This past year has been a very trying and testing time for most people, what with the credit crises, the mortgage meltdown and the biggest recession the world has ever seen. As of today Ben Bernanke stated that he believes the recession is nearly over (I believe we bottomed out in the last week of February/first week of March) and that the economy shows signs of improvement. I hope this is the case as everybody has been affected by this recession in one way or another.