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The only people who are doing well are the same ones who did well before the crisis.

Off course these are the same group who will never be touched by any events bar the masses taking up arms.

Arginald,

I'm very fortunate in no longer having a mortgage but so long as people have a pot to cover the unexpected yes better to pay off than keep paying and also saving.

You are in a similar position to me.
The directors of company I work for will probably keep it going until I'm 60, when I hope to have sufficient funds to comfortably retire, so long as they can get business. The customers are manufacturing companies which keep declining, moving operations to India and the Far East etc.
The company now has very few competitors and with no demand for my skills and experience getting another decent paying job fairly local is unlikely. Relocation costs and has risks if the job does not work out or disappears.

Rich people tend to always be rich unless they take risks.

So I think there have been some good analyses of why our economy is still f*cked )) However I suppose the point I was making is that while things are still very bad for me they are starting to look a little better. I agree that it is a long time before we are going to be back to a good economy. However are things better than they were a year ago - for me personally yes. I think for others it is no. reading the responses a 50:50 split?