The Way We Live Now: requesting a do-over. We made our best guess, and it didn't work out. Let's run it back. Let's try again. Let's make a different bet. Let's get a refund, and re-invest! Repay us, immediately!

Look, it was perfectly logical to think that there was going to be a huge boom in foreclosures following the collapse of the real estate bubble. That's why we bet everything we had on it. But now those bets are going sour. And we, as a nation, have to ask ourselves: do we really want to penalize soulless vulture investors, just because they bet wrong?

We need that capital. We need that drive. We need that willingness to invest in things that may not be "socially" acceptable. Where else are we going to get money? We can't manage to make our corporations pay tax rates over 1% no matter what sorts of loopholes we try to close. I mean we don't try, but theoretically.

Sure, we're going to make poor choices. It's part of making choices. But it's important that we keep on celebrating the fundamental American drive to do things. Hey, all of us either spent all of our college years doing drugs or toiled endlessly only to be saddled with unsustainable debt, but you know what? We're giving more money to colleges than we did last year. Last year we gave much less. But this year we're giving more than that, which I think probably says something about our pluck.

Factory orders are strong, America. And that means American factories are strong, and that means American factory workers are strong, and that means the type of people who are really into football are strong, and that means more of their kids will be good football players, and that means that we'll have enjoyable Super Bowls to watch once a year for many, many years to come. So cheer up. Times might be tough today, but things will improve. It's not Groundhog Day!