Has the Economy Hit Rock Bottom?

With almost every headline on the news being about the housing market and the stock market are low in addition to the millions of jobs that are being lost everyday people begin to wonder have we hit the bottom yet? In that past few weeks we have noticed an increase in the stock market and several banks and establishment not needing extra bail out money, but is that enough? How do we know or is there a way to know when our economy is at its worst times. Many people agree there is no way to know for sure. It is a combination of things and i feel that the way our economy is it could be worse. Like during the great depression people were rationed food and supplies. We are so use to having everything and having it all at our fingertips that when it doesn't happen that way we can't stand it. No we may not be able to lead a luxury lifestyle but we still have family and basic necessities, people need to get back to the basics.
I think that a lot of consumer shock is based from the news. Every night there are stories about people loosing their jobs, the crisis we are in, and how bad things are. Yes we want to know what is going on but i think it scares people more than informs them. When they keep hearing that our economy is so bad they cling on to what they have and don't go out and spend which creates a recession. The housing market is slowly starting to come back up as people realize that it is a great time to buy buy rates are super low. However it is harder to get a loan because the banks are being so closing watched. This downturn of events has been churning for some time now It could have maybe been better predicted and better handled but it wasn't so now we are stuck here trying to get out of it. But i know one thing approving stimulus packages which gets us in more debt is not going to help. There is no immediate fix which is what I think people are looking for, it's going to take time and effort from every American. We should focus on creating more jobs, which would give people money that they can put back into the economy buy spending it. I think its ridiculous the amount of people on welfare and support systems, they are there when people really need help but I feel that they are too often abused and people get comfortable with getting their money check instead of trying harder to better themselves. I would be great if there was a way to allow anyone who wanted to work a job and not a government issued check.
Many saw that the stock market is the first thing to show hard times, well it has been back and forth lately. So I don't think there is any true way of knowing when we have hit the bottom I just know that many people have seen harder times then what we are experiencing now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/weekinreview/15vikas.html?pagewanted=2