Be sure: U.S. will bounce back

Inter Lake editorial

For certain, 2008 was one rollercoaster of a year, with more downs than ups for many people -not just in the United States but around the world. Here's hoping that the coming new year will be better, with lessons learned.

Americans are an enduring citizenry, and it is their energy, innovation and work ethic that will eventually lead a global economic recovery. Other nations will depend on the United States and its vast consumer markets to plow through the recession.

Perhaps the worst turns in the economy have yet to be revealed, but make no mistake, the economy will recover as it has in the past.

For those who think 2008 has been the worst year ever, there is historic context to turn to for perspective.

Consider the Civil War, the deadliest war in U.S. history, with more than 600,000 Americans dying at the hands of other Americans. Every year from 1861 through 1864 can be considered, hands down, the worst years the United States has ever been through.

The Great Depression delivered years of abject poverty, with periods of 80 percent unemployment in certain parts of the country, and unemployment dropping to a nationwide low of 19 percent in 1938. The current economic downturn hasn't come close to matching those conditions, and there is reason to be confident that a true Depression can be avoided because of lessons learned from applying experimental economic remedies in the years from 1929 through 1940.

And just 40 years ago, in 1968, social upheaval, riots and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were leveled on the American public.

In all cases, the republic persevered, recovered and eventually prospered. And again, the recoveries of the past were driven by Americans, and not necessarily by the U.S. government.

The same holds true going into 2009. If the incoming Obama administration and the Democratic Congress do everything they can to empower average Americans, rather than empowering government, they will be successful in getting the economy back on track.