The challenges facing our economy are like nothing that our nation has faced since the Great Depression. In the last year, Americans have lost millions of jobs, dramatically increasing our national unemployment rate. The ongoing downturn in the housing market has resulted in a tidal wave of foreclosures and delinquencies, flooding our communities with hundreds of thousands of blighted, boarded up homes. Americans have witnessed the value of their homes, stocks, and pensions drop. College education has become unaffordable for too many, and affordable healthcare is available to too few.