It's Not You, It's the Recession

New numbers out from Pew Research give us a handy excuse for whatever ills have befallen us over the past 30 months since the "Great Recession" began. If you were unemployed, took a pay cut, had your hours reduced, or involuntarily took to working part-time, you're in good -- or, at least, a lot of -- company. The humorless old recession had that effect on more than half of the adults in the labor force. It's also made us thriftier, less optimistic about our futures, and more broke than ever. But 62 percent of us think it's going to get better this year. Fingers crossed. [JDoll]