New Breed of Leader?

In the previous post, my good friend and accomplice called for a "New breed of Leader" in Washington. Now, I understand what he meant by it, but I disagree. The "new Breed" is what we have in power now, and as far as I can see, does not really know how to lead. How many kids now-a-days do you hear saying things like "I want to be just like Bill Clinton/George Bush/insert name of president here." You don't. It seems the character of our presidents is not important anymore. A leader is someone that people look up to, emulate in their actions. One who leads by example. Who looks out for the good of those he or she has been placed in charge of. Have our presidents exuded any sort of character that one would envy? Can our children look to our "leader" and say that is how they want to be? I would say that it is a big, "no". Ever since FDR was president, the role of Commander in Chief has been filled, not by solid leaders, but by idealists who have no personal integrity in and of themselves. They have been elected not by their quality of leadership but by emotion. They have been candidates that have promised the world (almost literally) and disappointed us each time. We are an emotionally charged nation right now. Like a hormonal teenager, confused and unsure about the future, we swing from one extreme to the next looking for the answer. Continuing to search for our place in this world.

So what exactly is happening to our nation? We are so far from where we originally started, can we ever recover? Is this just a phase?

We began as a country grounded on solid principles and rooted in Judeo-Christian beliefs. Our government was formed and shaped through blood, tears, failures and successes. All of it was covered in prayer and the belief that God was in control. Personal faith combined with action made our country what it became. We have not always done things right, but, as a nation, we have always relied on grace to help us through. We have always pushed through our difficulties and came out the other side wiser and stronger. Will we get through this? It's hard to say. Our country seems to be crumbling in upon itself these days. All of our supposed "too big to fail" businesses and programs are doing just that... failing... miserably. Starting immediately after the Great Depression when FDR began implementing all of his "stimulus" packages, our country began acting like a foolish teen with his first credit card. And it looks like our current president is not only going to follow along in his footsteps but looks like he is applying for 3 more cards as we speak.
Enough with the doom and gloom, I believe we will get through this stronger and wiser. Our country really is going through a hormonal time and will wise up sooner or later and take some responsibility. We need a real leader. We need an elected president who was placed there due to his wisdom, personal character and above all, integrity. We need a Thomas Jefferson or John Adams. Heck, even a Millard Philmore would be great!

What does it all mean?

There is so much hype surrounding the economy lately. People are constantly claiming that a recession is coming and that something bad is going to happen. It seems that the only questions left are "When?" and "How bad?". The problem I have with this, is that, according to Yahoo! News the S&P 500 has decreased by 40% this year so far before today's huge increase. 27% of that decrease has occured in a little over a month. So, how much does the economy need to decrease before we start calling it a recession? 40% is an awful lot, and isn't the definition of a recession when things like numbers begin to recede? So, let's call a spade a spade and forget about this baloney about "when" and let's begin to look to how to get out of this. We are in a recession. There, I said it. Now, how do we fix this?
All of these economists have solutions that they think will work, and maybe they will. The Lord knows I am not even close to being an expert on the economy or even the money I make. I have been reading a lot of history lately though and see some obvious parallels between the stock market crash in 1929 and this present situation. The fixes for that depression were to spend a whole bunch of money that we don't have. The majority of our national debt that we presently have began as a solution to the depression. FDR is now heralded as a savior, whereas Herbert Hoover is seen as the cause of the crash (he wasn't). Though there was a short term solution, it left us with a permanent national debt (and a very large one at that). Herbert Hoover is forever synonomous with Hoovervilles (makeshift towns made by those who were out of a job out of pretty much any and everything) and being responsible for pushing our nation into a depression. FDR, who was elected soon after the crash is seen as the savior of the United States because of what he did.
Ridiculous. George Bush, who had nothing to do with the collapse of the housing market (in fact, liberal ideas of giving loans to those who can't afford it is what ultimately collapsed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) will most definitely be remembered as being responsible for this recession. Our new president (unfortunately I think it may be Obama) will be seen as the new FDR. The only solutions being presented by either candidates involve dumping large amounts of non-existent money onto the problem. This does not solve it. We are treating the symptoms rather than fixing the problem. What's the solution? I have no idea. But we gotta do something different. Throwing our country in to greater debt is not the solution. This bailout will not work. Hopefully I'm wrong but we will see.
Let me know what you all think. Any solutions?