jbog, imo, we are not going to be able to "support our current standard of living" for many years. This seems like something that most people don't understand yet or believe will eventually happen over a longer term, but I feel it will play out until we get control of our cost structures and national debt/medicare/medicaid/social security/etc. I'm not sure what the ultimate solutions will be other than the unwinding of all these underwater assets/business.