I'm wondering at the remarkable level of depression in this thread.

The overall strategic situation is not that bad, certainly far better than it was in, say, 2006-2007. Afghanistan doesn't look very good, but Iraq in 2006 was far worse.

The U.S. economic situation is ugly, but considering how much worse it could have been I think we can count ourselves quite lucky.

I mean, do you guys watch cable news or something? If so, you really should stop.