The turmoil in the banking sector caused by over zealous lenders saw the government move to bail out the banks, with the taxpayer forced to dig deep and lift the tab.

BBC: Jobless

For instance, the plan calls for spending several years researching a new heavy lift launch vehicle for deep space exploration before committing to a design a stretched-out schedule that would likely produce little new technology but deprive engineering teams and production workers of anything to do for the better part of a decade.

FORBES: Saving NASA From The Obama Science Fair

The only people who can lift us out of this deep ditch are innovators, mavericks and entrepreneurs.

FORBES: New Blog Next Week

But at least the deep sense of pessimism may now begin to lift.

ECONOMIST: The economy

"It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth, but at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe, " he said.

CNN: Obama calls for 'dramatic action'

The better choice for human propulsion, he says, was the paddle-like deep-catch stroke, which actually produced more lift than sculling, along with a hefty dose of drag.

FORBES: How Cross-Training Can Make You A Better Swimmer: What Is The Best Technique Of Swimming The Crawl?

Today's commercial rockets can lift only about 10 tons into space, far short of what is needed to enable deep-space exploration returning to the Moon, and later venturing on to Mars the things that are and should be NASA's core mission.

WSJ: NASA's SLS Is a Key to Deep Space �� Letters to the Editor