Massive U.S. economy can pull us through

Listening to all the gloom-and-doom about the U.S. economy, it's easy to think the worst.

Anyone with money in the stock market -- and thanks to 401Ks, mutual funds and other retirement accounts, that's the majority of us -- has seen their net worth take a serious hit.

Charities and foundations are seeing their endowments shrink -- and that doesn't count the dealings of money "manager" Bernard Madoff who has admitted to a $50 billion "ponzi" scheme.

Seven-hundred billion for financial services; billions for automakers -- and that's just a stopgap measure -- and now two of them have shut down for extended holiday breaks in production.

Add most of the new bailout spending to the national debt, and you'll understand why many of us, not just fiscal conservatives, think the sky is falling.

There is plenty to worry about, to be sure, but a recent release from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Transportation Statistics offers a glimpse into just how big the U.S. economy is.

In 2007, American businesses in mining, manufacturing, wholesale and selected retail trade and service industries shipped approximately $11.8 trillion of commodities weighing 13 billion tons, according to the two agencies.

And that excludes farms, forestry, fisheries, government, construction, transportation, foreign establishments and most services and retail establishments. Add those in, and you can see just how big the U.S. economy is.

Most of the covered shipments went by truck, which hauled more than 70 percent of the total, or $8.4 trillion and 9 billion tons. More than half of that traveled less than 50 miles.

And, more than $1.5 trillion was sent by the U.S. Postal Service and private courier services.

Manufacturing establishments shipped more than 5.3 billion tons of commodities, worth approximately $5.4 trillion. And, wholesale firms accounted for an estimated $4.8 trillion of goods shipped and approximately 3.9 billion tons of commodities.

Certainly, the figures can be expected to decline as the economic slowdown kicks in, certainly for 2009 and the last of 2008.

But the census figures illustrate how massive the American economic engine is. If the new administrative can provide a careful tuneup, if not a complete overhaul, it should be able to power us out of this recession.