Some of us have a nutty Uncle in the family. The guy who does outlandish things, sometimes crossing the line between being an amusing eccentric and a dangerous embarrassment. I see that today in our Nation’s   “Uncle Sam.” He is a collective. A mirror image of all us, usually seems a little odd; he is never quite where we are. But in his defense, he can’t be more than the sum of our hopes and fears. We can make him out through the foggy window of the media, doddering around, picking up things he should not; a befuddled and bewildering presence in our world.

Lately, Uncle Sam has been showing up at more family gatherings. As our economy heads south, most likely for a number of years to come, Uncle Sam has been picking up wrenches, throwing around tools, trying to fix things that he does not seem to understand.

Our representative government is not always at its best in the immediate onset of a crisis. Too many opinions count, too many experts assert their solutions to problems that are not clearly understood. I have to admit, it makes me very nervous to see our government trying to solve an economic crisis, largely caused by bad debt, by throwing a trillion dollars of borrowed money at it. Imagine your eccentric Uncle paying off his irresponsible son’s credit card bills by taking a loan out that he can’t afford. That’s about where we are today.

But in all our fits and starts, as ungainly as our government may look right now, eventually the hand will steady. The sum of all the parts of our democracy will be vetted, strengths will move forward and weaknesses will fade back. The truth of our situation will accumulate into a clear picture, giving us (Uncle Sam) the opportunity to act.

People keep asking me, “What do you think will happen?” I’m certain that if anybody tries to tell you where our economy will be in five years, they are making it up. We are in uncharted waters. We don’t know how deep the crisis is, because we can’t really measure the depth of the debts in the economy. We can’t really gauge the distance to safety, because we don’t know how connected the troubles of other economies are to our economy. In the midst of trying to get our bearings, we are working through a dramatic political transition, with two very different economic philosophies being brought to bear on the problem. Uncle Sam has never looked so confused, but for good reason.

Time will tell! The markets may resemble the three stooges doing pratfalls on stage for the next few months. But I’m confident that over time, as our democratic processes have time to work, we will come through this crisis. A president will be elected. I’m hoping for one with strong leadership abilities and a calm presence, who will assemble a real “coalition of the willing” to deal with policy issues in DC. Americans will adjust. Frankly, we have been living beyond our means, and most of us know it. In 1950, the average American home was 750 square feet. Today we average over 2000 square feet. Our standard of living will be brought back to match our means to pay for it. That won’t be painless for a nation addicted to consumption, but it will happen. Uncle Sam won’t be dressed quite as sharply, but he will appear stable once again.