<img src="https://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080318/capt.f847affd12ad49619ae5eaec252c8264.wall_street_fed_credit_crisis_nyml220.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=LT9S7SqLRDTyo.bdRlRzlg--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="Brokers work on the trading desk at ICAP followi
AP – For months, Americans have been subjected to a sort of economic water torture a maddening drip of bad news about jobs, gas prices, sagging home values, creeping inflation, the slouching dollar and a stock market in bumpy descent.