemployed. That’s a great sign that maybe we’ll pull together as a country and make things better. For now, it seems like we’re steering the right way and not into Mad Max or fascism. I’m watching a piece from NBC as I type that shows evictions by police an hour north of here. In my younger days, we went bankrupt and the bank seized the house. It’s pretty damned devastating, but it’s great to now that rather than riot and rage, people are volunteering to help others.

They’re foreclosing 50,000 houses in Vegas this year and 12,000 in Miami. How many families and individuals does this affect? How would you like be renting a house, be current on your payments and have the police show up and literally throw all your stuff into the street? How would you like to watch your kids see this? It’s just devastating.

Anyway, I remain cautiously optimistic that the social and political outcome in this country will be positive, though extremely painful. The economy will definitely go to hell, but maybe, just maybe, as a people, we will get by.