A year in review:

Last year was quite a year. I had the tragedy of losing my dear father, and my wife lost her dear grandfather. In the world stage, the world economy went deeper into debt and housing market in the U.S. did not improve a bit. The unemployment rate went through the roof and stood at the highest in 26 years. We have our first African American President inaugurated. Health care legislation passed with one sided partisan support.

Terrorism got a new homeland in the face of Yemen. A surge of troops in Afghanistan was announced. Hollywood had a record revenue year. New York City had the lowest murder rate on record.

On the other side, states are still struggling during the past year despite good retail business but due to the high unemployment rate they are in dire straits and would remain so for a year or two. The landscape of the employment has changed drastically. Even the highly educated were not immune to the devastating recession that we had to go through.

Overall the mood of the consumers went way south with the economy and jobs following it. It is now hoped that we will be able to gain some jobs this year and the economy improves.